How long, Lord, must I call for help,
But You do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
But You do not save?
Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
There is strife, and conflict abounds. (Habakkuk 1:2-3)
Thus begins the prophet Habakkuk, writing 2700 years ago.
Our problems today are not new. The context is different. The weapons are different. But the hatred and violence are the same.
The heart of violence is the heart of violence.
There is simply something wrong with the human heart.
What happened in Minneapolis, at a Catholic school for young children, is hard to fathom. How can someone have so much hatred in their heart that their sole purpose in life eventually crystallizes into a demonic passion to destroy. And not just to destroy people, but to destroy the most vulnerable and innocent…children…while they are praying in a church.
It is so far from many of our thoughts that we have no way to process it.
But we try.
And in our politicized, partisanized, propagandized culture, the words are so familiar that they are almost cliche.
“Outlaw guns!”
“Pass more laws!”
“Hire more police!”
“Get angry at the other side!”
Or the most grim, “Stop offering thoughts and prayers!”
But here is the reality: the violence doesn’t stop because we are not willing to examine the heart of the violence. We run to our proverbial political corners and refuse to see the whole picture. We don’t want to. Because the whole picture includes us all.
I don’t know anything about Robert/Robin Westman except what the news offers. But the 23 year old obviously had serious mental health issues. No one would dispute that. But how does someone get to this kind of violent, murderous place?
Let’s make a list of possibilities. Rough childhood. Exposure to violence at an early age. Feelings of not fitting in. Parents arguing and divorcing when he is young. No father in the picture during his formative years. More exposure to violence. Instability in the home. Instability in life. Moving from school to school. No friends. Finding solace in an online world that caters to the lonely and disenchanted. Exposure to transgenderism. A hatred of his own body. A hatred of God for making him that way. A hatred for religion. A hatred for life. An affinity for death. A fascination with mass killers. Increased isolation. Increased addiction to the internet. A hunger for significance. A war in his mind. A desire to destroy. A desire to make a name for himself. A desire to rid himself of his turmoil. A hatred for children. A hatred of his own childhood. An increased desire to destroy. An increased desire to be known. A plan. Multiple videos. Scrawling messages of hatred. Access to weapons. A sketch of the school. A day to die. A day to destroy.
Within this possible pathway to destruction, there are so many elements that have to be addressed. The breakdown of the family. The impact of divorce. The absence of fathers. Exposure to violence on TV, movies, video games, and the internet. The breakdown of community. The lack of face-to-face friendships. A culture of death. A nihilistic worldview. An increasingly divided society. A radical transgender movement. A hatred for one’s own body. A hatred for God. Access to weapons. No one close enough to intervene.
Unless a society is willing to address the contribution of all of these elements, then a society is not ready to be honest with itself.
We are all part of the problem in some way.
We all contribute to some degree.
We all add to the ethos of the culture.
We all tend to pursue our own selfish ends before God and others.
The heart of violence is the heart of violence.
“Are you so dull?” Jesus asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them?… He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” (Mark 7:18, 20-23)
We like “top-down solutions.” We like to think that all our problems are rooted in the government…in the authorities above us…in things far away from us.
But the true, long-term solutions are “bottom-up.” They begin with each one of us…within each one of us.
Yes, there are things that government can do…should do. There are laws that can be passed. There are safeguards that can be put in place. There is a need for greater security and better law enforcement.
But, in the end, a culture is defined by its people…by its moral values…by the collective nature of each individual heart.
So when an event like Minneapolis happens, how should we each individually respond?
Humble yourself. Take an honest look at your mortality. Realize that you are not in control. You did not create yourself. You are not your own god. Instead, you need God whether you want to admit it or not.
When arrogance comes, disgrace follows,
But with humility comes wisdom. (Proverbs 11:2)
Eliminate anger, malice, slander, and hatred. Yelling louder does not solve anything. Becoming increasingly angry…blaming others…attacking others…hating others only contributes to the problem. Murder begins with hatred in the heart.
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. (1 John 3:15)
Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. (Ephesians 4:31)
Acknowledge your need for grace. We all have sinned. We all have fallen short. We all have contributed to the problem. There is no room for pride. There is no place for self-righteousness. We are all creatures, created by God, sustained by God, accountable to God, and, thankfully, loved by God. He offers each of us His grace through His Son, Jesus Christ. We didn’t earn it. We don’t deserve it. But He offers it as a gift to each one of us. He died on the cross to prove His love. He rose from the dead to prove His power. We all need a Savior. We all need grace.
For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Love one another. I guess it sounds cliche but what other solution is there? We share a common humanity. We share a common earth. We share a common need. Loving one another begins with those closest to us and spirals out from there. Start with your spouse…your children…your extended family. Start with your neighbor. Start with your neighborhood. Start with the person you meet in daily life or online. Start with the person who seems isolated, lonely, or forgotten in your community. Don’t put the solution “out there” somewhere. Put it on the one person whom you can control…yourself.
For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another. (Galatians 5:13-15)
The heart of change is a changed heart.
Humbling yourself.
Eliminating anger.
Accepting the gift of grace.
Loving one another.
This is what can heal a land.
If My people who are called by My name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
O Lord, please heal our land.
