The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jeremiah 17:9
This is probably the last time I will write anything about last Friday’s school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, unless something comes to mind that I feel I must share...
and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jeremiah 17:9
This is probably the last time I will write anything about last Friday’s school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, unless something comes to mind that I feel I must share...
This tragedy has left a total of twenty-eight people dead. Twenty-seven, including young Adam Lanza, the gunman, died inside the school, while Adam’s mother was slain first, in her home. The whole thing is sickening, which is the main reason why I want to leave this all behind after today. But the public is going to be hearing about it for a long time to come.
Anyhow, with all this said, the Newtown school shooting has affirmed my belief in the Bible. The Scriptures do not mince words. The Bible adamantly declares the human heart (this is the inner being or essence of a person) to be capable of all kinds of evil. Mankind, as history and current events clearly demonstrates, is capable of committing the most heinous of atrocities.
Just think of the seemingly ordinary "good citizens" of Nazi Germany who quietly and methodically carried out the most inhumane acts against Jews, Gypsies, the mentally ill, as well as many other groups who were at the time considered to be the outcasts of society. Millions of men, women and children, (lots of children) were put to death by those who said they were simply "following orders."
Evil, you see, goes beyond logic. And as for the Bible’s description of the human heart being "desperately wicked," how can anyone deny this? We see the reality of it every day.
In fact, the Bible declares the human heart to be incorrigible. It cannot be reformed, reprogrammed, rehabilitated or fixed. The only solution, according to the Scriptures, is for God Himself to put a new heart inside the person. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26)."
And this Scripture from the Old Testament is confirmed by another verse in the New Testament, which says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (1 Corinthians 5:17)."
Basically God is saying that the way to truly change a man’s fallen nature is for him to experience what the Bible refers to as the "new birth." The new birth is the result of man’s repenting of his sins and placing his faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. While at the same instant, God’s Spirit enters this person to dwell within him. The new birth is a supernatural event which causes a man to make peace with God, while at the same time, it officially begins his new life as a follower of the Lord Jesus.
Anything less than this is but hollow reformation. It is man himself, by his own effort, trying to amend his ways and behave better. This, unfortunately, will not do.
Please read the Bible for yourself. The answer as to why events like the Newtown School shooting happen can be found within its pages.
D.B.
Anyhow, with all this said, the Newtown school shooting has affirmed my belief in the Bible. The Scriptures do not mince words. The Bible adamantly declares the human heart (this is the inner being or essence of a person) to be capable of all kinds of evil. Mankind, as history and current events clearly demonstrates, is capable of committing the most heinous of atrocities.
Just think of the seemingly ordinary "good citizens" of Nazi Germany who quietly and methodically carried out the most inhumane acts against Jews, Gypsies, the mentally ill, as well as many other groups who were at the time considered to be the outcasts of society. Millions of men, women and children, (lots of children) were put to death by those who said they were simply "following orders."
Evil, you see, goes beyond logic. And as for the Bible’s description of the human heart being "desperately wicked," how can anyone deny this? We see the reality of it every day.
In fact, the Bible declares the human heart to be incorrigible. It cannot be reformed, reprogrammed, rehabilitated or fixed. The only solution, according to the Scriptures, is for God Himself to put a new heart inside the person. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26)."
And this Scripture from the Old Testament is confirmed by another verse in the New Testament, which says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (1 Corinthians 5:17)."
Basically God is saying that the way to truly change a man’s fallen nature is for him to experience what the Bible refers to as the "new birth." The new birth is the result of man’s repenting of his sins and placing his faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. While at the same instant, God’s Spirit enters this person to dwell within him. The new birth is a supernatural event which causes a man to make peace with God, while at the same time, it officially begins his new life as a follower of the Lord Jesus.
Anything less than this is but hollow reformation. It is man himself, by his own effort, trying to amend his ways and behave better. This, unfortunately, will not do.
Please read the Bible for yourself. The answer as to why events like the Newtown School shooting happen can be found within its pages.
D.B.
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