What Should We Pray After a Mass Shooting?

This is Core Christianity. Hi, I'm Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites. You can always email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. And Adriel, I think all of us are still in shock as we watch the news coverage of that horrific school shooting in Texas yesterday. And I'm wondering, as a father of young children yourself, I'm sure your heart really just breaks over what the parents who lost kids are going through today. You know, we're beginning to see pictures of the victims, and I see my kids there. I see children who are, you know, this horrible thing has happened. It's hard to even know what to say in terms of processing.

Bill, I know you have children as well, and so I imagine that you have been wrestling with that. Yes, I've been dealing with this and praying too, but just absolutely devastating. And we need to pray. We need to do more than just pray, but certainly my heart has been breaking. How do we pray in a situation like this when something so terrible happens that just is so overwhelming? I think sometimes the words fail us. Yeah.

Well, you're right. And I've seen already, you know, people saying, well, we're praying. And of course, the response is often, well, we want more than prayers. And I mentioned just now, we do, I think, as Christians, we're called to pursue that which is good and just.

We're called to pursue justice. We're called to more than just praying, but we certainly do also need to pray because we believe that God works through prayer. And I think of just a couple of things that we should be praying right now. One, we should certainly be praying for the families of the victims and just asking God to pour out his spirit comfort somehow through these horrific circumstances to cause the light of the gospel to shine through.

That the church and the people of God would really step up in situations like these and hopefully minister to the families that are there, the families that are directly affected by this. And so we pray for comfort. We also pray, I believe, for justice. Anytime we see evil in society, we pray that God would give us wisdom about how to address it, about what we need to do as people and as the church specifically to respond.

I go to the psalms so often when I don't have the words to pray, and certainly throughout the psalms you see prayers like this, especially the psalms of lament where the psalmist is crying out to God because of something that's happened, some terrible thing sometimes that has taken place. And the psalm that I was thinking of this morning is Psalm 94 where the psalmist prays, O Lord God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth. Rise up, O judge of the earth.

Repay to the proud what they deserve. O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult? They pour out their arrogant words.

All the evildoers boast. They crush your people, O Lord, and afflict your heritage. They kill the widow and the sojourner and murder the fatherless. And they say, The Lord does not see. The God of Jacob does not perceive. Understand, O dullest of the people.

Fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see? God sees. And this is one of the things the psalmist says very clearly, but what's interesting here is praying for justice, praying for vengeance against those who hurt the vulnerable and come against the vulnerable. They kill the widow and the sojourner and murder the fatherless. God cares for the vulnerable. God cares for the children.

And so we have to pursue justice and that which is right and exhibit that same care so that these kinds of things don't continue to happen. And so we pray for the wisdom that only God can give in terms of what it looks like to pursue that. And we pray for comfort, as I said, Bill.

Well, thanks for that. Some great counsel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez, and our phone lines are open.

If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, doctrine, theology, we'd love to hear from you. Here's the phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. And we do receive emails. Here's one we received from a listener named Gregory. My question is this. Is there some things in the Bible that God did put in?

God bless. Are there some things in the Bible that God did not put in? I'm guessing you mean, you know, things that God didn't intend for this to be in his word, but somehow it made its way in there. Maybe, you know, a scribe added it and and it just we were stuck with it.

No. Well, no, I don't believe that that's the case. Part of what's helpful here is understanding sort of how we got our Bible and the the many hundreds of manuscripts actually that textual critics will look at in terms of putting together the scriptures. And there are hundreds, thousands of manuscripts, Old Testament, New Testament that people are looking at. So that even if, say, some scribe somewhere along the way inserted something into a manuscript, it's not going to be in the Bible. We could compare that with with hundreds of others oftentimes and see, OK, this is this is a scribal edition. This is something that wasn't meant to be there.

