I still have a memory of the Columbine High School Shooting. At least that is what we first called it. If
you look it up on the internet, it is now listed as a massacre. Since that terrible tragedy, I have watched
one after another as school shootings have become all too common.
The past couple of years though, something else has happened. People have begun not just using guns,
but using vehicles as weapons. There are people now who using trucks, or vans to drive into crowds in
an effort to kill as many as they can. The Toronto van attack is just the most recent of these tragedies.
Last I heard, in the Toronto incident, 10 people were killed and 16 were injured some critically.
With all of these shootings, or mass killings with a vehicle, there has been a real lack of understanding
as to why. When the Columbine shooting happened, there was a lot of discussion about the violence in
video games, and how lonely the two shooters were. Since then with all the additional school shootings,
the discussion has shifted somewhat to focus more on guns, and how available they are and how we
need more restrictions. All along the way, there has been discussion on the subject of mental health.
I have my own opinion about violence in video games, and for that matter violence on television. I also
have some pretty strong opinions about gun laws. That is not for this column. What really is at issue
with all of these events, is not guns, video games or television, but instead the real issue is the human
heart.
As a Pastor, it is my privilege to be able to work with all kinds of different people. The problems I see
are about as varied as the people I meet. In some ways, no two situations are alike, and yet there are
some very clear patterns. We live in a world where people are sick. At the root of most difficulties is a
problem of the heart. In the book of Jeremiah, in the old testament, there is a statement: “The heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)”. The problem of
the heart is not new.
In the New Testament, there is a guy named Paul who was a missionary. He made it his goal to plant
new churches, and then to help them along so they could thrive. But as Paul would make known, there
was a huge problem. He talked about the problems of the heart. He talked about how we need to put
aside “anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your (our) mouth. (Col 3:8 ). In its place
he says that we should “put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;
(Colossians 3:12-13)”. I wonder what our world would look like if we were able to really do this.
A close look at our world will show you there is an awful lot of hate. The attacks on people we don’t
like or disagree with are becoming more and more vicious. If we don’t scream louder, we scream more
often. We don’t hesitate to attack leaders and public figures while we hide in the shadows. We assume
that we know best. We assume that we know how to fix other people and so we tear people down with
our words, without giving any serious consideration to what it would be like to walk in their shoes. We
allow our frustrations to boil, and our frustrations bloom into anger, and our anger into bitterness. The
result is violence, not always physical, sometimes just verbal. But people get hurt.
I am sure that as we move forward people will talk more about gun regulations, and some people will
joke about implementing van regulations. I am also sure that we will talk more about “bollards” or
“concrete pillars” in hopes of better protecting pedestrians. But the real issue, the problem of the heart,
will likely get lost.
With all the angry people in this world, with all the gossip, with all the slander, what we really need to
do is talk more about how to change the hearts of people. How can we get people to move past anger,
and wrath? We need to talk about a transformation of the heart. Paul, who I mentioned earlier talks
about a circumcision of the heart. A cutting of the hardened shell of our hearts, to expose the soft inner
side. That is what we need. Only then will we see true transformation. Only then will we see an end to
these terrible tragedies. What it will really take is the work of Jesus in the lives of people.