Thoughts on Aurora

I've been trying to formulate my thoughts regarding the massacre in Aurora, CO. My prayers go out to the victims and their families. I pray for all those who survived the horrifying scene because I can't begin to understand what they experienced. I also pray for the gunman and his family. He is obviously a disturbed individual and this must be a nightmare for his family and friends; I imagine many of them are feeling guilty that they missed the warning signs.

In the wake of such wickedness I have been left with the question: what can I do?  How can I make it so that this sort of thing doesn't happen again?  The only answer I have gotten is: look in the mirror.  The Aurora, CO gunman is responsible for the deaths of 12 people, injuring 58 others, and terrorizing a town. For as much as I would like to change that, I simply can't.  But, I am responsible for the things that I say and do. If I want to make the world a better place, then I had better start with myself.

"For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." (ESV Romans 7:7) How often I have thought about this line?! I'm sure I'm not alone in this. There have been so many times when I open my mouth and say something that I shouldn't say and, worse yet, I know I shouldn't say it.

I have heard people demanding gun control, clamping down on violence in movies, not allowing people to wear costumes into movie theaters.  I'm not sure any of these measures will work, because they haven't in the past.  When something horrible happens it's natural to want to make sweeping changes to "fix" the situation, but if my heart is still crooked, then nothing has really changed.  C.S. Lewis said, "When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him." I need to clear out the evil that dwells in my own heart.