opinion

Compassion, justice in wake of Charleston

Americans from every race, religion and creed are appalled at the events that took place in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.

News outlets across America reported that 21-year-old Dylann Roof was arrested for the cold-blooded killings of nine parishioners during prayer meeting inside one of America's most renowned black churches.

This story is personally startling to me for many reasons. Specifically, I was born in Charleston, and lived there for the first seven years of my life. My mother and two of my sisters are still living in the Charleston area. Also, as a pastor, I lead a prayer meeting every Wednesday night and I've been attending prayer meeting services on Wednesday nights for the past 20 years. Further, several of my closest friends are African American and some attend our church.

The hate and depravity displayed through Dylann's actions is reprehensible to hopefully everyone. However, the love and forgiveness displayed by the victim's families is refreshing and extremely rare.

Christ-like forgiveness allows the victim's families to avoid the cancer of bitterness. I agree with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley when she said, "We absolutely will want him to have the death penalty."

Sen. Ted Cruz said, "The death penalty was designed for people who commit horrid crimes like this."

No doubt, it's divine that the families can forgive, but that doesn't mean that they are giving up their desire for justice.

I believe that these deeply hurt families are trusting God and the government to bring justice, and if what we know about Dylann's actions are true, anything short of the death penalty would not be justice.

Interestingly, a friend of Dylann's, Joey Meek, was asked about Dylann's hateful and racist intent. Meek admitted to having knowledge of Dylann's racist feelings, but when asked if Meek tried to discourage those feelings, Meek said, "I didn't want to judge him."

In our post-modern world, where absolutes are mocked, and right and wrong are constantly being questioned, I'm thankful for the Bible. The Christian understands that it is the Bible that sets moral authority. The Bible tells us that murdering the innocent is wrong, and that being racist is a sin. Even in our supposed tolerant, non-judgmental country, it's OK to make moral judgments. America's founding documents were shaped around the moral judgments found in scripture. If we take God's Word out of our culture and continue to follow post-modernism, then we must admit that one man's philosophies are equal to another man's, even those rooted in hate.

The fact is that death is a reality for everyone and it often comes unexpectedly. It seems to me, from the testimonies that the families gave, those nine victims had their souls prepared for eternity. As a pastor, I ask you, "Are you ready?" According to John 14:6, the only way to be ready is through faith in Christ.

James Johnson is the pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Muncie. Find him on Twitter @TempleMuncie, or email him at templebaptistmuncie@gmail.com.