Virginia Tech Massacre

Wow. Today was a horrible day -- it makes me sick to think about it. 32 innocent people just wiped out by one nutcase.

Yesterday's message from church seems somehow even more relevant today.

I'm just hoping that some well-meaning "Christian" leader doesn't add to the pain of these students and families by suggesting some profound sounding psuedo-spiritual reason for the massacre. That absolutely disgusted me in the wake of hurricane Katrina -- "Christians" claimed that Katrina was divine punishment for everything from gambling to drunkenness to slavery.

After 9/11, I was actually in a church where the pastor said that more people would have survived if they had been "tuned in" to God and listened to his warnings. He cited instances of folks who only survived because they were late for work that morning or decided to run other errands before coming to the office. What an insensitive position to take... not only is your loved one gone, but they couldn't have possibly been "tuned in" to God when they died. In other words, they must have been lousy Christians if they were Christians at all.

My thoughts and prayers are with the students and their families... and with those who will be ministering to them in the days to come. I hope they will have the wisdom to apply salve rather than salt to the wounds.