Once again our nation has been rattled by a school shooting. Once again, we are left with the questions. Why? Why did this person act this way? Could it have been prevented? Then the theological questions: Why did God allow this to happen?
At the time of the Columbine massacre, I served as a youth pastor at a church a few miles from the school. Many of our students attended Columbine and where there that day. Shock and disbelief filled our community and our church. Tragedies like yesterday's always lead me back to April 20, 1999.
One thing I know for sure concerning the many questions that will swirl through our minds and be asked ad nauseam by the media: I don't know. I don't know why God allows things like this to happen. I don't know why people resort to senseless, mindless killing. And I don't think it can be prevented.
The best answer for me is that God loves us so much, he gives us the opportunity to make choices. Real choices that really matter. Real choices that affect us and others. And he loves us so much he will not take that choice away even if we choose poorly, which according to orthodox Christian theology is usually the way we choose. Poorly.
When school shootings occur, all I know how to do is pray. I often don't know what to say. But I bring the situation to God and I hold it in his presence. Join me in holding the community of Virginia Tech and the families of the victim and the shooter in the presence of God.
