The “missing link” to school violence?
The teaching of Evolutionism in public schools has fostered an environment that leads many students to believe that there is little or no meaning to life. Evolutionary indoctrination declares that we are only animals in the struggle for survival. This has created a mindset in many of our young people that life lacks ultimate purpose and moral absolutes.
While the bankrupt theory of Evolution does not directly lead to horrible school violence, I would argue that if students were shown instead that there is a Creator, who has a purpose and a meaning for His Creation, then this cannot help but give more young people some meaning to their lives.
It’s not surprising that teen suicide, for example, has grown proportionately to the increased teaching of Evolution.
Unfortunately, many church leaders have found it difficult to respond with answers as to why tragedies like school violence and teen suicide occur and are on an uprise. After a school shooting in Oregon, a pastor was quoted as saying, “I don’t have answers, and I can’t find them in the Bible. But I do know that God has not moved out of Springfield.” Although the pastor emphasized God’s love, much more needs to be said about such tragedies, and the Bible does provide answers.
Sin is the ultimate cause of these tragedies (Romans 3:23). Until people are prepared to accept the literal event of Adam’s fall, they will not understand why we see so much evil around us.
About the fall of mankind to worldwide depravity
You see, if our students were simply told that God is a God of love, then they can’t reconcile why He would allow such terrible violence. To understand that sin is the ultimate cause of the problem is also to understand that the blame lies with you and me—with everyone. We all sin in Adam (Romans 5)—that’s why there is death and violence in the world. Collectively, it is our fault!
The same public education system that is looking for answers to such tragedies is teaching students that they are just evolved animals, and that there is no absolute authority and no such thing as sin. Some students—who are convinced of Evolution—believe that life is all about death, violence, and bloodshed because, after all, these are the processes by which they evolved.
Why does God allow innocent people to suffer?
What about the issue of suffering? Doesn’t this prove that there is no God and that we are on our own? Answer
ORIGIN OF BAD THINGS—Why are they in our world if a good God created us? Answer
Why is the world the way it is? If God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and loving, would He really create a world like this? (filled with oppression, suffering, death and cruelty) Answer
Until our nation allows God to be the absolute authority, and accepts the Bible as truth (beginning with its teaching of the fall in Genesis), then violence, suicide, murder, and all manner of evil will continue to proliferate in our school systems.
Author: Ken Ham, Answers in Genesis
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A school violence example from the past
When I first heard of the April 20, 1999 massacre in Littleton, Colorado, my reaction was shock, horror, and grief—grief over the lives lost, grief at the suffering of the families, and grief over what has happened to our country. Why is this happening?
An Oregon school fell victim to a murderer who with intent, went into the school to slaughter fellow students. October of 1998, a 16-year-old in Pearl, Mississippi killed his mother then shot 9 students, killing two of them. December of 1998, a 14-year-old boy killed 3 students in Paducah, KY, wounding others in a student-led prayer meeting. The “experts” consoled us that this is a rare event.
Once is an “instance,” twice would be a “co-instance,” three or more establishes a “pattern.” A 15-year-old girl was hanged and pummeled by fellow students, because they feared she was going to “snitch” on them.
In Springfield, OR, a 15-year-old murders his parents in their home, then turns his weapons on students in his school, killing one, critically injuring others as “he just mowed ‘em down.” Strangely, a scene in Terminator II, may shed some light on “Why is this happening?”
“The Terminator” was about to kill a man who was simply trying to help the young John Conner. The Terminator was stopped by John Conner and ordered, by Conner, not to “kill” people. The Terminator replied, “Why?” And Conner insisted, “You just can’t go around killing people!” Again the Terminator asked, “Why?” Conner in frustration said, “You just can’t…!” Conner answered with no foundational absolutes, which means he was only expressing his opinion. “Why not murder?” is equally a valid question in a society with no absolutes.
