Warning: If you are easily offended, you might not want to read this post. I already know what I'm going to say is not popular. I don't care. It needs to be said.
I don't often post about newsworthy events (heck, I hardly ever post!), but I feel compelled to talk about what happened in Aurora last week. It's hard for me to comprehend that someone could bring so much terror on a place where people go to escape their normal lives and have fun. I can barely wrap my mind around the idea of a dozen people dead (a little six-year-old included) and almost 60 people injured.
James Holmes, the accused shooter, has something wrong with him. "Normal" people don't do things like this. Just take a look at him sitting in the courtroom with orange hair and a blank stare. People who knew him said he was kind of a loner. It's hard to deny that a man who plotted this atrocity is, well, evil.
And yet, I can feel compassion for him.
Say what? How? How can I feel compassion for a killer like that?
I know this is going to take a lot of explanation. Bear with me.
I'm reminded of a song by Casting Crowns called "Jesus, Friend of Sinners." It's been stuck in my head for a few days. The chorus goes: "Oh Jesus, friend of sinners/Open our eyes to the world at the end of our pointing fingers/Let our hearts be led by mercy/Help us reach with open hearts and open doors/Oh Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks yours." If this kind of tragedy doesn't break God's heart, then I don't know what does.
But I think God's heart also breaks for the one who felt that he had no choice but to commit this terrible act. Not only that, I think we all have been in a situation where we have felt alone and misunderstood, probably much like James felt most of his life. But most of the people I know also know that there is a God who created you and who loves you and understands you better than a soul-mate or best friend. You are never alone when you have God in your life.
Deep inside, in my darkest human nature, a person much like James resides. Someone who lashes out at others, who hates without reason, who would booby trap a home just to take out anyone who tried to gain entry. The same thing that is wrong with James is also wrong with all of us. As much as we all try to deny it, evil lives in all of us. We all do terrible things; in our eyes, we try to justify the wrong things that we do as okay or even right. What then makes me or you any different from a person like James?
There's an answer: in God's eyes, my sins are much like James'. My cheating on a math exam back in high school (not that I would ever do such a thing!) is no different in God's reckoning than taking someone's life. Sin is sin. Evil is evil. Human nature is human nature. Without the grace of Jesus Christ, God looks on me the same as he does James.
But this is why I have compassion: because God so loved the world that He sent His only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. As much as God looks on all sins the same, he also extends his amazing grace the same. The same eternal life and salvation from sin that was promised to me is also promised to you, to James, to the homeless man down the street, to the politician you despise, to your grandmother. Do you see where I'm going with this?
I hope someone shares the love of Jesus with James Holmes. I hope there is someone willing to show him how the God who created him can forgive him and show him the Way to a place where he does belong, where he is never alone, where he is even very loved. I have to hope that he can change if he hears the Word, because even though many would doubt his sincerity (even as they probably doubt my sincerity in writing these words), many others would hear God's Word through him and believe in God's power to save. If even he, worst of sinners in our eyes, can be saved, then doesn't it show that there is salvation for all of us?
God has used this kind of position before. Moses killed a guy. Samson was a womanizing jerk. Saul persecuted the church before the light of Christ overtook him. Maybe I'm just radical in thinking this, but our prayers might be well-spent on James as well as the victims and their family and friends. Maybe this will be an opportunity to learn more about God's power to save.
[Some of you may be thinking, You didn't lose a loved one or a friend, so you're speaking from the outside looking in. I know that, but I felt compelled to share this, and I hope that the families and friends of the victims will be able to forgive him as well. I don't speak for them, and I would never claim to. I'm also not asking for the judge to let him off easy. He does have to pay for his crimes and I'd be a moron if I suggested otherwise.]
I know that this is not a popular position to take when things like this happen. It's easier for us to give in to hate and finger-pointing and blame (Again, human nature). I know I'll probably get flak from people for posting this. I don't really care. I know that God will take care of James; all I can do is pray that God's will be done, in the midst of this awful tragedy, and that James would come to realize the forgiveness and love that can be found in Christ Jesus.
