What an eloquent column! I love the bookmark. Thanks for helping me try to make sense of this… Pax Christi Maria

If God is not random then everything is predestined. If God is not random then these kids, and not different kids, had to die. If God is all-knowing and all-powerful then he knew this would happen and just looked on. Like a parent who knows that its children will get killed by a madman soon.

God is all knowing, all forgiving, all loving all the time. God’s word is ever truthful in reminding us that what was will be, somehow as Christians we forget that not everything will be good all the time. That is the time for us to hold on tight and pray! I have questioned the horrible acts of mankind as well, these things have been foretold of and yet when they happen anxiety seems to creep in on us. Hold on just hold on to God’s unchanging hand. because of the random acts of violence we see in this world I often wonder does it allow us to appreciate more the goodness of God! I hope and pray so, I really do!

Reading the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, one can see how people, even countless people died, killed and made to be killed by direct action of God, by His chosen people and even by those disliked by God. Sticking exclusively on what is written in the Bible I think I can say that the world and the whole Universe was created by God as like a chess board. The people are the pieces and the game is governed by the Law of Nature which He established. The animals, insects, every non-human living creatures including micro organisms, and all the weather conditions are part of the environment in which the “pieces” would survive, flourish or die. In all of these do people have the right to complain? I believe we do. But to who? Can we survive? Sure we can. But for how long and in what shape or condition, I believe nobody can really be sure. Human can make his future pleasant (i.e. due to better financial achievements maybe) perhaps yes. But most often he or she dies miserably. If ever he or she dies “peacefully” leaves this world with absolutely nothing. Not even his or her own body. Those prophets, apostles and other “chosen” people mentioned in the Bible, how did they lived their lives? Most of them, if not all died very painfully and miserably. Can we question God for all of these. I absolutely believe NO WAY. Reference to all what we read in the Bible, experienced by all generations before us, our grandparents, parents, friends, enemies, and even by ourselves we can surely persist to make our lives “better” as long as we still survive or live (putting it in a more civilized perspective). We have no other way but to respect and worship God as our Maker. Surely everybody has some more brighter idea than this, and that I absolutely respect. But for me whatever he or she believes in he or she is the same chess piece like me and every human being in this world or in other planets.

The tragedy at Virginia Tech was really something hideous and ugly. I believe with all my heart that everything happens for a reason…even those things that “just happen”…although I rarely understand what those reasons might be when something this terrible happens to so many people and so many families are affected. I don’t live too far from VA Tech and I understand all too well the terror that grips you when you hear of something like this happening…especially as a parent! Our thoughts and prayers are with the students and families of those affected by the VA Tech tragedy. My prayers are with you, as well, that your anxiety does not steal your joy and your spirit.

Fact is that your supposedly loving, caring, all-knowing and all-powerful God just watched as these kids got massacred. So, let’s see: There’s no christian God > the kids get massacred. There’s a christian God > the kids get massacred. What a huge difference! But, of course, those massacred kids are now with the non-intervening God … He didn’t defend them but then at least he’ll keep them warm now. Yeah, yeah, hope always dies last.

God is just and good that is why he gave us free will, It is up to us what we do with it….. People pull the trigger not GOD!!!!!!!

I believe it all comes down to how we cope with painful events in our every day lives.Do we let it eat us up to the point that it makes us start thinking the only way we can feel better is to kill that person or persons?Or do we learn from it and trust God more and be a better person?It’s not God that does this to us….it’s us that do it ourselves.God may have given us free will but is up to us what we do with it.Wheather we use it for good or bad to hurt others or help them.The choice is ours and ours alone.And we have to live with that choice we make in times like these.

