Why did Jared Loughner do it?

It is a natural response for humans to look for reasons for aberrant behavior in their fellow humans. Why did the terrorists attack us on 9/11? Why did Jim Jones kill all those people in Guyana? Why did Seung-Hui Cho open fire on classmates at Virginia Tech? Millions are asking today why Jared Loughner opened fire in front of a Tucson Safeway?

I’m amazed to watch seemingly intelligent people assign motives to Loughner’s actions. Some are saying he killed six people (as of this writing) because he attempted to join the army and was rejected or because he was expelled from a local college. Millions of people suffer similar setbacks daily, they don’t go out with a 9mm and start killing people.

Others have said he turned into a vicious killer because he smoked pot. Again, millions of Americans destroy their minds with drugs but they don’t go on killing sprees.

Perhaps the most common reason given for Loughner’s behavior is his unstable mental condition. Lynda Lorenson, 51, attended classes with Loughner and emailed messages to her friends: “We do have one student in the class who was disruptive today, I'm not certain yet if he was on drugs (as one person surmised) or disturbed. He scares me a bit. The teacher tried to throw him out and he refused to go… we have a seriously disturbed student in the class, and they are trying to figure out how to get rid of him before he does something bad.” His strange behavior was observed six months ago and some were frightened by him.

So, if Loughner is too crazy to kill Talibans and he is too disturbed to attend college why is it okay for him to wander the streets of Tucson?

Some are wondering who is more nearly insane, Loughner or the Sheriff investigating him. Sheriff Clarence Dupnik couldn’t resist politicizing a tragic event by addressing blame to conservative ideology as he placed blame on “the vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the TV business…” Is it not insane to apply blame to individuals who have a certain political philosophy that doesn’t happen to match yours? Is it not inappropriate and immoral. It nearly reaches the level of radical church groups propagating their political and religious beliefs by protesting at the funerals of our fallen soldiers. Mr. Dupnik, you are responsible for enforcing the law and administering justice to citizens in your jurisdiction. Please focus on doing that rather than proselytizing for those with a certain political agenda.

Rebecca Monsour, a former aide to Sarah Palin said, “"This is a terrible politicization of a tragedy. We don't know (Loughner’s) motive. It doesn't seem like he was motivated by a political ideology. Craziness is not an ideology."

Fortunately, there are many people voicing opposition to the ‘crazy’ sheriff’s politicization of this tragedy. Lamar Alexander, Republican senator from Tennessee said, “It's tempting to say this person's actions might have been a result of [another] person's comments, but I think we need to be very careful about imputing any of these actions on someone else.” Agreed. Why can’t Loughner be responsible for his own actions, he and he alone?

Unfortunately, Sheriff Dupnik’s methods are not so unusual. Radical liberals blamed Conservative ideology for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Somehow they make Sarah Palin and the Tea Party responsible for the actions of the Fort Hood assassin. These accusations are outrageous and reveal that insanity in America is a chronic, widespread problem.

Why are members of the media referring to Loughner as a ‘boy’? He is twenty-two years old. Why isn’t he referred to as a young man? It is as if calling him a ‘boy’ makes him less responsible for his actions because he hasn’t grown to adulthood yet. The maturation of American’s young men has certainly been retarded by our lowered expectations. We don’t really expect junior to go out and get a job and support himself. It really is quite alright if he stays home and plays video games until he is thirty.

I don’t know why Jared Loughner killed six people and wounded so many others, including Congresswoman Giffords. But I’ll ask the questions few others will ask. What were Jared Loughner’s religious beliefs? What God was he worshipping when he bowed to the shrine he devised in his back yard? Did he ever claim to be a Christian? Did he ever go to church? Was God ever a part of any of his life in any way?

Jared may very well be crazy. But our society is quick to pull the insanity card to explain immoral behavior rather than simply call it what it is, its sin. In our effort to remove God from all areas of life we must also remove sin. We explain sin away by using substitute words like “disease” or “illness”. Maybe, just maybe, Jared Loughner has an evil heart.

Kevin Probst - Is a teacher of Apologetics and History at Calvary Christian School and Associate Pastor of Crosspointe Nazarene Church church in Columbus, Georgia.

The Course of Empire by Thomas Cole

One of my favorite artists is Thomas Cole who was born an Englishman but came to the United States and settled in Steubenville, Ohio.  Cole painted a series of pictures that depict the birth, ascent and decline of empire.  Do empires fall slowly and gradually as portrayed by Thomas Cole or do they fall suddenly?  Is history cyclical or is it rythmic? Does it repeat itself or does its pulse rush like the waters of the Niagra on some occasions but on others it just trickles like the creek running through the yard?

Savage State

Pastoral State

Consumation State

State of Destruction

                                                               State of Desolation

Kevin Probst - Is a teacher of Apologetics and History at Calvary Christian School and Associate Pastor of Crosspointe Nazarene Church church in Columbus, Georgia.

What does $14 Trillion look like??

Infographic Source: National Debt LifesLittleMysteries.com

Kevin Probst - Is a teacher of Apologetics and History at Calvary Christian School and Associate Pastor of Crosspointe Nazarene Church church in Columbus, Georgia.

