Sentinel Watch October 1, 2012 Issue

Clarity about God when innocents are killed

Lois Carlson—Chicago, Illinois

First appeared as a Web original on August 22, 2012

Courtesy photo

Sensibilities are shaken when congregants gathered in prayer become victims of a gunman’s malice, killing six, wounding and terrorizing others as happened at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin recently. It feels like an eerie echo of the 12 people who died and 58 who were wounded while watching a movie only weeks before in Aurora, Colorado.

But this I know: Despite the aggressive attempts of some religionists to claim otherwise, God does not kill certain people as punishment for other people’s sins. People who claim so in the name of Christ are misinformed about Christ. 

When I hear of anyone who has passed on for any reason, I find I have to be sure I’m not sliding into acquiescence with the finality of death. My Christian conviction of the eternality of life and the resurrecting power of the Christ here and now, makes me want to defend the continuity of the individual’s life, even though it is hard for me to see it. 