April 1, 2019

Another mass shooting occurred on February 15, 2019, at the Henry Pratt Company in Aurora, Illinois. That day the plant manager, human resources manager, and an intern conducted a termination meeting with forty-five-year-old Gary Martin—a troubled man with a history of legal issues. Martin’s response to losing his job was violence. He pulled out a gun and shot the three people conducting the meeting and others before he was fatally shot by police.¹

Based on the definition of a mass shooting as four or more people shot at the same location at approximately the same time, in the United States there have been fifty mass shooting events during the first two months of 2019.² This means that since the beginning of the year a mass shooting event occurred every twenty-eight hours.

The pedestrian worldview today holds that shooters, like Gary, are basically good people who are, in some way, victims of society. In other words, they cannot help themselves; therefore, their actions were not their fault.

This worldview is part of the current paradigm of humanism, which is a self-centered autonomous view of reality that denies personal responsibility and blames the environment for horrific events. Humanists presume there is no God and therefore no personal accountability, no meaning, no purpose, and no significance to life. The terminus of this view is nihilism.

The humanist worldview is expressed in Steve Turner’s Creed, which reads:

We believe in Marx Freud and Darwin.

We believe everything is OK as long as you don’t hurt anyone to the best of your definition of hurt, and to the best of your knowledge.

We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.

We believe in the therapy of sin.

We believe that adultery is fun.

We believe that sodomy’s OK.

We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything’s getting better despite evidence to the contrary. The evidence must be investigated and you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there’s something in horoscopes UFO’s and bent spoons.

Jesus was a good man just like Buddha, Mohammed, and ourselves. He was a good moral teacher though we think his good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same—at least the one that we read was. They all believe in love and goodness. They only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that after death comes the nothing because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing.

If death is not the end, if the dead have lied, then its compulsory heaven for all excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Kahn.

We believe in Masters and Johnson.

What’s selected is average.

What’s average is normal.

What’s normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament.

We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed.

Americans should beat their guns into tractors and the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good. It’s only his behavior that lets him down. This is the fault of society. Society is the fault of conditions. Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him. Reality will adapt accordingly. The universe will readjust. History will alter.

We believe that there is no absolute truth excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds, and the flowering of individual thought.

If chance be the Father of all flesh, disaster is his rainbow in the sky and when you hear State of Emergency! Sniper Kills Ten! Troops on Rampage! Whites go Looting! Bomb Blasts School! It is but the sound of man worshipping his maker.³

For many today, this self-centered, hopeless humanistic creed encapsulates their view of reality, but this is not a Christian worldview.

From a Christian worldview, mass shootings are evidence that mankind is not inherently good but evil. From birth, each human is by nature in rebellion against the Creator. Horrific events reflect the internal nature of man. The only reason that more incidents of violence don’t happen is the grace of God in restraining human evil.

Those who embrace the humanistic view that man is basically good but corrupted by external factors respond to mass murders with external remedies such as more gun control, mental health screening, hardening facilities, and more security.

Those with a Christian worldview recognize that mass shootings are symptoms of deeper issues that reside in the sinful hearts of mankind. Therefore, external solutions will never be efficacious. The only real solution is a change to the inside of mankind, that is, a change of the heart.

From a Christian worldview, the gospel of the grace of Christ is the only way to transform the human heart. All worldviews acknowledge the existence of evil. In all non-Christian worldviews, mankind seeks to self-save; but Christianity singularly posits that mankind cannot self-save. Mankind needs a savior. Christianity offers Jesus as the Savior. Jesus came into the world as God incarnate to save mankind from the penalty of sin and death. This is the seminal difference between Christianity and all other worldviews.

Jesus provided a solution to the root issue of mankind. Embracing a Christian worldview, however, is neither popular nor prevalent, which is why the pedestrian response to mass murder focuses on symptoms not on root issues.

The apostle Paul was clear on the innate depravity of mankind and mankind’s impotency to self-save. Paul experienced the reality of being intercepted by Jesus and transformed in his heart.⁴ He embraced a Christian view of reality rooted in the saving work of Christ. Paul came to understand that his own works were never good enough to self-save.⁵ The sacrificial work of Christ on the cross to bear the price for his sins was the singular way to acceptance with God.

Paul was a witness for Jesus—one who was willing to die for Christ, which was an expression of his submission to Christ as Lord. The only proper response for any Christian is to surrender humbly to Christ’s lordship. Living in this way means enduring the world’s rejection of and rebellion against Jesus. As one who identified with Jesus, Paul experienced the same persecution as Jesus. Paul expressed this truth as bearing the marks of Jesus.⁶

Mass shooting events have victims. Some of the victims have been and will be followers of Jesus. When this happens, ironically, the shooters inflict bodily harm those who know Jesus, who is the only solution to their sin problem. But in a fallen world, mankind is so deceived that it rejects the very revelation that could save it.⁷

Jesus said that those who follow him will be treated as he was treated. He was persecuted, so Christians can expect the same treatment by the world.⁸ This is part of being a follower of Christ—it is bearing the marks of Jesus. True Christians are willing to bear the marks of Jesus to help others see the truth.

Redeemed hearts are the only real solution to mass murders. Seeking to solve the problems of humanity by addressing the symptoms may be marginally helpful but never efficacious.

The question of how to address mass shootings is, at the root, theological. Is mankind innately evil or good? If you agree that mankind is, by nature, innately evil, the only answer to mass shootings is transformed human hearts.

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1. “Gunman Injures Four Officers and Several Civilians in Aurora, IL, Factory,” Wall Street Journal, https://www.wsj.com/articles/gunman-injures-four-officers-and-several-civilians-in-aurora-ill-factory-11550272497.
2. “List of Mass Shootings in the United States in 2019,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2019#Statistics.
3. https://www.apuritansmind.com/apologetics/steveturnercreed/.
4. Acts 9.
5. Philippians 3.
6. Galatians 6:17.
7. Romans 1:18ff.
8. John 15:20.

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