Homeless man with a God-given gift....

Kevin Probst - Is a teacher of Apologetics and History at Calvary Christian School and Associate Pastor of Crosspointe Nazarene Church church in Columbus, Georgia.

Is This The God of Calvin?

What I’ve discovered over the years when observing and even participating in religious debate is that most have learned and studied diligently the side they defend but few have done due diligence in learning just what the other side believes. As associate pastor of a Nazarene church and a strong follower of Arminian theology, I am astounded over and over again when Calvinists accuse my team of promoting salvation by works. A thorough study would reveal to them that Arminius was not one to promote salvation by works. I can only believe that those accusers are confusing Arminianism with Semi-Pelagianism.

It is also shocking when advocates of Calvinism peg Arminians as humanists. The accusation goes something like this, “Arminians believe that their salvation is dependent on what they do rather than on what God does, therefore it is human centered.” They believe that Arminians overemphasize the human responsibility of confession and de-emphasize God’s desire to forgive. In my entire lifetime I’ve never heard an Arminian praise God for his salvation without giving God all the glory for the work that was done.

Many Calvinists seem to think that Arminians would limit the sovereignty of God by suggesting that human decision can in some way diminish the will of God. Arminians are, indeed, strong advocates of free will. But empowerment is foreign to our perception of free will. Free will is God’s gift to men because he desires something more than a contract relationship. He wants relationship to be meaningful and without free will that is impossible. Free will is not a display of man’s power, it is a demonstration of the tenderness in the heart of God. Many Calvinists would frame the argument in such a way as to declare that God cannot compromise his sovereignty by giving us free will. The Arminian would first reply that God can do anything he chooses to do and secondly, it may appear that God’s sovereignty is compromised but only if you measure sovereignty in human terms. It seems a bit haughty to an Arminian to even suggest that the decisions of men could in anyway threaten or compromise the very nature of God. “How great is God – beyond our understanding.” (Job 36:26)

Arminians are also accused of placing too much emphasizes on an emotional experience whose ultimate goal is an inner feeling of happiness. The Calvinist would proclaim that the chief end of God is to bring glory to himself. Arminians are not in disagreement with that but Arminians are often accused of promoting the idea that the chief end of God is to bring happiness to the heart of man. Most Arminians would strongly refute that accusation by declaring strongly that the chief end of God is NOT the happiness of man but the holiness of man.

The high-Calvinist idea of irresistible grace is confusing to many Arminians. Human decision is entirely removed from the salvation equation. According to this interpretation, humans are so utterly depraved that they cannot cooperate in any way with God for salvation. Only those elect sinners are fortunate enough to receive salvation, not because they chose Christ, but because Christ arbitrarily chose them. Arminians agree with Calvinists that no man can come to Christ unless he is first drawn by the Spirit of God but they also believe that God allows man to accept or reject his salvation. Arminians have difficulty with the belief that if God chooses some for salvation he must also choose some for damnation. This portrays a God who assigned a significant portion of humanity to hell unconditionally.

If this is the God of Calvin, Arminians strongly resist the idea that God who would simply assign certain people to hell to meet a quota. They interpret this as heartless and unjust. If those people were assigned to hell before the foundation of the world how can they be held accountable, how are they deserving? My Calvinists friends provide this answer to that question: “We all deserve hell, some of us were just fortunate enough to be chosen to go to heaven?”

Arminians are declared arrogant by certain Calvinists when they make free will statements such as, “I have decided to follow Jesus.” If that is an arrogant statement, isn’t a Calvinist’s declaration that they are one of the chosen (predestined) ones every bit as arrogant?

Arminians question the nature of a Calvinist God who seems to be the author of sin. The Arminian believes that sin entered the world as a result of abusing God’s gift of free will. Man and man alone is responsible for sin. The Calvinist must credit God with being the author of sin. They would declare that God’s purpose is to reveal his holiness.

To declare that all that happens is the will of God because he is ultimately sovereign and nothing can happen that is not within his will makes God morally ambiguous. It seems contradictory to say that a child dying of starvation is God’s will even though it is extremely grievous to his heart. This requires us to believe in a God who uses suffering and sin as vehicles to reveal his goodness. How can we love a God whose goodness can only be known by observing the horrendous suffering of his creatures?

Making God responsible for sin instead of man distorts who God really is. Theologian David Bentley Hart frames the dilemma: “It requires us to believe in and love a God whose good ends will be realized not only in spite of – but entirely by way of – every cruelty, every fortuitous misery, every catastrophe, every betrayal, every sin the world has ever known; it requires us to believe in the eternal spiritual necessity of a child dying an agonizing death from diphtheria, of a young mother ravaged by cancer, of tens of thousands of Asians swallowed in an instant by the sea, of millions murdered in death camps and gulags and forced famines. It is a strange thing indeed to seek (making God ultimately responsible for such things and removing the human contribution)…at the cost of a God rendered morally loathsome.” (Eerdmans, 2005, p. 99)

To all my Calvinist friends, please don’t receive my words in the wrong spirit. I’m wanting much more to defend Arminianism from false impressions rather than to be critical of another’s belief system. Most of the disagreement between Calvinists and Arminians is due to misperceptions and failure to understand. I want to have a clear mind and heart when considering these matters. If any of my statements in this paper are off the mark please help me understand more accurately the teachings of Calvin.


