the dallas shootings - making sense of this tragedy
TRANSCRIPT
Don’t be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As
the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-
hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of
parents, crude, coarse,
dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless,
bloated windbags, addicted to lust,
and allergic to God. (2 Timothy 1:1-4 – The
Message)
Don’t you understand that whatever you take in through your mouth makes its way to your
stomach and eventually out of the bowels of your
body?
But the things that come out of your mouth—your curses, your fears, your
denunciations—these come from your heart,
and it is the stirrings of your heart that can make
you unclean.
For your heart harbors evil thoughts—fantasies of murder, adultery, and
whoring; fantasies of stealing,
lying, and slandering.
These make you unclean —
not eating with a hand you’ve not ritually
purified with a splash of water and a prayer. (Matthew 15:17-20 –
Voice)
The heart is the most deceitful thing there is
and desperately wicked. No one
can really know how bad it is! (Jeremiah 17:9 –
Living Bible)
You come from your father, the devil, and you
desire to do what your father wants you to do.
The devil was a murderer from the beginning. He
has never been truthful.
He doesn’t know what the truth is. Whenever
he tells a lie, he’s doing what comes naturally to him. He’s a
liar and the father of lies.
(John 8:44 – God’s Word Translation)
The Bible tells us that all people who have ever lived are descendants of Adam
and Eve. Therefore all people are related and are
of the same race – the human race.
It is clear to me now that God plays no
favorites, that God accepts every person whatever his or her
culture or ethnic background, that God
welcomes all who revere Him and do right. (Acts 10:34-35– Voice)
Now, in Christ, there is no difference between
Jew and Greek. There is no difference between slaves and free men. There is no difference
between male and female. You are all the same in Christ Jesus.(Galatians 3:28– International
Children’s Bible)
If you treat people according
to their outward appearance, you are
guilty of sin(James 2:9 – Good News Bible)
If we hate others, we are living and walking in the
dark. We don’t know where we
are going, because we can’t
see in the dark. (1 John 2:11 – Good News Bible)
If we hate others, we are living and walking in the
dark. We don’t know where we
are going, because we can’t
see in the dark. (1 John 2:11 – Good News Bible)
And so I am giving a new commandment to you now—love each other just as much as I love
you. Your strong love for each other will prove to the world that you are
my disciples. (John 13:34-35 – Living Bible)
Scripture reassures us, “No one who trusts God like this—heart and soul—will ever regret it.” It’s
exactly the same no matter what a person’s
background may be:
the same God for all of us, acting the same
incredibly generous way to everyone
who calls out for help. “Everyone who calls,
‘Help, God!’ gets help.”(Romans 10:11-13 – The
Message)
God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never
really die. (John 3:16 – Contemporary English
Version)
God, You are the one and only— I’ll wait as
long as he says. Everything I hope for
comes from him, so why not?
He’s the solid rock under my feet, He’s breathing
room for my soul, An impregnable castle: I’m
set for life. (Psalm 62:5 – The
Message)
Put your hope in the Lord because with the
Lord there is mercy and with him there is
unlimited forgiveness, his love is constant and he is always willing to
save. (Psalm 130:7 – God’s Word Translation/Good News
Bible)