It doesn't fit. And so we can have great confidence, not only that God inspired his word, but that he providentially what we have before us is truly the word of God. And we should receive it as such. One of the big concerns that I have when people say, well, we don't really know, you know, what did Jesus really say? Is that what's recorded in the gospels or in there are groups that have that have done this. Actually, they've tried to differentiate between what they think Jesus really said and the things that, you know, maybe he didn't actually say it. The issue there is it makes us the judge of God's word instead of letting God's word function as it should in our lives, which is is over us as as the judge over us, if you will. And so instead of submitting to the authority of scripture, when people say, you know, there are things in the Bible that God didn't intend to be there that sort of snuck their way in there. All of a sudden, you know, you have an open door to just reject the parts of the scriptures that you don't want to follow.

And that's a huge concern to me. And so, no, I think it's clear to me, at least that what we have before us is the word of God. And just one passage of scripture I think that you can go to that speaks of this is what Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 3 verse 16. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for proof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. And so we want to receive the word of God as such, as sufficient for us and profitable for us and for our growth in grace and in godliness.

Thanks for that question. Good word about God's word. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We'd love to hear from you if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, maybe how your Christian walk intersects with what's going on in today's culture.

That can be a real challenge at times. Our phone lines will be open for the next 15 minutes or so. So jump on the phone right now. Here's the number. It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. By the way, we have a brand new Bible study that we'd like to offer you today.

We're really excited about this one. Yeah, the Bible study is called The Parables of King Jesus. It's a 10-week study going through the parables of our Lord, really focusing on the kingdom of Jesus and Jesus' king who is bringing forth his kingdom, not just giving us teaching about the kingdom, but he's really ushering the kingdom in through these parables. There's a lot of confusion today about the parables as well. People think, oh, the parables were given just to help people who didn't understand better. Jesus is illustrating a point.

But that's not actually always the case. Jesus is, in one sense, helping the disciples to understand. When you think of the religious leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees, they were further blinded through the parables.

We want to make sure that that doesn't happen to us, first and foremost. We want to understand what Christ was teaching, what he was doing through those parables. Get ahold of this resource over at corechristianity.com for a donation of $20 or more. By the way, all of our Bible studies are set up to work for personal use, but also in a group format, and they're available in bulk quantities. It'd be great to consider, as you plan maybe your Sunday school class for the fall or Bible study, maybe this summer, small group, you can receive a copy of our parables Bible study for a donation of $20 or more by going to corechristianity.com. Just go to corechristianity.com forward slash studies. And of course, you can also call us for any one of our resources at 833-THE-CORE.

Let's go to a voicemail that came in from one of our callers earlier this week. Hi, so my question today is, could you explain covenant theology? If you know any good resources or good books on explaining covenant theology, anything you can share, as I'm always looking to learn more. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you for that question. Just right off the bat, a good resource that I've recommended many people, folks in my church as well, is a book called Sacred Bond, Covenant Theology Explored. This is, I guess, a second edition out recently, but that's a good introductory work on covenant theology. To your question specifically, what is covenant theology?

Covenant theology is the framework, I believe, that the Bible gives us for understanding the whole story of redemption. The Bible is a covenantal document, if you will. Covenants were things that were popular in the ancient Near East. There were these sacred, solemn, binding promises, relationships.

Oftentimes, they would have threats or curses associated with them. People would enter into covenants with each other. Kings would enter into covenants with peoples. I think one common thing that we do today that in one sense helps to illustrate the idea of covenant is the marriage relationship.

It's this binding, contractual relationship that's rooted ultimately in love and goodwill. There are similarities there with covenant, but it's exactly what we find in the Bible, that God enters into covenant with people and with his people specifically. In scripture, there are typically different kinds of covenants.

There are some that are very works-based, if you will. This was also something that we see in the ancient Near East, where an individual or a group would enter into a covenant with a people. There were obligations that both parties had to fulfill in order for the terms of the covenant to be upheld. There were other kinds of covenants that seemed to be more grace-focused, a promise, a grant that was given by a king to a people. There are different kinds of covenants. I think this is something that we see reflected in scripture.

