Murder has been around since our first family, Cain and Abel found in the book of Genesis.
In this story, Cain kills his brother Abel because he was jealous of him. He hated the fact that his brother did everything right and his motivation to kill his brother was something that sprung from his own heart. It was cold -blooded murder then and it would be cold blooded murder now.
There is nothing new under the sun.
It is in the heart of every human being to kill and to covet. Oh, you might put on your spiritual mask to hide those sunspots of self-righteousness, but if you and I were to look down deep in the wellspring of our soul, you would see that we are no different.
The majority of us are not likely to grab a .22 rifle and shoot our own brother, but Jesus said in 1 John 3:15 that if we hate our brother, we are then guilty of murder already in our heart.
I am sure even as I said that you thought of the person that you have a grudge against right now, in this moment.
According to the Bible, which I wholeheartedly believe, the only way to be free from this ungodly sickness within us all is to exchange your heart of wickedness for God's heart of love.
I am not trying to talk in “Christianese” here. In fact, I want you to understand from whatever background, culture, and religion you come from, we are ultimately all the same in our makeup. Our creator God built us for relationship with each other, and our greatest enemy to make that happen is the person we look at in the mirror.
Some people blame it on guns, some people blame it on mental disorders, some people blame it on all types of media, and some people even blame it on the devil, but in reality we need to look inward. We need to start with us.
There are a number of verses in the Bible warning us that when we start pointing our fingers, we have three fingers pointing back at us (Romans 2:1, Isaiah 58:9).
Sure, guns are dangerous in the hands of angry and uneducated youth -- or anyone for that matter. And yes, mental disorders have been on the rise and are rapidly increasing in a society, where the Law of God is not permitted. And, oh yes, we do have an adversary we call the devil, who likes to provoke us to bad works while in our wanderings.
And I am certain that violent video games -- my personal pet peeve -- definitely have an impact on the minds and hearts of of our youth, whether you choose to believe it or not.
It's logical that repeated exposure to violence in video games would desensitize a frustrated 15 year old who murders his mother and siblings. And why wouldn’t it desensitize a 22 year old from killing innocent children in a school?
Yes, all these factors play into the reasoning, but the bottom line is that our hearts are wicked. All of our hearts are!
The Bible says that there is no one who does what it is right. We all fall short of His Glory! We all fall short of loving our brother as Christ has loved us. The opposite of hate is love.
So the answer to end the hate crimes in our society is simple, and is summed up in this one commandment, “Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself” (Mathew 22:37-39, Romans 13:9 NIV).
When you follow this law in your heart then I guarantee that you will not be murdering anyone, not even in your heart.
Michele Joseph | Jan 27, 2013 | 10:16am
Jodie, your observations are spot on ! I think that sometimes, we can become so good at ACTING loving,we can come to believe our own act. If we put as much time into BEING loving as we do into ACTING loving, the world would be a much better place .
Denis Eble | Jan 27, 2013 | 11:18am
While the intent of the commentary of Ms Dye is worthy, one does not need to be a reader of the Bible to keep from murdering one another. In fact, I would suggest that reading the Bible may encourage murder, rape, human sacrifice, slavery and ethnic cleansing.
For example in Deuteronomy 20:16-18 ‘God’ commands the Israelites to ethnically cleanse the earth of the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. They pin it on ‘the Lord’ as a justification of total annihilation these 5 tribes of people.“You shall save alive nothing that breathes.”
Imagine Hollywood making a movie of this biblical event! It would necessarily earn an NC-17 rating for depicting such gross violence.
Ms Dye insists that “our hearts are wicked. All of our hearts are!” Really? Well, for sure, the heart of the ‘Lord’ who commanded the death of everything that breathed surely was wicked!
I’ve never though that my heart was wicked nor my wife’s or my children’s. Not my parent’s either. And I see no wickedness in the heart’s of my friends.
Why would evil be a natural condition of being human? And how does the reading of the Bible ameliorate our supposed inward evil? What about the billions of people on earth who never heard of the Judeo-Christian bible? Are their societies more prone to murdering each other than ours?
seibertcraig@hotmail.com | Jan 27, 2013 | 5:43pm
My understanding is that we all are endowed with a higher or spiritual nature and a lower animal one . I don’t at all think we are born in or into sin or creatures by birth with violence and murder in our hearts .. I believe the notion of original sin is a doctrine not Gospel .... That’s my thinking on the subject…the lower or animal nature if I may say is evident in many things like the infant greedily suckling . It is certainly greed and when the breast is removed prematurely , boy does the little one put up an angry fuss !! ( maybe that’s not the best example ? )
We all have a lower nature and I certainly don’t consider that evil .
I adhere to the Baha’i scriptures that sate at one point .” Oh son of man , noble have I created thee , wherefore doth thou abase thyself . “
So the bottom line for me is that we are all created noble and to manifest our nobility . How do I view the patently evil actions shown at times ...what would it be like to see in our media the billions of acts of kindness also ? That wouldn’t sell many papers ....
I worked as a Clinical Therapist for decades with alcoholics and addicts .The addictive substances are almost like some kind of ” entity ” which is ” cunning , baffling and powerful “. And I have been blessed to see many acts of heroism ,hope and faith in people coming to grips and coping effectively with eliminating their substance of choice…getting God , cleaning house and helping others . So I’ve seen people turn themselves away from hurting themselves and others to being a guide for those who still suffer .
I believe that there is not such thing as darkness in itself.. rather what we call darkness is simply the absence of light . It’s not an either/or situation , it is a continuum . I hope this post is received in the manner I intend it to be ...and of course , I feel free to post my personal beliefs here :)) Thank you FAV .
nick batt | Jan 28, 2013 | 3:07pm
good column. cain didn’t need a semi automatic to kill abel, but i must disagree with the commenterseibertcraig. i’ve seen too many todlers, who sweet as we find them, are capable of all the envy, sloth, gluttony violence and all the rest we associate with “original sin”
seibertcraig@hotmail.com | Jan 28, 2013 | 3:51pm
Indeed , my friends in Europe call toddlers the ” little tyrants ’ !
seibertcraig@hotmail.com | Jan 29, 2013 | 1:19pm
“Each child comes with a tremendous intelligence but the family makes him mediocre, because to live with an intelligent child is troublesome. He doubts, he is skeptical, he inquires, he is disobedient, he is rebellious—and the family wants somebody who is obedient, ready to follow, imitate. Hence from the very beginning the seed of intelligence has to be destroyed, almost completely burnt, so there is no possibility of any sprouts coming out of it. ” -anon
One might also apply this idea to our schools .
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