"All I want to do is kill and injure as many of you ... as I can especially Christians who are to blame for most of the problems in the world."
These were the words of Matthew Murray, the 24 year-old who killed four Christians in Colorado this weekend. He was clearly driven by revenge, and by his own issues with his former church, as biographical details reveal.
Yet when I read the words quoted above, I couldn't help but think of books such as Christopher Hitchens' God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Such books by the New Atheists, as they are termed, have lent legitimacy to the notion that all religion, if taken seriously, leads society down a destructive path. (Murray's actions seem to lead to a different conclusion, actually; his motives were clearly not religious but anti-religious in nature!)
In the days of the early church, similar accusations were propagated. The Christians saw this as slander, for it's clear from reading the New Testament that the Christian is to be the most conscientious citizen of all. The Christian who is motivated by devotion to God, and understands the Savior's sacrifice, seeks the well being of all -- not because he is enslaved to the state, but precisely because he is not.
Sadly, Christians have become easy targets. But it's not just because the world loves a scapegoat - it's because Christians have too often not been the citizens God calls us to be. "Nature abhors a vacuum" -- and when Christians are not readily known by their love, the accusations of outsiders appear more plausible.
Therefore let's consider the words of 1 Peter:
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as those sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. (1 Peter 2:12-14)
And let's pray that the following words of that same epistle will not be true of us:
But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. (1 Peter 4:15)
And most importantly, let's remember what Peter says next!
Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God... For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:16-17)
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