an essay that explains what happened in the massacre of the children in connecticut that your really ought to read .... as the state governor said, "something evil this way comes ... "

i confess the author of the following essay possessed of talents and resources i do not have to expiate the source of the violence that engulfed the lives of the children in their school rooms, when violence walked among them.

john eldredge is a learned and religious man, and author of "why newtown is more important than we think," printed at his blog on 12.17.2012.  http://ransomedheart.com/blogs/john/why-newtown-more-important-we-think . 

i am going to print the entire essay below the break, as well as including the link above.  i think the points made in the essay are important enough that you have access to the entire work.

but, read this excerpt, and understand the brilliance of the writing.--

"'i remember a little boy of my acquaintance who was once walking in battersea park under just such torn skies and tossing trees...he said at last to his mother, ‘well, why don’t you take away the trees, and then it wouldn’t wind.’ nothing could be more intelligent or natural than this mistake. any one looking for the first time at the trees might fancy that they were indeed vast and titanic fans, which by their mere waving agitated the air around them for miles. nothing, i say, could be more human and excusable than the belief that it is the trees which make the wind. indeed, it is a belief so human and excusable that it is, as a matter of fact, the belief of about ninety-nine out of a hundred of the philosophers, reformers, sociologists, and politicians of the great age in which we live. my small friend was, in fact, very like the principal modern thinkers; only much nicer.'”  [quoting from an essay by g.k. chesterton, fully cited in the text.]

"chesterton was describing the naiveté that has since paralyzed the world, a naiveté revealed by our shock. what do you really believe about the cause of the "storm?"

"you would think that after a century which included the holocaust, stalin, the khmer rouge, and the rise of terrorism to name but a few, we would have been cured from our childish ideas about evil. you would think that after any one of the hundreds of atrocities of the past few years, we would have been cured. rwanda, 9/11, human trafficking—what is it going to take?

"i was heartened at first by the early words of connecticut governor dan malloy when he said, 'evil visited this community today.' that is exactly right; that is precisely what happened. but the clarity—he may have only been using a metaphor—was quickly lost in the subsequent media barrage. our leaders are reacting to the newtown massacre by calling for gun control; how unspeakably foolish. now, this is not an essay on gun control; i am speaking to our understanding of our situation and the forces we are dealing with. but the cries for gun control reveal the naiveté—they are crying for the trees to be cut down while they ignore the wind."  http://ransomedheart.com/blogs/john/why-newtown-more-important-we-think .

well, the last several sentences are said with such precision and exactitude that i can offer little additional explanation, except to say that it is the twisted malice of the wielder of the weapon that kills, and no "solution" to the murder of innocents can be genuinely obtained except by understanding this fact.

such malice will find a way to achieve its ends, unless it is confronted and battled.

i print the entire essay below the break.  it is brilliant, and i recommend it to you.  please read it.

and, you may understand that i will visit mr. eldredge's blog from time to time, just to see what he has to say about things.

john jay @ 12.20.2012

 

 

Why Newtown is More Important than We Think, by John Eldredge.

 

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity. (Yeats, The Second Coming)

 

Evil struck again.

And while I would prefer a solemn silence—the only good thing Job’s counselors offered him—so many unhelpful things are being said and suggested around the Newtown massacre I found myself compelled to write. Because the question of evil may be the greatest question the world faces today. How do we deal with evil? How do we prevent such tragedy?

It all depends on what you think is causing this.

I hope you will forgive my honesty, but I do not understand the shock. The grief I understand. The speechlessness, the staggering, the profound sorrow, the overwhelming sense of violation—these I understand. We are reeling from yet another assault of darkness. But our shock reveals something else altogether, something even more dangerous than armed violence.

I am describing a naiveté about the world that Christians, at least, should not be toying with.

