Posted on 04/25/2007 12:07:03 AM PDT by goldstategop
Most contracts for goods and services contain an "Act of God" provision. Such provisions typically allow contracting parties to dissolve a contract in case of an unexpected and unavoidable catastrophe: an earthquake, a tsunami, a lightning strike. This is perfectly logical. Man can act based on predictions about human behavior, but has no control over forces of nature. Conversely, human actions demand human responsibility. Only Divine action should be written off as inevitable tragedy.
The Virginia Tech massacre was not an act of God -- it was undeniably an act of man. Yet many Americans have instinctively treated this massive act of evil as a "tragedy," the kind of inevitable calamity destined to befall us from time to time. The media ubiquitously labeled the handiwork of Cho Seung-Hui a "tragedy." They grouped Cho together with his targets in their lists of victims.
This is nothing new. Many Americans described the Columbine massacre as a "tragedy." In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, many Americans -- including President Bush -- termed the most heinous mass slaughter in American history a "national tragedy." When two snipers in the Beltway area began shooting innocents during October 2002, politicians and media alike branded the murders "tragedies."
This addiction to "tragedy" -- and the concurrent refusal to recognize instances of human evil -- breeds a sort of national complacency. Last week, I was discussing the Virginia Tech massacre with a friend, who suggested in passing that we view the mass killing the same way we view airplane crashes, something that "can technically be stopped, but won't in the aggregate ever disappear." This may be true realistically, but it is eminently wrong morally -- and it is tremendously dangerous. It absolves us of the responsibility to make difficult choices. When toleration of evil simply becomes a cost of doing business, we fail in our human task: distinguishing between right and wrong, and fighting for right.
So far, we have been asking the wrong question: Why did Cho Seung-Hui do it? The question does not help us. There is no foolproof way to excise evil at the root. Evil is a weed: resilient, able to sprout and flourish in the slightest crack in the sidewalk. We must assume that there will be evil men and women, no matter how good our society.
The real question is: Why didn't anyone stop him? Cho Seung-Hui walked largely unhindered through the halls of Virginia Tech for almost an hour, systematically mowing down students. A few had the courage to try to do something: Professor Liviu Librescu, a Holocaust survivor, blocked a classroom door with his body, allowing students time to escape; an ROTC student reportedly attempted to tackle Cho from behind; several students attempted to barricade doors against Cho.
But the stark fact remains: One man, armed with a 9mm Glock and a .22-caliber pistol, fired over 100 rounds, killing 32 people. It is difficult to ask why unarmed students did not charge Cho -- but we ask the same questions about Holocaust victims, who faced far greater odds. These are questions worth asking, simply because they force us to ask ourselves what we would do in such a situation. How would we fight evil?
Treating human evil as such creates a culture of resistance; treating human evil as "tragedy" creates, as columnist Mark Steyn puts it, a "culture of passivity." Mass murders may be inevitable, but their extent is not. There may have been no way to prevent the Holocaust; there may have been no way to prevent Cho Seung-Hui from attempting a murderous rampage. But if every death matters, we must create a culture of resistance. As long as we refuse to identify and fight evil, the Warsaw Ghetto will be the exception, not the rule. As long as we refuse to call Cho Seung-Hui what he is, Liviu Librescu will be the exception, not the rule.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
The only one who has truly defeated evil is Jesus Christ. No matter how hard we simple humans try, we’ll always be overcome without Him. :-(
You're right. In order to confront evil we need Jesus. And concealed weapons.
My computer’s built-in dictionary defines “tragedy” as - “an event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress, such as a serious accident, crime, or natural catastrophe”.
It was an act not of God, it was an act of “evil men” behind the scenes, influenced by Satan.........absolutely. More to come..............
The article said — “What happened last week at Virginia Tech was not a tragedy; [ ... ]”
I decided to look it up and see what the word meant...
Main Entry: trag·e·dy
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English tragedie, from Middle French, from Latin tragoedia, from Greek tragidia, from tragos he-goat + -idia (from aeidein to sing); probably from the ancient Greek tragedy’s having been influenced by the Peloponnesian satyr play, in which the satyrs were represented as goatlike rather than horselike creatures; akin to Greek trgein to gnaw — more at ODE, TERSE
[ ... ]
2 a (1) : a disastrous often fatal event or series of events [ ... ]
Citation format for this entry:
“tragedy.” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (25 Apr. 2007).
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It looks like it’s a *TRAGEDY* to me. I think he needs to get another dictionary!
Regards,
Star Traveler
What makes you assume that?
No assumption. God is love, and would not perpetrate an act of evil. Satan is real, and is of this Earth. We are talking supernatural forces that have controlled our lives longer than you care to know.....
From Biblical Times to End Times The NWO Comes Full Circle
http://www.proparanoid.net/nwo.htm
Featuring a list of memberships in NWO organizations
Excerpts from Fatal Rebirth (with minor editing for Web use)
A Proparanoid Press Book by H. Michael Sweeney
Copyright (c) 2005 - All rights reserved
Permissions by Request: Will be granted if page duplicated in full with all credits, images, and links in tact
This is exactly what I feel.
Frankly, I am getting a little sick of this "tragedy" business.
I think we should talk more about "attack" and "outrage".
When you hear libs with their candles at night talking about an event in the aftermath of evil, all you ever here is this "tragedy", "tragedy", "tragedy", "tragedy", "tragedy", "tragedy" business....
You said — “Frankly, I am getting a little sick of this “tragedy” business.”
Well, it may be because they use a simple tool called — the “dictionary”... It looks like *exactly* the right word to me, according to the definition given by Websters...
See post #7
:)) not even close. One, I don’t argue the truth. Two, I am very much aware after years of studing this, finally stopped wrestling with the truth. It’s hard to argue against the truth.
This link is a good summary and idea where to start.
http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/nv2.htm
All this talk of good and evil is all well and good. But how exactly do you “fight” evil? pogroms against nerdy asians and dorky white guys in trench coats?
Most of the whackos are invisible. How do you tell the rainmen from the gunmen(bad pun I know ;)?
Arguing right now takes too much time and will accomplish little. The time is now very short..........as the events have picked up the pace and is moving fast to the end of one era and the beginning of another one.
You said — “This link is a good summary and idea where to start.”
I already know where to start, to see an account of the one-world government — it’s Revelation. The one-world government is coming whether you or I like it or not. It’s — in fact — basically *decreed* by God. And so, nothing is going to stop it.
And then, secondly, it’s going to be over according to the account in Revelation 20. The Bible tells you all you need to know about the one-world government.
—
And as far as the dictionary definition, it fits exactly — it was disastrous (at least to those who got shot...) and it was fatal, and it was an “event” and it was actually a “series” of events, too — all fitting exactly into the definition...
I couldn't agree with you more!
It was quoted — “The Virginia Tech massacre was not an act of God — it was undeniably an act of man.”
And then you said — “Undeniably.”
One must always keep in mind that even though many of these things are at the hands of man, they *cannot happen* — without — the express permission of God. If God does not give permission, they won’t happen. It’s that simple.
The book of Job makes that abundantly clear. And many other places in the Bible extend that idea so that it’s *unmistakeable* — that *nothing can happen* without the express permission of God, even if *you* are a free agent and even if you are the one making the decision.
That’s the nature of God and He makes it clear that it is so.
That is one interpretation.
It’s no interpretation, God says so very explicitly in the Bible. You either reject what God says or you accept what He says. It appears that you’re saying that you wish to reject what He says...
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