Where Was God in
Aurora?
A day or two after the
Aurora, Colorado massacre on July 21,
2012, Stephen Prothero, a religious
blogger at CNN, teased CNN readers by
transposing Pope Benedict’s 2006
question form, “Where was God
during Auschwitz?” to
“Where was God in Aurora?”
A few days later, Prothero indicated
on his blog that seven basic answers
could be distilled from the 10.000+
responses he received:
1.There is no God.
2. Don’t blame God, blame Satan.
3. Don’t blame God, blame us.
(Human beings have free will.)
4. God was behind the massacre, and
it was just (because this nation has
turned its back on God).
5. God was present at the massacre
with the victims, but not the
perpetrator.
6. Which God?
7. Who knows? It’s a mystery.
Before offering my
thoughts on God’s whereabouts
during the Aurora massacre (12 people
killed and 58 wounded), consider
these facts: Wikipedia
estimates that approximately 9,500
civilians have been killed or
murdered during the past 18 months in
Syria. Between march 2003 and
April 2009, the Associated Press
estimates that 110,600 civilians were
killed in Iraq. In 2009 alone,
there were 15,241 murders in the
United States, and Wikipedia also
reports that since 2006,
approximately 9,000 civilians have
been killed in Afghanistan. If
we go back in time, we could ask,
“Where was God when Pol Pot,
Charles Taylor, Idi Amin, Stalin, and
Hitler were in power?”
Collectively, these despots killed
tens of millions of innocent people.
I know people tend to catalog the
deaths of innocent people in war-torn
areas as “unfortunate collateral
damage,” but isn’t the
massacre in Aurora another case of
“unfortunate collateral
damage?”
Let me explain. If
a soldier is engaged in warfare and
he kills unarmed civilians or if an
angry or insane person kills or
wounds innocent people, is there a
difference? In both cases,
innocent people die and our judicial
systems (civilian and military) say
there is no difference. Predatory
violence is a crime and felons are
(or should be) punished accordingly.
For example, you may recall that just
last year, army sergeant Calvin Gibbs
was found guilty of three counts of
killing civilians in Iraq and
sentenced to life in prison.
As you continue
reading this article, keep this
definition in mind: A
tragedy occurs when a predator harms
an innocent person.
Predators can harm people in many
different ways. For example,
on June 22, retired Penn State
football coach, Jerry Sandusky, was
found guilty of 45 of 48 counts of
sexually abusing several minors.
Even though Jerry Sandusky did not
kill anyone, the jury concluded that
he had seriously harmed several young
men. More and more it seems,
the media tells tragic stories.
Do not forget though, the news media
is limited to reporting “known
sin.” Given the
fact that the world population is
seven billion, there must be an
infinite number of tragedies going on
that are hidden and unknown. I
have highlighted these examples to
put some perspective on the tragedy
in Aurora, but let me be clear,
tragedies will not end until the
Second Coming. Instead, I
believe we really need to ask this
more encompassing question: “Where
is God?” Remember,
tragedies have continued since Cain
killed Abel!
If a person dies when
he is 125 years old, we would
conclude that he lived “an
unusually long life.” However,
when compared to God’s life
span, 125 years is nothing, not even
statistically significant. This
comparison is important because when
we investigate the ways and plans of
an infinite God who knows no haste or
delay, large samples of time are
required. King David wrote, “For
a thousand years in your sight are
like a day that has just gone by, or
like a watch in the night.” (Psalm
90: 4)
If a person wants to
study the character and ways of the
Most High God, he must study the
Bible because it is the only document
on Earth that actually quotes God.
Within the Bible, apocalyptic
prophecy proves the existence of the
Most High God because He alone can
declare the end from the beginning
and no one else can do this. Moreover,
the Bible has documented God’s
actions, declarations, love, and
plans over the 6,000 years. No
other document does this. The
Bible declares that the Most High God
is love (1 John 4: 7, 8), but
God’s love is poorly understood
and this ignorance has created an
endless amount of scoffing and
skepticism. Fortunately,
certain elements of God’s love
can be understood because God is
reasonable as the sciences He has
created (although it does require
effort to understand Him and His
sciences). As we continue to
discuss “Where is God when
tragedies occur?” let us first
consider five things the Bible says
about God:
1. Great King.
The Bible says that the Most High
is a great king. “For
the Lord is the great God, the great
King above all gods. In his
hands are the depths of the Earth,
and the mountains peaks belong to
him. The sea is His, for He
made it, and His hands formed the dry
land. Come, let us bow down in
worship, let us kneel before the Lord
our Maker.” (Psalm 95: 3-6)
“For by Him all things were
created: things in Heaven and
on Earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or powers or rulers
or authorities; all things were
created by Him and for Him.”
