We want to know why

Life is full of events and circumstances that generate the question, "why?" Humans have a yearning to understand things. We ask "why?" a lot.

The massacre at a Colorado movie theater has us asking this question again. What happens in the human mind and soul that compels a person to do a heinous act like that? Some say that he must just be crazy. What is crazy? I'm sure that psychiatrists have a definition but I doubt they still use the word "crazy" ...that's for us laymen.

We want answers. Why did he do this? How can we prevent this from ever happening again? What influences in his life stimulated this violence? THERE HAS TO BE A REASON!

Even in these few days since the shooting, opinions are flying around like gnats at a Georgia picnic.

Some have said that the newest Batman/Dark Knight Rises movie that was premiering at the theater was to blame. The shooter must have been obsessed with one of the violent movie characters. Others have suggested that our ultra-discourteous, partisan, downright mean public discourse is to blame (even Rush Limbaugh was singled out as a cause.) I think I read that someone was blaming the Tea Party. There is a picture floating around on Facebook that alleges to be James Holmes being hauled away at an Occupy San Diego protest (it is a hoax, I believe.) It's the Republicans' fault...no it's the Democrats' fault. Obama is to blame...no, Romney is to blame.

This sounds like a school yard argument.

Of course, the 2nd Amendment is once again being dragged into the discussion. That pesky Constitutional right that our forefathers were compelled to add to the Constitution is being characterized as the scapegoat. If people were not able to have access to all these guns, people would stop shooting each other (they say.) I've seen the statistics of the gun deaths in other countries that have gun control laws compared to those in the United States. Looks pretty clear to me...guns have made Americans violent, crazy and murderous. Right. On the other hand, gun rights advocates say that if there was someone else in that theater that had a carry permit and was actually carrying a gun (the theater chain does not allow guns in their theaters even with a permit) maybe the shooter could have been stopped before he did as much harm. We'll never know.

Just like in other instances when we see the worst of human behavior, we quickly jump to the answers that fit our own ideological biases. Political types want to know whether he leaned to the Democrat side or the Republican side as if that would allow them to brag that their political opponent's platform is causing mass murder. Shameful thinking. Someone in a dark room is wondering how this can be used in an advertisement to make their political opponent look bad. News anchors and talking heads are falling all over themselves to get the better news scoop so that their ratings and paychecks will move in the same direction. Disgusting.

There are families in Aurora, Colorado that are hurting in ways most of us can never comprehend. In the meantime, the rest of us are posting Facebook pictures with edgy captions about the incident that we think cleverly answer the why question. Twitterland, I'm sure, is full of 140 character epiphanies about the reasons for the tragedy. It's like we have come up on a wreck on the Interstate and we can't help but rubberneck...and do our 15 second evaluations... "must have been driving too fast", "Oh, I'm sure he was drinking", "I bet she was sending a text message." And I am writing this blog so I guess, I'm no better...

Maybe James Holmes will eventually articulate why he did what he did. Doctors may eventually determine that he is mentally ill.

In the meantime, I will accept what I already know from what my Bible and 56 years of living tell me. Evil exists. Humans are capable of doing things that most of us cannot understand. It has happened before. Unfortunately, it will happen again.

In the meantime, let's lift up these Aurora families in prayer. Pray also that people all around the world will come to know Jesus, the Prince of Peace and that, through that re-birth, human hearts will change. That's the only real solution.