I also, live in Virginia and have two students in college at another Virginia university. I try to imagine what my response would be were my children victims. Truthfully, I think it is impossible to imagine. So how do I respond to the good things that happen in my life because that should indicate my response to the evil I see. Am I thankful for what I believe is God’s provision? How does God provide for me? Do I recognize that it is through other people? That means that someone else must respond to “the still small voice.” How do I reach out to others for help, and how do I respond to the impulse (God-given?) to help others. How do I foster within myself, an awareness of God’s direction?If I am to be intellectually honest, I have to accept responsibility for my actions, in ways large and small. Do I brush off the problems of others as not my concern? Am I too busy to listen, or afraid that in listening, someone will make demands on my time? I have to recognize that we are all fundamentally connected and our choices have an impact on those around us. Did someone reach out to that young man? Did he confide in anyone? Did he choose to keep himself separated from the students around himeself? Was he ill-prepared for the challenges of college? The question, unanswerable I think, is not why God allows terrible things to happen, but why he entrusts to us, the care of others in his name. I think that the question is addressed in this column. I appreciate the thoughtful “conversation” which puts into words, what I believe and try to live, but so often fall short of. Violent death is terrible. But death will come for all of us. We have no guarantees of a long life, free from illness. All we can do is trust that at the time of death, we are not alone.

Thank you for your lovely, thoughtful article. I too have professors whom I still quote, whose wisdom i carry with me as together we live through unspeakable things in unstable times. I have long-since stopped imagining that i can understand or speak for God–as i’ve said repeatedly from the pulpit, “I may not know much about God but i know a lot about faith,” mainly that i don’t wish to ever try living without it (again.) The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness shall not overcome (it)–that is my hope and my faith. I pray that all those suffering loss can find their way through their darkness to their light.

I am praying for all of the living victims and the family and friends of the victims who did not make it through yesterday. As horrible as this all is, I believe that people write their chart before they come to earth, and these young people decided to die at this point in their lives. It seems unthinkable that anyone would choose to die so young, but before we come to earth, we are brave souls who know that we have things we want to learn and things we want to teach while we are down here. These young victims have taught us that we need to both reach out to troubled people like the shooter, and that we need to do something about the problem of guns in America. Watching the BBC News yesterday, I realized that Britons think we are insane for having so many guns, such easy access to them, and consequently, so many murders. On the American news, the focus seems to be on whose fault it was that this kid went crazy and killed people. The writing teacher, the counselor, the school president, the parents, the school police…who can we blame? But we really need to examine the entire culture of violence and the love of guns in this country. I love America–there is no othe place in the world I’d want to be from–but we have allowed this love of violence and this proliferation of arms to go on way too long. It’s time we stopped taking these violent deaths for granted and listened to what they are saying to us about our culture and our laws.

Do any of us honestly think that God turned the other way and allowed these people to die? God might not be a puppet-master controlling our every move (this is the gift and curse of free will), but God does speak to us every day in countless ways begging and pleading with us to turn from sin and evil and towards Him. Though we do not yet know the details of the shooting, might God not have been trying to desperately intervene and stop this from happening? In order to do this He needs our help. Perhaps the Holy Spirit had been whispering in the ear of a classmate, a professor, or a family member asking these people to reach out to this troubled young man before he became too far gone? I am certainly not blaming others for letting this happen — the shooter also turned away from God instead of towards Him, and he bears the ultimate responsibly for his actions — but let us not forget that the actions of just one person can change a life. Might God have not been desperately trying to reveal His love to the shooter, a love that was at every turn rejected? If this person had turned towards the love of God in his sorrow, he would have seen others as God sees them and been incapable of doing this. How many times might this kind of thing have happened before if not for God’s intervention? Maybe thousands of children might be dead in school shootings were it not for the power of love encircling every one of us. I believe that God intervenes to stop evil every day. In this case, his desperate attempts to intervene fell short, but not because He turned a blind eye. Even now, He is here with us, suffering and mourning with His creation who so often turns from love towards hatred. Even now, he is furiously trying to pull us back into His arms! May His love and Christ’s love bring peace to the hearts of those who mourn.

First of all i would like to say how sad i feel for everyone involved in this tragedy. I watched the memorial service attended by the President. They televised the whole programme here in the uk. It was very emotional. We are also experiencing an increase in gun and knife related crimes. I agree with Felicia we need to get to the root of the problems in society and start taking responsiblity, instead of pointing the finger.

The biggest killing spree in U.S. history didn’t take place at Virginia Tech. It occurred in Beth, Minnesota, on May 18, 1927. A member of the schoo board was angry because the new school would raise taxes, making it hard for him to pay for his farm. His farm eventually was foreclosed. On that date, he killed his wife, burned the barn, and went to the school and ignited the dynamite he was earlier planted in the school, killing students ranging from second grade to sixth grade. When the emergency workers were digging through the debris, he exploded the dynamite he had in his truck, killing himself and a number of bystanders. He killed 45 people in all.

