The recent shooting in Charleston South Carolina has left nine dead, many other lives torn apart, and an entire city in shock. I've read many stories about this shooting, about how people are devastated and how tragic it was. What I haven't read is what I should have read from all these good Christian folks.
You see, I'm an atheist and because of this my worldview informs me that we only have one life and that every life is precious because they're irreplaceable. It tells me that life itself is the most rare and valuable thing in all the universe. So any time life is destroyed, cut short, and violently ended, this is always a tragedy to me. But then... I'm an atheist so that all makes sense.
What doesn't make sense is seeing all these supposedly devout Christians in shock and bewilderment over this act. If they'd just read their bibles they'd understand what happened completely. What happened was that, at least according to the Christian worldview, god made his will manifest. Of course, god never does his own dirty work any more. After all that horror with the flood, and raining fire on cities, and murdering children in their sleep throughout Egypt, it seems that god got tired of doing his own work. Instead, god uses humans to carry out his will for him.
Dylann Roof isn't anything more than an instrument of god. He simply carried out god's will. I know many would claim that this was Satan, but we've got to remember that even Satan is merely an instrument of god. Even Satan is just part of god's will. According to scripture everything is simply god's will. Every murderer and rapist, child molester and wife beater, and every other terrible person and thing that happens on this earth, are all supposedly just a part of god's will.
So who are these good Christians to question their god's will? Why are they weeping and crying out to god? Don't they realize that god did this? Don't they understand that this is exactly what god wanted and this should simply be a boon to their faith? Their god just called nine of his children home.
I know that some will read this and find it to be callous, but what is truly callous is a worldview that is built on the idea of a god who supposedly works this way and does these things. That is exactly what the Bible teaches though. It says that everything is simply part of god's will and that we humans must simply accept it and have faith in god's will and in god. It teaches us that we must accept the idea that god wanted those people to die, and that god wanted it to happen in a horrible and violent way at the hands of a racist right inside a church. What is callous is worshipping a god who not only does not protect those who worship him, but in fact actually causes such a horrible act to befall those innocent people.
Look, my thoughts do go out to the families of those victims. As I said, being an atheist I understand that there is no god who does these things and that there is no afterlife that these victims have gone to. They are gone forever and nothing can change that. No amount of prayer will undo what was done. But as heartless as it may seem, this needs to be said. People need to understand that this is what the bible teaches and that it is not only insane, but also entirely unworthy of anyone's time and attention.
The whole idea at play here is that, while sitting in a house of worship, praying and worshipping their god, that same god sent a man to murder nine people in that very same house of worship. That is the god these people worship... and it's hard to judge which is truly more depraved; the god who supposedly behaves this way... or those who worship such a god.
Photo Credits: Reuters