Kevin Probst - Is a teacher of Apologetics and History at Calvary Christian School and Associate Pastor of Crosspointe Nazarene Church church in Columbus, Georgia.

Everlasting Lord

Kevin Probst - Is a teacher of Apologetics and History at Calvary Christian School and Associate Pastor of Crosspointe Nazarene Church church in Columbus, Georgia.

"But I want it NOW!"

I saw a mother and her son in the checkout line of the grocery store. The boy was probably four or five years old. While waiting for his mother to unload all the groceries he was perusing through the candy and gum rack. His eyes lit upon something he wanted badly and he placed it on the conveyor. There was no protest from his mother and as they were leaving the store he asked for his treasure but his mother refused. What followed was not pretty. He threw a little hissy fit. His mother was firm, “I told you, not until we get home!” His vocal cords went into full throttle, “But I want it NOW!”

I’ve thought of that incident as a microcosm of a major problem in our modern society. We want it NOW! We can’t wait to buy the new car. We can’t wait to get that big screen T.V. We are consumer beasts gobbling up everything in sight. We want to be gratified instantly. For some reason many in our society, especially younger members, believe it is normal to have as much as the neighbors do. They believe being head over heels in credit card debt is a normal lifestyle. At twenty-five years of age they expect to live the lifestyle mom and dad live even though their parents have worked a lifetime to achieve it.

I grew up in a small town of 17,000 people in northwestern Pennsylvania. I had no idea that my family was poor. I used to ride with my father on Sunday mornings to pick up children for Sunday School. One of our pick-up spots was a place we called “Shanty Town.” They were about twenty or thirty tar paper-covered ‘shacks’ that you might think were uninhabitable. My brothers and I never thought of ourselves as being poor because we were always so connected with those who had less than we.

As we grew and became more aware of the world we realized just how poor we were. We were poor but happy. We didn’t have a lot of extras but we certainly had all we needed. I can’t tell you how many retired couples I’ve talked to who have stories of “starting out.” Their stories pretty much begin like this, “When we were young we had nothing….” and they almost always end with this, “…but those were our happiest years.” Jesus said it best, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” (Luke 12:15)

Have you ever thrown an adult hissy fit like the little boy in the grocery store? “But I want it NOW!” Your credit cards make that possible. How many people do you know who have a swimming pool they never use? Do you know someone who has a motorcycle in the garage that hasn’t been started for 6 months. I’ve known my neighbor, George, for 8 years now and he has the most beautiful bass boat I’ve ever seen. In eight years I’ve never seen George take his boat out of his garage! Instant gratification may not bring the satisfaction sought but it very well might bring economic bondage.

I’m reminded of the fellow Luke told about in his fifteenth chapter. A son went to his father and asked for his inheritance. He was very rude. What he was really telling his father was, “I can’t wait for you to die, I want my share now.” His father gave him what he asked and “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there he squandered his wealth in wild living.” His immaturity and addiction to instant gratification is nothing short of astounding! The prodigal son learned that sin is very costly. Bad habits are expensive to sustain. Self-destruction isn’t free.

Americans spend millions of dollars in destructive behavior. They spend large amounts of their income purchasing alcohol, drugs and tobacco products which are very destructive when used improperly or excessively. Most people who try to sustain a $200 per day drug habit can’t, so they turn to crime. Over $3,000 is being spent every second in America for pornography.(1) Tourists in Los Vegas lose $17 billion annually.(2) The average American spends $1100 per year on lottery tickets. We are not much different than the prodigal, spending money like drunken sailors in our attempt to find satisfaction through materialism and seeking instant gratification. Might we learn from the writer of Proverbs what the prodigal son failed to learn, “…Drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.”

We no longer own credit cards in our home. My wife and I have decided to live by the principle of previous, wiser generations who believed, “If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it.”

We recently enjoyed our Christmas together. We probably had less gifts this year because we, like other Americans, are affected by the floundering economy. When all the gifts were unwrapped and our five-year-old son was playing with his new toys, I turned to my wife and asked, “How much do we owe for all these Christmas gifts?” She smiled and gave me one last gift, “Honey, we don’t owe a penny. It’s all paid for.”

I am reminded again of the Puritan preacher, Jeremiah Burroughs who said, “What a foolish thing is this, that because I have not got what I want, I will not enjoy the comfort of what I have!” I am also reminded of Paul’s admonition to Timothy, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.”

To those who are Christ-followers, wealth is not measured so much by one’s material possessions. Christians are wayfarers in this world, simply passing through to their eternal home. Their wealth can never be understood nor can it be taken away by those “who lay up treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy.” (Matthew 6:19)

1. Internet Pornography Statistics, by Jerry Ropelato

2. USA TODAY

Kevin Probst - Is a teacher of Apologetics and History at Calvary Christian School and Associate Pastor of Crosspointe Nazarene Church church in Columbus, Georgia.