To Save ALL Men

Share

Like many of you, I am saddened by today’s shooting massacre in Connecticut. President Obama will probably say it’s a time for “introspection”, and I agree with him although not for the same reasons. He will talk about, like he did at the time of the last domestic shooting, how we need to consider how we are at fault, about these children, or about how if he had a son it would look like Trayvon. I think it’s a time to consider based on our reactions where we really are this year as we prepare to make goals in 2013.

So far this morning, I have seen my facebook and twitter feeds awash with violent reactions to the violence. All sorts of disparaging remarks have been made about the shooter, about him getting his due “if there is a hell”, and the like. I think this tells me far more about the people who feel this way than it tells me about the shooter, particularly as more details come out about him. If he really is autistic, has Aspergers, or something else, then I am inclined to pray for him, because he will probably remember this in eternity even though if those details are true it might not be his fault.

We are quick, too quick, sometimes to point out the weaknesses in others. Drawing attention to the mistakes in others does nothing to strengthen yours. All it does is deflect. It comes across as extremely self-righteous, which is perhaps the great plague of our age. We are proud, so proud that we do not pray to God to forgive us but rather pray that He will punish those we do not know or do not like. I think we completely miss the point of Christ if that is our attitude.

All of us have sinned and as such fall short of God's glory. All of us needed the Savior's sacrifice to have any hope for anything except for "death, hell and the devil". Christ came to save ALL men, not just the ones who loved him back. Why else would he forgive the Romans who crucified him with the plea, "for they know not what they do"? In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote the following warning:

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. --Romans 12:19

The law of the land would have dealt with this man if he were still alive. Now that he is in God’s presence, the matter of his guilt is no matter to us. What remains to us is to make useful work of what remains and take care of those who were hurt physically and emotionally by his actions. Furthermore, Christ has admonished us in latter days what our true responsibility is.

Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin. I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men. –D&C 64:9-10

Years ago, I learned a poem which warns against harboring resentment and anger. Turned inwards, it is an unconquerable enemy capable of damaging us beyond our poor power to repair. The angry can only find peace through Christ. I know that intimately.

As we consider this tragedy, remember there is another tragedy unfolding in the form of our reactions to the choices of another. We ascribe evil adjectives to his motives because we do not know the facts. Even the wise cannot see all ends. I think we do the shooter, the innocent victims, society as a whole, and ourselves most especially a disservice if we deny Christ the power and opportunity to save the shooter from his guilt and error as well as the victims and the survivors from their own. Christ came after all to save ALL men, not just our friends, families, and neighbors. As we celebrate His birth in just over a week, let us remember that, and then the deaths of those poor children will have been wise, because they will have brought us closer to Christ.

"In order to really believe in the power of the atonement, we must all leave room for the possibility that Saul can become Paul." -me