Newtown, CTOur hearts are broken over yesterday’s tragedy in Newtown, CT. Our prayers go out to the victims, families, staff, friends, and first responders. How a monster can target the most innocent among us is simply beyond sane comprehension.

In the wake of yesterday’s tragic events, Massad Ayoob posted an article entitled “Against Monsters.” It’s a reminder that societal evil has been, and will continue to be, a human problem. Go read it. Now. We’ll wait.

Monsters have always been, and always will be, among us. Anyone remember King Herod?

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Matthew 2:16

The pinnacle of arrogance is to think that a problem so complex as human societal evil has a “simple” hardware solution. Evil is a problem of the heart. Not of laws, devices, or rules. The most egregious acts against humanity show little favoritism of tools when someone is committed to evil. Our recent history demonstrates morbid creativity by monsters. 9/11 (box cutters), Oklahoma City (garden fertilizer), Bath School (fire and bomb), Happy Land Social Club (gasoline). Just yesterday – yes, the exact same day as the Newtown massacre – a monster in the Henan Province of China slashed 22 children with a knife – one of dozens of identical incidents over the past three years.

As I said a moment ago, complex problems don’t have simple solutions. So the point here is that you have to decide whether to acknowledge that evil exists, and prepare, or to bury your head in the sand and hope that someone passes a “feel-good” law to provide some short-lived false sense of security.

Me? The jury came in a long time ago regarding the effectiveness of “feel-good” legislation. I choose to recognize that evil exists in the world and to prepare accordingly. The root source of monstrous acts is not going away. The monsters’ methods of implementation will vary, as they have since the beginning of time. While we all would like to apply a band-aid and pat ourselves on the back for “fixing it” that’s just a desperate fantasy.

Read. Study. Be alert. Prepare for the unexpected – even for the unimaginable.

Be safe out there people.

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