Our nation’s schools have been emancipated from absolute standards by ignoring our Creator God. Our youth are taught that we, by chance, evolved from primordial soup. They are simply re-arranged pond scum, with no real worth to the world, no purpose, no hope, and no meaning what-so-ever! Is it any wonder that suicide is one of the leading causes of death among teens? Our youth are acting consistently with what they have been taught.
According to the Evolution belief system, human life has no more meaning than a blade of grass. We mow our lawns, so why not mow down our fellow man—what’s the difference? Hitler applied the same Evolutionary logic to the people of Europe. We rid our homes of unwanted vermin, why not rid the world of unwanted humans—what’s the difference? This atheistic/Evolutionary philosophy of our day is the logical foundation and justification for this “cruel” behavior because there are no moral absolutes.
How can we know there’s a God? Answer
What if the cosmos is all that there is? Answer
What is “the fear of the Lord”? and Why is it important? Answer
What is the solution? What can we do? We must expose Evolution as the pseudo-science it is, teaching our children that they are not a conglomeration of random chance accidents, but rather are created in the very image of God. Then we must teach our children that there are moral standards we abide by set by our Creator God.
Author: Kurt Streutker, Answers in Genesis
What Happened in Littleton?
Commentary From Dr. D. James Kennedy
The tragedy in Littleton, Colorado, focused the attention of our nation like few events. I’m sure you heard how students like Cassie Bernall boldly professed their faith in the face of death. At least eight of the students killed that day were devout Christians.
I personally received scores of letters, e-mails, faxes and reports directly from those in Littleton that make it clear that God has been at work in the aftermath of this nightmare. We know that more than 100 Columbine High students have accepted Christ since that horrendous day, and countless more young people across the nation have seen their eternal destinies changed.
Still, the questions remain: What went wrong? What has happened to create an environment for this kind of violence in our schools?
There is no single, simple cause or reason for such a tragedy, but I believe that much of the blame must be laid right on the marble steps of the U.S. Supreme Court. Decisions by our highest court have helped create a climate of moral relativism that has convinced today’s young people that life is cheap.
First, the Supreme Court removed prayer from our schools. The secularists made banning prayer a top priority because prayer implies accountability to a higher authority. And in today’s secular worldview, man is the ultimate authority. Thus, there is no room for prayer.
Second, the Court rid our schools of the Bible. We should not wonder why Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris had no overriding sense of right and wrong. For most of their lives they more than likely learned in school that God and the Bible are irrelevant. In 1980, the Supreme Court went so far as to rip the Ten Commandments right off the walls of our public schools for fear that, if posted, the commandments would “induce the schoolchildren to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate and obey, the Commandments.”
The Supreme Court also established Evolution as the official orthodoxy of public education, censoring any evidence that counters it. Thus, beginning in kindergarten, our children are brainwashed to believe that they have not been created, that they are no different than animals. And we wonder why our schools have become jungles. Finally, the Supreme Court granted legal justification for the killing of unborn babies. With the stroke of a pen, life suddenly became cheap and expendable.
Upon seeing several Columbine High students and parents praying and weeping together, one news reporter said, “Prayer has returned to the public schools of America.” In just nine words, that reporter exposed the deadly irony.
How much more blood must be shed before we return to God? Let us pray that the example of faith which has come from those courageous young Christians in Littleton will cause a mighty move of God’s Spirit to sweep across this land, even reaching those marble steps of our Supreme Court.
Author: Dr. D. James Kennedy, Coral Ridge Ministries Impact Newsletter, June 1999.
More information
Are we living in a moral Stone Age? Answer
What is SIN AND WICKEDNESS? Answer
How can I know what is RIGHT or WRONG? Answer
How can I DISCERN whether a particular activity is wrong? Answer
What is GOODNESS? Answer
What is RIGHTEOUSNESS? Answer
What is HOLINESS? Answer
THE FEAR OF THE LORD— What is it? Why is it very important? Answer
How did bad things come about? answer
Why does God allow innocent people to suffer? answer
Is the religion of Secular Humanism being taught in public school classrooms? answer
Violence in the media: What’s the effect? answer