In his brilliant essay The Wind in the Trees, GK Chesterton explains our misunderstanding by means of a great storm he experienced:

“I am sitting under tall trees, with a great wind boiling like surf about the tops of them, so that their living load of leaves rocks and roars....The wind tugs at the trees as if it might pluck them root and all out of the earth like tufts of grass. Or, to try yet another desperate figure of speech for this unspeakable energy, the trees are straining and tearing and lashing as if they were a tribe of dragons each tied by the tail.

As I look at these top-heavy giants tortured by an invisible and violent witchcraft, a phrase comes back into my mind. I remember a little boy of my acquaintance who was once walking in Battersea Park under just such torn skies and tossing trees...he said at last to his mother, ‘Well, why don’t you take away the trees, and then it wouldn’t wind.’ Nothing could be more intelligent or natural than this mistake. Any one looking for the first time at the trees might fancy that they were indeed vast and titanic fans, which by their mere waving agitated the air around them for miles. Nothing, I say, could be more human and excusable than the belief that it is the trees which make the wind. Indeed, it is a belief so human and excusable that it is, as a matter of fact, the belief of about ninety-nine out of a hundred of the philosophers, reformers, sociologists, and politicians of the great age in which we live. My small friend was, in fact, very like the principal modern thinkers; only much nicer.”

Chesterton was describing the naiveté that has since paralyzed the world, a naiveté revealed by our shock. What do you really believe about the cause of the "storm?"

You would think that after a century which included the Holocaust, Stalin, the Khmer Rouge, and the rise of terrorism to name but a few, we would have been cured from our childish ideas about evil. You would think that after any one of the hundreds of atrocities of the past few years, we would have been cured. Rwanda, 9/11, human trafficking—what is it going to take?

I was heartened at first by the early words of Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy when he said, “Evil visited this community today.” That is exactly right; that is precisely what happened. But the clarity—he may have only been using a metaphor—was quickly lost in the subsequent media barrage. Our leaders are reacting to the Newtown massacre by calling for gun control; how unspeakably foolish. Now, this is not an essay on gun control; I am speaking to our understanding of our situation and the forces we are dealing with. But the cries for gun control reveal the naiveté—they are crying for the trees to be cut down while they ignore the wind.

It is this naiveté regarding evil that is the crisis of our age. And it is most dangerous.

For the Christian knows certain things about the world, things we must never ever lose hold of. We know from whence evil comes; we know what to do about it. We know—or we are supposed to know—that we live in a world at war; we are living in the midst of a very real and extremely brutal battle with the kingdom of darkness. While most Christians are still playing at happy little life (and angry at God for “allowing” terrible things to happen), the Scriptures continually warn us of a great evil power, who rules the world, whom we must contend with. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). In other words, with the demonic.

But, apparently T.S. Eliot was right: “Humankind cannot bear too much reality.”

We seem utterly devoted to avoiding the question of evil, to misdiagnosing it, completely committed to a childish view of the world. And our foolishness is proving very costly. For as Chesterton went on to say, “The great human heresy is that the trees move the wind.” By this he means the heresy that it is economics, race, poverty, a political party or doctrine that are the real causes of evil in the world; in this case, that it is the lack of gun control that causes evil in the world. Is the evil therefore located in the gun? Far more people are killed by automobile accidents each year in the U.S.—is the evil located in those vehicles?

How long will we continue to ignore the actual wind that tortures this world “by an invisible and violent witchcraft?”

Chesterton concluded his essay with a warning: “When people begin to say that the material circumstances have alone created the moral circumstances, then they have prevented all possibility of serious change....And nothing will ever be reformed in this age or country unless we realize that the moral fact comes first.” Good and evil come first.

We prevent all possibility of serious change when we hold childish views regarding evil, regarding the Great War in which we find ourselves. I suppose for the world the naiveté is understandable. For the Christian, it is inexcusable. We cannot toy with sociological, psychological or political explanations for the evil now ravaging the planet. Because we have answers.