Sorry, the correct location was Bath, Michigan, not Minnesota.

Yeah, I’ll bet somebody knew this guy was on the edge. I heard something on the radio about his blogging and his weirdness. He was a loner and didn’t communicate much. I agree with the above poster who said that all of us need to reach out more, even when we don’t have the time. You never know how much a kind word can mean to someone in pain.

Christmas. My favorite time of the year since I was a very young thing. Why? Without fail every year I relied on my faith and-rested in Spirit, as the sights and sounds of Christmas did its thing: brought people-to “gather,” to be nicer, to greet, and to give to others they hardly knew. I had very little, and received less, but I had faith to dream of that time that was constant, unchanging, and beautiful. And I was happy for everyone else, I believed they received whatever their hearts’ desired. 911, Imus, and now Virginia Tech. Events that unify us with a stillness. Once again bringing us to “gather,” again, and again, and again. How do I feel? What can I do, my head asks my heart? The answer came. Recreate my faith dream, start with me. Do what I revered. Find myself in the midst of like-minded people, hold my tongue, smile at a stranger, give what I say I need.

How does one “wake up dead”?

I can’t believe that you would come on the web to exploit people or to use someone elses tragedy and heartache for your own profit. You christians aren’t about the GOD and forgiveness and all that crap. Your nothing more than hipocrits, my friend is a christian and invited me to a gathering which I did go…while I was sitting there all they could do was criticize gay people. Don’t you all preach tolerance and acceptance?, love and GODS word, than you accept everyone.

Another child lies screaming, In the chill of the morn. Other children grieving As parents watch in horror. And the whole world around them Now comes down to this. Bullett has found them Mothers have kissed thier last kiss. Oh!I don’t know what were doing With our love for God. Seems we just keep chooseing to be Everything he’s not. And the whole world around us now comes down to this. Satan keeps stealing the Lives of our kids. Now the reason for what were seeing Is we need God back in our schools You see satan he’s just revealing all his power over you And the whole world around us Now comes down to this Satan keeps stealing the lives of our kids. So another child lies screaming In the chill of the night She use to lie there dreaming And it does’nt seem quite right That the whole around her has now come down to this Satan keeps stealing the lives of your kids Satan keeps stealing the LIVES of yourkids I dedicate this song to all the children and thier Families that have been masacured across our Nation at our schools. And a spicial dedication to Malissa Numeric and Danielle Vandam,who while sleeping with DREAMS of TOMARROW were Tortured,Raped and MURDED in there sleep. It was the clanging of one voice that removed GOD from our SCHOOLS and it is THE SILIENCE OF ALL OUR VOICES that keep him OUT… PRAY WITHOUT CEASING…..IT IS GODS WILL…IT IS YOUR CHILD

PLEASE READ THE ABOVE SONG AND PASS IT ON.Written and copyright in April of 1999.GOD BLESS AMERICA.

33 people did not have to die. I don’t know how anyone can make sense of the Virginia Tech massacre. Praying for the victims is senseless. Pray for the families that are devastated by this killing. Pray for the families that will never be the same for the rest of their lives because they lost someone so precious. Maybe you can explain why God would want to do this horrible thing. Or maybe explain the Holocaust, and 9/11. Why? Nothing makes what happened okay. Not even God!

While I was listening to some sacred songs on the radio the day after the massacre at Tech, I had the thought that if one person had reached out to the shooter and said, “God loves you, and so do I,” this might not have happened. But then I got very realistic when I read the two plays that Cho had written, and the images he displayed will stay with me for a long time. This poor boy WAS disturbed; how many kids sign their names with a “?” (question mark?). His plays had cruel twists at the end; “poetic justice” sort of endings. It was said that he committed this “crime” because he was mad at women and rich kids. A friend of mine said, he was, too, but was that any reason to kill 32 kids and professors? The article I read said that he was sent to counseling, but obviously, even THAT did not work. Without God, nothing is possible. To say I feel sorry for the shooter is not relevant; I feel sorry for the lost souls out there who were never introduced to Jesus and his healing powers. There are enough believers out there who can reach out to the lost souls, and at least forestall such actions that occurred at Tech. My first, late husband; my Dad; and my father-in-law, all graduated from Tech. I have been on the campus – it is beautiful to behold…at this point, I can only say that I pray unceasingly for the families of those who died and who are injured, that they may, not try to understand this tragedy, but they will learn compassion – and pass it on. Suzanne

I just wanted the families to know that everyone here in West Virgina are praying for you and are very sorry for your lost. It really makes me scared to send my little boy to school when he grows up because of all the drama that goes on now. We have you in our thoughts and our prayers everyday and night… And again we are sorry for your loss..

