Thursday, March 12, 2009

To Hell in a Handbasket

In the past week, a popular pastor was killed in the middle of his Sunday sermon. A man in Alabama went on a killing spree, murdering everyone who'd ever "done him wrong." A 22-month-old boy was killed by an abusive stepmother. There was a school shooting in Germany. There's more, but you get my point, I'm sure.

In none of these cases was the killing justified. The killers were not under any kind of attack themselves. There was no threat from their victims. One of the killers is already mounting an insanity defense. The other killed himself after he'd killed everyone else. The stepmother is, as far as I know, still in jail. She should remain there for the rest of her rotten life. Sorry, but that's how I see it.

As a Christian, I'm supposed to be forgiving. I guess I'm still a work in progress, and that part of me still needs a lot of work. There are very few situations in which killing is warranted--self-defense, when there's no other option. The defense of another under attack. Kidnappers. Rapists. If any of these wretched people want to end their own lives, let them do it--but why do they insist upon taking others with them?

The pastor's young children will have to grow up without a father. The deputy in Alabama whose wife and baby were murdered will never get to see his child grow up. No one had the right to destroy their lives. But more and more often, that's exactly what's happening. Senseless killing.


Dr. Phil had a so-called "relationship expert" on his show the other day. The woman claims it's perfectly all right for a woman to marry only for money and a man to marry only for sex. Dr. Phil looked as appalled as I felt. No wonder our values are slowly disappearing from the face of the earth.

As "role" models, our children have celebrities who are in and out of rehab and play musical spouses on a regular basis. In the first place, celebrities should not be held up as role models. Actors, musicians, athletes--that's just their job. A good performance is all they owe the public. They have no obligation to lead the way for our youth. That's our job as parents. We need to stop passing the buck.


There's a saying, "going to hell in a handbasket." Unfortunately, that seems to be where our sad world is headed.