(Colossians 1:16)
2. God Is Patient.
The Bible says the Lord is
patient: “The Lord is
not slow in keeping his promise [to
bring the problem of sin to an end], as
some understand slowness. He is
patient with you, not wanting anyone
to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance.” (2 Peter
3:9, insertion mine)
3. God Sees
Everything. The Bible says
the Lord’s eyes sweep over the
Earth, He sees everything: “For
the eyes of the Lord range throughout
the Earth to strengthen those whose
hearts are fully committed to
him… The Lord knows the thoughts
of man; he knows that they are futile
[unwise].” (2
Chronicles 16:9, Psalm 94: 11,
insertion mine)
4. God Holds Each
Person Accountable for His Actions.
The Bible says that God holds a
person accountable for his actions:
“For God will bring every
deed into judgment, including every
hidden thing, whether it is good or
evil.” (Ecclesiastes
12:14) “For we must
all appear before the judgment seat
of Christ, that each one may receive
what is due him for the things done
while in the body, whether good or
bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10)
5. God Deals with
Mankind on Two Levels. This
may come as a surprise, but God deals
with mankind on two levels, a
corporate level and an individual
level. Please consider a few of
the distinctions between these
events:
Throughout
Earth’s history, God has
“organized” people into groups
of people called tribes, nations,
or countries. The Bible says, “From
one man [Adam] He made every
nation of men, that they should
inhabit the whole Earth; and He
determined the times set for them and
the exact places where they should
live.” (Acts 17:26,
insertion mine) Nations to not
arise by the prowess of men. The
prophet Daniel said, “He [God]
changes times and seasons; He sets
up kings and disposes them. He
gives wisdom to the wise and
knowledge to the discerning….so
that the living may know that the
Most High is sovereign over the
kingdoms of men and gives them to
anyone he wishes and sets over them
the lowliest of men.” Daniel
2:21, 4:17, insertion mine)
Consider how the Most
High dealt with the whole world
in Noah’s day: “Now
the Earth was corrupt in God’s
sight and was full of violence.
God saw how corrupt the Earth had
become, for all the people on Earth
had corrupted their ways. So
God said to Noah, ‘I am going to
put an end to all people, for the
Earth is filled with violence because
of them. I am surely going to
destroy both them and the
Earth.” (Genesis 6: 11-13)
These and many other verses in the
Bible indicate that God takes action
when a group of people reach a
point where extended mercy has no
redeeming effect. At times
throughout history, God has destroyed
nations so that future generations
can know about His love. Remember,
God sees oncoming generations with
the same clarity that He sees the
current generation. God
destroys a wicked generation so that
oncoming generation will not suffer
under the same burden of guilt
created by their forefathers. In
other words, when a huge number of
predators and abusive people are
destroyed, future generations will
not be subjected to endless rounds of
tragedies, at least for awhile.
God also deals with
mankind at the individual level by
empowering peers to rule over peers.
When God raises up a nation, He
appoints people to rule over people
and He has put a predisposition
within most people’s hearts to
obey their rulers as long as the
rules are honorable. The
Bible says, “Everyone must
submit himself to the governing
authorities, for there is no
authority except that which God has
established. The authorities
that exist have been established by
God. Consequently, he who
rebels against the authority is
rebelling against what God has
instituted, and those who do so will
bring judgment on themselves….He
is God’s servant, an agent of
wrath to bring punishment on the
wrongdoer.” (Romans 13: 1-4)
When rulers do what is right, God
blesses that ruler and his nation.