On the whole, covenant is just a language of the Bible. It's how God enters into relationship with his people. We see these covenants trace throughout the whole of scripture as well. I believe that from the very beginning, there in the Garden of Eden, God entered into a covenant with mankind through Adam, where he commanded Adam to do good, to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, to be fruitful and to multiply, and so on and so forth. All of us were in Adam, being represented by Adam. Paul talks about this in Romans 5.

When Adam fell, we all fell in Adam. This is a sort of covenantal relationship that everyone, every single person that's ever born, whether you would identify as a Christian or not, is in. We're in this covenant with God through Adam, and yet God didn't just leave us there. He gives us his promise, the promise of his grace.

You see that right off of the heels of that in Genesis 3, verse 15, where God promises that the seed of the woman is in a crush, the head of the serpent. So you have this promise of grace, this gracious covenant that God gives that we see throughout the pages of the Bible and ultimately fulfilled in Christ and his redemptive work. We are the recipients, we're told, of a new covenant prophesied by Jeremiah.

You read about it in Hebrews 8, instituted by Jesus in the upper room as he's giving his disciples the Lord's Supper. So we relate to God through covenant. Again, this is just what we see throughout the pages of the Bible. One other thing that I'll mention is, typically when we're talking about this, what's so wonderful about this is it helps us understand the whole story of God and how it all points to Christ, really, and to God's plan of redemption. Too often, I think, people when they look at the Bible, they sort of piecemeal it apart. God worked one way in the Old Testament, now he's no longer working that way, and they don't see the unity of redemption throughout the whole story as promised way back in Genesis 3.

So a focus on the one people of God, the unified plan of redemption through God's covenant promises and how he brings that about in our lives is, I think, at the heart of what covenant theology is. Again, if you want to go deeper, and you certainly can go a lot deeper, get a hold of that book that I mentioned called Sacred Bond. God bless. Thanks for that explanation, Adriel, great stuff. This is Core Christianity, and by the way, you can always email us your questions.

If you want to write in after the show is over, here's our email address. It's questions at corechristianity.com. Here's one from Clarice, and she says, I believe that we are justified by faith in Christ alone. However, why does James 2-24 say otherwise? Please help me understand this.

Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you so much for that question. James 2. A lot of people think, well, is James here contradicting the apostle Paul? Paul seems to suggest that we're justified by faith alone, not of works. I mean, read Romans 4, but then you get to James 2, and beginning in verse 14, we read, what good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? Okay, and he goes on to say in verse 24, what you bring up, you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone, and he gives the example of Rahab, and in the same way, was not also Rahab, the prostitute, justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way.

So what is James getting at? Well, first, I think we want to rule out this idea that James and Paul are contradicting each other, that they don't agree with each other, that Paul is teaching justification by faith, and James is teaching justification by your efforts, by your works. I think specifically what's happening in James chapter 2 is James is talking about what I would refer to as a historical faith or a false faith. He says again in verse 14, can that faith save a person? That is the person who says, yeah, I believe, but they believe like the demons, right? They're not genuinely trusting in Christ, laying hold of his grace, laying hold of his salvation, because we know that if they did, that trust would be exhibited.

Through what? Through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, certainly acts of love, acts of charity. Now, none of us are perfect in that, even as the justified, and that's why our justification can't be on the basis of our works. That's what Paul makes absolutely clear in Romans chapter 4. God justifies the sinner, the ungodly, until we're in heaven. I mean, everything that we do, our works, are going to be tainted by sin still.

They're not perfect. In order to be justified by our works, we fall way short of that. We're justified by the works of Jesus Christ and his imputed righteousness for us, but the person who is justified works.

The Spirit of God begins to work in that individual so that we bear fruit. Again, that's imperfect this side of heaven. We're not justified by those works, but I think that's what James is getting at there specifically in James chapter 2. Can the person who says, oh yeah, I have faith, but I don't have works, does that faith save that kind of faith, the sort of nominal faith?

No, no, that's not true faith. That's how I'd parse out James chapter 2. Appreciate your question, and may the Lord bless you. I'll tell you, I'm so glad we are not justified by works, because if we were, I'd be water skiing on the lake of fire, and it would not go well for me.

