Tucon Shooting

Tragedies such as this stir deep emotions and fears. Rightfully so. Unfortunately, many lack the emotional resources and spiritual depth to personally deal with the pain an event such as this creates. When the news first broke, many jumped to rash conclusions blaming this group or that. This is sign of one of two things: either a political agenda willing to use even the most tragic of events as political amunition, or a person without the spiritual an emotional resources to appropriately process the pain this event causes them. Who does not feel pain as they learn of a 9 year old killed by a stray bullet fired by a mindless killer? What does one do with that pain? All too many this week have lashed out at others trying to pin blame on opposing political convictions, or the availablility of guns, or some other aspect of our world they dislike. The blame lies with one person: The murderer. He is mentally defective. We all wish there to be something we can do to prevent such a mindless event. But until we are willing to arrest a person with no criminal history for having deep mental problems, there is little that can be done to prevent a tragedy such as this. Blaming Sarah Palin, the gun industry, the TEA party, the media, or video games gets us no where. The best thing we can do is to pray for the grieving, share their pain, and show our support in any way possible.

Pharisee Hypocrisy

In Matthew 23 Jesus gives his most scathing rebuke of the Pharisees. Seven times in this passage he calls them hypocrites. Three are illustrations of their hypocrisy, A garden v.23, a dish v.25, and a white-washed tomb in v.25. The other four references are descriptions of their hypocrisy: 'You're a hypocrite because...' Of these four descriptions, one stands out as a great risk for believers today. Its found in v.13, "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from men..." (NAS) By their rules, regulations and strict oversight they made the kingdom of heaven unreachable. Impossible to attain. Totally absent from their teaching was anything about grace. Law and consequences ruled the day. Their hypocrisy was clear in that not even they themselves could maintain obedience to all of their regulations, yet they showed no grace. Christ shows grace to sinners throughout the gospels. Forgiveness is abundant in his words. What he could not tolerate was self-righteous hypocrisy. This is a wise lessor for believers to remember today as we take stands in the public square on issues of morality. One hypocrite can do a world of damage to the cause of Christ when he/she is exposed. 1 John 3:18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. (NAS)