Newtown

Another story of unspeakable objective evil, mental illness, grief and blaming guns.

• Ad Orientem: The English language contains no words capable of conveying the horror attendant upon the deliberate massacre of small children. May God save us and have mercy on all those affected by this barbarous crime.
• Christopher Johnson: I’ve never been a parent. So I not only have no idea, I can’t even begin to conceive what the Newtown, Connecticut parents who lost their children today, those Newtown parents who didn’t lose their children, and, hell, parents the world over must be thinking or experiencing right now.
• Facebook:
  • Solzhenitsyn quotation: If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
  • It’s not a political issue, and may bitter shame attend those who try to make it one. It’s not a religious issue. It’s not about theodicy or the doctrine of providence. No one can explain it. No experts can make a plan to prevent it. It’s not an issue of any sort, and decent folk know they are not entitled to an opinion about it. Three things alone are proper: the silence that avails alone when words are unavailing; the respect due the dead and those who mourn them; and a determination to be ethical and decent ever hereafter. There are people in Connecticut who are hurting tonight. The rest of us have to stay sane and strong for their sake. Beautifully written but I’d say it is to do with theodicy. Right, I can’t explain.
  • People are already offering solutions to this tragedy. There isn’t one. Evil people exist. They always will. Some people are simply born broken. They want to rape, hurt, kill, whatever. You can prepare for them, look out for them, be vigilant, but you can’t legislate them or counsel them not to be broken.
  • A reminder: Banning guns, banning psychiatric drugs, banning violent video games, banning free speech — none of this will destroy sin in the human heart. And none of it will bring slaughtered children back to life.
  • I say we take Christ’s example, spend three days standing in hell with our brothers and sisters, and then come back and worry about the rest of it. Please.