Editorial June 12, 1989 Issue

Safety under God's law

Ann Kenrick

In the aftermath of the recent soccer tragedy in Sheffield, England, in which many lives were lost, we naturally ask ourselves what can be learned to prevent such calamities. It is easy after the event to try to find the cause of the disaster and apportion blame, but a more constructive way is to realize that we all share a collective responsibility. Obviously, practical steps will need to be taken in crowd control and improved stadium facilities. But, at a deeper level, society needs to look for the spiritual solutions that will help to change mental attitudes which have led to these all-too-frequent tragedies. We need to pay much more attention to the mental atmosphere we all share.

In the wake of such an event, for instance, we might be tempted to believe that at any moment we could become the victims of other people's mistakes or that we are just pawns in some fatalistic scheme where this sort of thing is bound to happen one day anyway. But this negative thinking doesn't contribute to practical solutions and certainly never heals. In fact, it adds to the burden of guilt and sorrow that would weigh heavily on the families that have been bereaved.

Many of the people in Jesus' time believed that calamities were the result of sin. After eighteen men, who were building an aqueduct under the walls of Jerusalem, were killed when a tower fell on them, the Master asked, "Think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?" He unequivocally repudiated such a notion: "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."^{Luke 13:4, 5.}

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