Meaningless Existence Leads to Death

This week’s news of Matthew Murray, the gunman that opened fire not once, but twice at two religious organizations in Colorado, leaves me nauseous. Not for the crime, nor for the locations, so much as for the dark, driving force inside this young man. He said it himself on his blogsite, "I've just snapped. I can't take this meaningless existence anymore…”¹

It doesn’t have to be this way. Yes, Matthew grew up going to church, but that doesn’t mean he knew God as his Savior. If he did ever meet God and give his life to Him, he stopped depending on Him to be his strength in time of trouble—he had no hope. Murray was not alone in his misery:

·         Four days earlier a gunman in Omaha opened fire into a crowded mall, killed eight people and then killed himself.²

·         Studies show, “Mental health problems and suicide rates have increased among U.S. troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.”³

·         A woman leaped from an 11-story Tokyo apartment Wednesday in an apparent suicide, striking and seriously injuring a passer-by, a news report said Wednesday (the same day as Omaha).⁴

·         The suicide rate among preteen and young teen girls spiked dramatically in a disturbing shift that federal health officials say they can't fully explain. For all young people between ages 10 to 24, the suicide rate rose 8 percent from 2003 to 2004 the biggest single-year bump in 15 years ." These rates include older teen girls, those aged 15-19 shot up 32 percent. ⁵

The statistics could go on for pages. I know you know that. However, what federal health officials cannot explain can be explained in one word—hopelessness. It is here I will sound like the “broken record” and repeat myself yet again. God is our hope, the only hope for mankind. It’s a daily journey of knowing him through his Word (the Bible), depending on the principles therein and trusting that our lives are not meaningless. Our existence is not some futile random chance.

There really is a God. There really is life after death—either in the presence of the loving God or in eternal darkness away from God. Jesus really is the reason for the season. I pray his peace will surround and encourage all of those whose lives have been affected by the tragedies of this last week.

Know God; know peace. No God; no peace.

Know God; know hope. No God; no hope.

Find words of comfort and encouragement here.

You can find more intriguing writings like this at http://www.keytofreedom.org/faq.html

1 http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316387,00.html

2 http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/05/mall.shooting/

3 http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=3860587

4 http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3801575

5 http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=3574114

Comments

[Janna]

Once again you and I are on the same page. I think I'll link to you as I've written about some of the same subject matter in my past two posts. Thanks for doing the research that I didn't take time to do regarding the statistics reflecting the hopelessness of this age without Christ.