Living in Fear

School shootings remain a terrifying staple of news in the U.S. The most recent shooting occurred in a Maryland high school on Tuesday, March 20. Two students were critically injured before the shooter himself was killed (Chicago Tribune, March 20, 2018).

Over the last three weeks in Austin, Texas, five bombs detonated, killing two people and injuring four others (Fox News, March 20, 2018). The packages appear to have been delivered to random victims, including an elderly woman, and were rigged with different technologies. On Wednesday, police stopped a suspect, who detonated a device in his vehicle and killed himself before police could apprehend him (U.S. News, March 21, 2018). Authorities were concerned that there may be additional bombs.

Fear is rising among parents and children over the safety of public schools and universities. As a result, different measures—some as drastic as arming classroom teachers—are being considered as a means of preventing killings in what were once some of America’s safest locations: its schools. Austin residents are also fearful, not knowing where a bomb may detonate next (Associated Press, March 20, 2018).

The sobering truth is that societal fear is something the Bible predicted would grip the Israelite-descended nations if they turned away from God and rejected His laws: “[If] you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you” (Leviticus 26:15–16). As society drifts further away from the moral foundation of the Ten Commandments, we will see more acts of terror in our midst. However, God is not a vindictive God. He takes “no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezekiel 33:11). To learn about solutions for growing societal fears, be sure to read “Will the Terrorists Win?”