“Blessed is the nation whose
God is the Lord, the people He chose
for his inheritance. From
Heaven the Lord looks down and sees
all mankind; from His dwelling place
He watches all who live on Earth
– He who forms the hearts of
all, who considers everything they
do. No king is saved by the
size of his army; no warrior escapes
by his own strength. A horse is
a vain hope for deliverance; despite
all its great strength it cannot
save. But the eyes of the Lord
are on those who fear him, on those
whose hope is in his unfailing love,
to deliver them from death and keep
them alive in famine.” (Psalm
33: 12-19)
When leaders
(political and religious) do evil in
God’s sight, God responds in
different ways to eliminate them.
(See Numbers 16:46; 1 Chronicles 21
and 1 Samuel 3: 11-14.) God
holds each leader accountable as a
trustee and each leader is
accountable for his actions.
When Judgment Day arrives, evil
leaders will be punished for their
evil actions. (See
Revelation 6: 15-17.)
When the five Bible
principles mentioned are aligned with
the tragedies mentioned above, we
find consistent behavior. God
grants freedom to each of us as
individuals, but God holds us
accountable for our actions. God
executes corporate punishment on
nations when its majority
passes the point of no return. God
does not often deal with individuals.
Instead, He has generously appointed
leaders over the nations to serve as
trustees of justice, and He allows
peers to deal justly with injustice.
(Note: many wicked people may escape
justice in this life, but at the end
of the 1,000 years, God will
resurrect the wicked and deal with
them on an individual basis. Until
then, God does not generally execute
judgment upon individuals. This
is why Paul wrote, “Do not
take revenge, my friends, but leave
room for God’s wrath, for it is
written: ‘It is mine to avenge;
I will repay,’ says the Lord.
(Romans 12:19)
Summery
The most High is
keenly aware of each and every act of
predatory violence. Jesus told
His disciples “Are not two
sparrows sold for a penny? Yet
not one of them will fall to the
ground apart from the will [knowledge]
of your Father. And even the
very hairs of your head are all
numbered.” (Matthew
10: 29,30, insertion mine) God
is moved by every sorrow (He sees
them all) and He sends the Holy
Spirit with sustaining grace to the
victims. (John 16:7)
So, why did God allow
the tragedy at Aurora, and why has He
allowed tragedies (the harming of
innocent people) to continue for
thousands of years? I can
think of several possibilities, but
here are two. Perhaps it has to
do with numbers! Suppose, at
creation, God foreknew how many years
it would take to repopulate Heaven.
Perhaps God has allowed the curse of
sin to linger on Earth to produce the
number of saints equal to the
billions of angels cast out of Heaven
for rebellion. When that number
is reached, the end will come. Second,
it is possible that God has allowed
the curse of sin to linger for the
sake of knowledge! Suppose that
God foreknew that six millennial days
(6000 years) would be necessary for
evil to fully mature and the
knowledge of good and evil become
complete. Many people still do
not realize that given enough time
and opportunity, every sinner becomes
a predator (a tragedy maker). This
is the curse that comes with sin and
this is why sin (and those who love
it) must be destroyed at the
appointed time.
Human beings tend to
look at circumstances from an earthly
perspective, but God is looking
forward to a new Heaven and a new
Earth and He has patiently taken wise
steps to prevent sin from occurring
again in His universe. (This is
not a simple or easy task given the
fact that God’s children have
the power of choice.) God is
making sure that Earth’s drama
with sin will not be repeated in the
eternity to come. Of course,
the tragedy in Aurora and future
tragedies that will surely come to
light tell us that we have not yet
reached the fullness of God’s
plans. But remember, a new
order is coming.
Unfortunately, as the date draws
near, skeptics and scoffers are
increasingly exponentially.
God is not
“missing in action.” He
waits patiently on His throne. He
has seen the billions of tragedies
that have occurred on Earth. He
has not been inactive. Civilizations
have come and gone because they
reached a point of no return. His
inaction in recent years has given
scoffers a good reason to scoff (they
think). Remember, even if a
person could live to be 125, that is
nothing compared to the Most High who
is timeless and ageless. He has
a wise plan; it is flawless and is on
track. At the appointed time,
we can be sure that He will rise up
and deal with the whole world as He
did in Noah’s day. “As
it was in the days of Noah, so it
will be at the coming of the Son of
Man.” (Matthew 24: 37)
Larry Wilson
