Truemag

  • Home
  • About
  • Grief
  • My Book
  • Events
  • Ministry
  • Contact

Can Jesus Love James Holmes Too?

 

Columbine. Virginia Tech. Fort Hood. Now Aurora, Colorado. All sites of mass murders, plots to kill dozens of unsuspecting, innocent victims. The impact of the trauma changes whole cities and campuses for decades. Families  are changed for a lifetime.

The outpouring of love for the survivors and victim’s families is evident from coast to coast. We weep with those who weep. Our hearts are broken for their tragic loss.

But what about Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, Sueng-Hui Cho, Nidal Hasan, and now James Holmes? These gunman shed innocent blood. How should God’s people feel toward the perpetrators of these crimes? How should Christians respond to their evil?

Let me tell you, there’s a lot of venom being spewed toward James Holmes on the TV, through the radio waves, and via social media. Should we join the condemning masses?

No doubt God condemned, and even punished murder since the beginning of time. God dealt severely with Cain’s sin after he killed his brother Abel in the opening of the book of Genesis.

There is another, lesser known murderer of the bible, King Manasseh.  Manasseh single-handedly led God’s nation into pagan idolatry. Undoing all the religious reforms of his father, Manasseh built altars and temples to false Gods. As he practiced witchcraft and sorcery, the scriptures tell us “Manasseh also sacrificed his own son in the fire.” Manasseh’s killing spree was not contained in a moment or even day, but an entire reign as king.

Manasseh also murdered many innocent people until Jerusalem was filled from one end to the other with innocent blood. This was in addition to the sin that he caused the people of Judah to commit, leading them to do evil in the Lord’s sight (2 Kings 21:6, 16).

Then God moved. Jehovah El Gemuwal, the Lord God of Recompenses came in. He punished Manasseh with holy wrath.

The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they ignored all his warnings. So the Lord sent the commanders of the Assyrian armies, and they took Manasseh prisoner. They put a ring through his nose, bound him in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon (2 Chron. 33:10-11).

This once powerful, prideful king was led away in chains with a ring through his nose, forced to serve his enemy as a slave. YES!! We love that part of God don’t we.  We love it that he comes in and punishes the wicked and humbles the proud. They deserve it!

But story of Manasseh doesn’t stop there.

But while in deep distress, Manasseh sought the Lord his God and sincerely humbled himself before the God of his ancestors. And when he prayed, the Lord listened to him and was moved by his request. So the Lord brought Manasseh back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh finally realized that the Lord alone is God! (2 Chron. 33:12-13).

What? Are you serious? What kind of God let’s a mass murderer get a do-over? The great God of second chances is who. The God of mercy. The God of all-consuming grace. The God  who, “does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent” ( 2 Pet. 3:9).

If you claim to follow Jesus the Messiah, remember this, “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation” (Rom. 5:8-9).

So when you are tempted to curse James Holmes remember this, you have the same creator who desires you both to come home.

 

Jul 24, 2012Serena
Tweet
Share
Pin
0 Shares
Are You Oppressed?Broken Hallelujahs from Broken Hearts
Comments: 7
  1. Stephanie.Nicole
    12 years ago

    Amen! There was also a shooting in Tuscaloosa at the beginning of last week, and Alabamians were spewing hate all over Facebook towards the shooter. Obviously, I was hurt and grieved that something like this had occurred, especially in a city I love, but I was also outraged at the horrible vitriolic response. Many people even said that to pray for this man to find salvation would be to dishonor the victims, because he deserved to burn in hell! (I guess this means they were so-called “Christians” since they believed in salvation and hell, which makes it all the worse.)

    If we as a society truly want an eye for an eye, a life for a life, then we have no right calling ourselves “enlightened” and “modern,” much less “Christian.” We can even compare ourselves with Iran, where vengeful execution is a public and acceptable form of justice. If we respond to a hateful act with hateful words, then we have learned nothing.

    ReplyCancel
    • Serena
      12 years ago

      The only thing I come back to is that we ALL deserve death because we have ALL broken the commands of a holy Creator God. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).

      ReplyCancel
      • Jason
        12 years ago

        I think this article is good. Thanks for the thoughts as we grieve over this tragedy. I just want to clarify Romans 6:23. By doing this, I am not supposing you mean “death” to be physical death, but in context it is spiritual death, i.e. separation from God. If James Holmes is sentenced to death, it will be just (Rom. 13:4). Yes, we are all derserving of separation from God because of sin, but we are not all derserving of execution unless we take the life of another (Gen. 9:5-7). Execution is a necessary punishment to impede such evil as this.

        ReplyCancel
        • Serena
          12 years ago

          I always welcome feedback! But I do think we all deserve actual death. That was in fact the punishment from the Garden of Eden. From my understanding of sinning against a holy God, his justice requires a judicial penalty, mortal death, and spiritual. It is only by his grace alone that we have the chance for anything but death. The amazing part of God is that his is as much mercy as he is justice. He still requires death, but allowed his son to pay the price of our sins.

          ReplyCancel
  2. Don Brown
    12 years ago

    As we pray for James Holmes’ soul, we should also pray for justice for his victims. The dichotomy of Christianity: Bless your enemies; but, if we break the law and suffer, we might as well bear with it!

    ReplyCancel
    • Lori @ In My Kitchen, In My Life
      12 years ago

      Excellent blog post thoughts, and an excellent comment here, Don. Thank you for being willing to look at these issues through godly eyes.

      ReplyCancel
  3. Hannah Schug
    12 years ago

    I’m reminded of the citizens of Ninevah mourning their sins and praying for God’s forgiveness after hearing Jonah’s message. And what did Jonah do? He pouted about it. Or the older brother of the Prodigal Son who complained about his brother getting a party when he returned home.
    I have heard that convicted serial killer Jeffery Dahmer became a Christian while in prison, before he died, and I’ve also heard people scoff and question the sincerity of that commitment. I don’t know if it’s true or not; the only person who really knows is God, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. And if the story of Jesus Christ can bring a sick and twisted killer to his knees and give him salvation, then it truly has the power to change all of us. Even me.

    ReplyCancel

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Serena
12 years ago 7 Comments Christ-followers & CultureGod's justice, God's mercy339
A Wordy Woman
Top Posts & Pages
  • Home
  • How To Deal With an Unsubmissive Wife
  • Contact
  • Church Girls, Stop Showing Your Breasts
  • NO CHILDREN: What Does the Bible Say About Having Kids?
Recent Posts
  • Celebrating Mother’s Day After the Death of a Child
  • The Jesus Effect: Healing Church Trauma with Christ’s Model of Leadership
  • Healing Trauma: Give Me Your Shame
  • Healing Trauma with Theophany: Encountering God
  • Church Trauma: Healing the Wound with Grace
Categories
Networks
2015 © A Wordy Woman