I pray for all those lives lost on this very, very sad day. I pray that the gunman and many others like him find the Buddha (In my case)or what ever religios source reenforces the beauty of each individual being. If the guman had realize his own inherent beauty and worth, none of us would have to have this pray circle today. In Peace

Does it take a rocket scientist to see, or Ray Charles, or even Stevie Wonder, to know that since you have taken prayer out of schools that Satan has made his way in. Please allow Jesus to enter into the place where He is needed most. Our schools) Children need our love, and our guidance too. America needs a wake up call. Don’t you understand that somebody has to pay for all the wrong that has been done. Wake up, wake up America!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s because of religion that these massacres and terrorisms are happenning. people look at statues, lifeless hunks of plaster and they pray to them, hoping that the statue will listen to them. Religion has been misused throughout human history. Diferences in beliefs, color, ethnicity have created walls between countries, brothers and sisters and in our own hearts. I believe each and everyone of us have a god inside us and that is what I worship, my own body and mind. I believe and worship in you too! We all have God in our bodies, that is why we need to love ourselves and every one of us cause we are all put on this earth for the same reason. To LIVE. Here in America, and really, around the world, there is a new religion, called consumerism, and this is what is holding us back from birthright happiness. When people are more concerned about what they drive or the cloths they wear then the lives of their own brothers and sisters, then there is something terribly wrong. If we can establish REAL faith , in OURSELVES, and the faith in other people, then we can truely have the right to claim faith in God, by slowly changing our bad habbits, by only making choices that serve to make us better human beings, then we can begin to make the positive changes that will reestablish faith in your SELF.

Patricia Please read the article(song) about 5 or 6 above yours and Please Pass it on.Im with you. Christine Prayer578@aol.com

So instead of blaming “GOD” and “SATAN” for all your problems, and the society, start blamming yourselves. Start teaching your children how to LOVE themselves and everyone else.Oh and I read that horribly depressing song. I would never in my life even think about manifesting such negativity into this world. Peace, Love, and Happiness Om:)

My heart and prayers go out to the families, students, and everyone touched by this horrible, horrible event. This event will alter lives in ways we cannot imagine. My prayer is that God will bless you with a peace that passes all understanding. This student acted on his own free will. We all have one. We all are hurt in someway as we go through life, but we all do not turn to violence as the answer. He thought this out for quite sometime. Was he disturbed, yes. Did he know what he was doing? Yes. God gave us free will, and he will not interfere with our choice. The shooter chose, he chose to blame others for his plight in life, he chose not to die alone. A very selfish act, in my opinion. We can not blame God, gun control, teachers, etc. He would have found a differnt way to carry out his plan. I believe God is very sad about this, I believe His heart is heavy and is greiving for the families. The shooter made his choice and he didn’t want to go alone. Free will. God is the final judge of all of us.

“BLACK DAY” “Life is myasterious fabric woven by CHANCE,CHARACTE,& FODE” I am with that all my UNLUCKY FRIEND. GOD BLESS HIM

I basically agree with om. But prefer the word responsibility to blame.

I recently wrote an article to the Editorial section of my local newspaper, The Tuscaloosa News. On April 27, 2011 a massive tornado of epic proportions hit my community. I felt I needed to answer some questions that my fellow citizens were being troubled by. The title of my article is “Don’t blame God for this disaster”. Although the article’s contet mainly addresses a disaster such as a tornado, the subject matter is reletive. It could be anything that a person my blame God for such as sickness or accidental or wrongful death. Your readers may find the article helpful.
Sincerely, Pamela Gann-Duncanville, AL. (Tuscaloosa County, AL.)