The Evil Among Us

Needless to say, we are all heartbroken about the tragedy in Norway.  As a parent hardly anything I can think of would exceed the sadness of losing a child.  The stories of the kids trying to escape the island are horrific.  What comes to mind is the question of why, apparently there was no armed security or anyone on the island carrying a weapon who might have been able to intervene sooner than the ninety minutes it took the police to get onto the island?  I know the whole idea of having armed security around, particularly around kids gives some people the heebie-jeebies, but how many kids might be alive today had there been armed guards on the island?  At my church, where we had fatal shootings several years ago we have armed police and armed plain-clothed security at all of our events.  Some people that it's horrible to have weapons and guards at a church service.  Some think it's non- or even anti-Christian.  They argue that it violates scriptures, that Jesus would never approve.  On the contrary, I believe that Jesus would encourage us to protect our women and children from the evil intents of bad people.  And as we have personally experienced, churches (and kids' camps and shopping malls) are not sacred ground; they are not safe from acts of violence.  To leave oneself and one's family unprotected simply because "it's church after all" is naive, irresponsible and frankly cowardly.  The simple fact is that law enforcement cannot protect people at the moment of crime.  That's not their primary responsibility and the resources do not exist to carry out such a monumental charge.  The presence of an effective police force to track down criminals and bring them to swift and certain justice can be a powerful deterrent, but will not stop all people with evil, violent intent from carrying out their crimes.  Some individuals are simply crazy and others have evil agendas and will stop at nothing to carry through with them.  Thus, individual citizens must be prepared, in many different ways to avoid and deal with crimes against their persons, families and property.  Yes, that may mean legally carrying a weapon, being trained in its proper use and being willing to use it if necessary to defend themselves and their family.  This is a mature understanding of the world we live in and the responsibility of defending what is yours.  There have always been evil people with violent criminal intent in the world, they exist today and will always be with us.  To naively think that we live in such enlightened times now that we can ignore these unsettling realities and eschew the messy business of defending ourselves is self-deceptive and dangerous.  Sadly, we can see the results in Norway.  Let this be, if anything good a wake-up call to dozing people and societies around the world to squarely face the realities of the modern world and take appropriate steps now to avoid another tragedy of this nature in the future.  Good bless the families and friends of the lost and my prayers for the injured for quick and complete recoveries.