There are answers both to the evil in the world, and the evil in the human heart. God moved long ago to deal with both, and triumphantly. What greater hope could possibly be spoken? This is what the world longs to know—"Why doesn't God do something?" God has acted; he has intervened, at the cost of his own life. There are answers, there are solutions, there is a way out. But we will not seek them while we take a four-year-old view of the world; while we blame the the "trees" for the raging storm.

How differently would the church pray if we really believed we are at war with the kingdom of darkness? How differently would we live and act in this world?

That “difference,” my brothers and sisters, would make an enormous difference.

http://ransomedheart.com/blogs/john/why-newtown-more-important-we-think

 

 

Comments

[Jewel]

Beautiful essay. Humanity cannot stand too much reality. No truer words were spoken. Our fictions are about over, I'd say, John. We either get used to the darkness, or strike a match and light a candle. Woe to them who call darkness light.
I am reminded of an episode of Star Trek the Next Generation, where Captain Picard is being tortured by a Cardassian interrogator and all he wants from Picard is this: Simply agree that there are 5 lights shining above him. Picard can't and won't, because he knows there are only four lights.
Every time he states that there are only four lights, he is inflicted with enormous pain from across the desk with the flick of a button. Nice and sterile. Usually how evil is, isn't it. Clean and neat.
There are only four lights now, and they are all starting to dim.

[john jay]

jewel:

wonderful to hear from you.

yes, agreed on all points. and, i remember the episode w/ picard very well.

truth is truth. no matter how damned inconvenient it is.

and, yes, the essay by john eldredge is wonderfully crafter, and g.k. chesterton was apparently no slouch at exposition as well.

chop down the trees to stop the wind, indeed.

good to hear from you, jewel. have a merry christmas, and god's speed and protection. that may be of some importance in the days to come.

i am afraid that obama and ilk are tree cutters. and tongue cutters, as well, to be done with those who try to quash their plans.

we'll see.

john

[Rod]

JJ -
I tried posting a few thoughts to your previous notes of yesterday. None of the four attempts at posting remained after I logged off. I suspect some new filters of censorship by TypePad or other entity. I fear that we may be headed towards an unavoidable confrontation with our elected but miss-guided federal govenment.

I will try again with some newer information. This is in circulation after the fact. It pretty much parallels your post.

THIS IS THE VOICE IN THE DARKNESS-------THAT ALL NEED TO HEAR:

COLUMBINE STUDENT'S FATHER 12 YEARS LATER !!
Guess our national leaders didn't expect this. On
Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the
Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited
to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee. What he
said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress
was painfully truthful.

They were not prepared for what he
was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every
parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every
psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words
spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply
personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying
in the wilderness.. The following is a portion of the
transcript:

"Since the dawn of creation there has been both
good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the
seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my
wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic
teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain.
Their blood cries out for answers.

"The first recorded act of
violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The
villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the
National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason
for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.

"In the
days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how
quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am
not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun.
I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't
believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore
I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they
had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest
opponent

I am here today to declare that Columbine was not
just a tragedy -- it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us
to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in
this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the
accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that
expresses my feelings best.

Your laws ignore our deepest
needs,
Your words are empty air.
You've stripped away our
heritage,
You've outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our
classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers
everywhere,
And ask the question "Why?"
You regulate
restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail
to understand,
That God is what we need!

"Men and
women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and
spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up,
we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in
and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our
educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our
major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical
fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor
God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And
when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs --
politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They
immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to
erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more
restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by
metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends
months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within
our own hearts.

"As my son Craig lay under that table in the
school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very
eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or
politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in
America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999,
at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do
not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare
to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for
legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with
Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA -- I

give to you a sincere challenge.. Dare to examine your own heart
before casting the first stone!
My daughter's death will not be
in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to
happen!"
- Darrell Scott

[john jay]

rod:

no blocks here, anything like that.

i suspect it is because your notes sometimes run to some length.

you may be getting spammed. i don't know if you get "saved" if you are spammed or not.

i will check.

john