That's one way of putting it, Bill. But again, we have to recognize, think about God's law. God calls us to obedience, and not just sort of halfway obedience, but to a perfect obedience. So to say that we're justified by works, that we can be justified by our efforts, by our righteousness, is to suggest that somehow we perfectly are fulfilling the law of God and our own righteousness, but the reality is we sin and fall short of God's law. I mean, read Romans chapter 7, the battle that the apostle Paul talks about, and so the hope for our justification can't be in our own inherent righteousness in our works. It has to be the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's not opposed to works.

Not at all. No, the person who's justified, freed from their sins, loosed from their sins, is set free to serve God and to love Him and to love their neighbors. Amen.

So well said. This is Core Christianity. Just a reminder, we have that brand new Bible study available. It's called The Parables of King Jesus.

You can find out more about that by going to corechristianity.com forward slash studies. And by the way, we are going to be recording a second episode of Core Christianity today, so if you weren't able to call in the last 25 minutes or so, you can still call in for the next half hour, 35 minutes, so feel free to give us a call. Here's the number again. It's 1-833-843-2673.

That's 833, the core. We'll be taking calls for the next, I said, 35 minutes or so. Let's go to Kenny in Minnesota. Kenny, what is your question for Pastor Adrian? Yes.

Oh, okay, you got me? Hey, Kenny. Hey, so my question is, can you give a kind of a simpler scriptural defense of the scriptura, and how do you answer people who say there are inherent problems with it, such as when different Christians disagree on major moral issues? Thank you. Great question, Kenny.

Let me just repeat that. Can I give a simple defense of the doctrine of sola scriptura, and then how do we respond to some of the issues? We talk about the ultimate authority of the Bible, but Christians disagree about their interpretation of scripture and moral issues, theological issues, and so does sola scriptura settle the issues that we have?

That's really the answer. First, I think I would just simply say, what we mean by that, sola scriptura is not that the Bible is the only authority in the Christian life. It's that it's the ultimate authority in the Christian life. Of course, there are other kinds of authority that we have as Christians. Let me just even think of the local church, called to submit to the authority there, the care of shepherds and pastors there in the local church. The sola scriptura teaches that the Bible is the ultimate magisterial authority in the church, so that we can't contradict the Bible.

Me, as a minister of the gospel, I have a sort of ministerial authority pointing people to the teachings of scripture, but I don't get to make things up as I go. My teachings that aren't based on the Bible, whatever those traditions might be, don't carry the same authority. I think of what Jesus said to the religious teachers in his day, in Mark 7, verse 8, where he said to them, you leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men. He said to them, you have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition. For Moses said, honor your father and your mother, and whoever reviles father or mother must surely die. But you say, if a man tells his father or mother, whatever you would have gained from me as Corban that is given to God, then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down and many such things you do.

There are traditions that we have in the church, hopefully traditions that are in line with scripture, but one of the dangers that we face, I think, as the body of Christ, Kenny, is when we begin to put things on the same level, the same authority of scripture. Scripture is, we say, self-authenticating. It's the voice of God himself to his people. It's clear.

It's perspicuous. It's meant to be received by us as the word of God. It doesn't need anything outside of it to validate it. The Protestant reformers were clear on this. To say that God needs the church, for example, to give the stamp of approval to his voice, to his word, is just wild. God is revealing himself to us, giving us his word, and so we receive his word as such as the ultimate authority. That's what should shape our churches, our communities, our faith, our morals, everything.

It trumps any other secondary authority, really, that's out there when those authorities contradict. The reality is, we realize, like you said, there are differences that people have related to the Bible's interpretation. There are moral issues. I think that's just a part of the reality that we have to live with in a sinful, fallen world. The fact of the matter is, I don't think those issues are solved by other Christian traditions that reject sola scriptura and rely on the authority, say, of the pope or another ecclesiastical leader.

There are just as many divisions, oftentimes, in those same communions as well. The answer, I would say, is going back to the scriptures and receiving them as the ultimate authority in our lives. Thanks, Kenny, for giving us a call. God bless. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar, or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program, and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together. Thank you.