It's questionable whether the world is getting increasingly violent, or we're just becoming more aware of it due to advanced media technology. One thing we cannot deny, however, is that the world is a very violent place.
One form this violence takes is mass shootings. The definition of a mass shooting varies according to the source, but for sake of argument, we will define it as an event in which one or more shooters open fire in an attempt to kill or injure a large number of human victims. Examples include the Paris attack in France, 2015, the Plymouth shooting in England, 2021, and the Hamburg shooting in Germany, 2023.
When mass shootings occur, people often ask, "where is God?" Where is this all powerful being, who loves us so much, yet apparently seems to ignore every terrified scream when the bullets start flying?
Ultimately, this is just a variant of the long refuted "problem" of evil argument. It is, of course, more specific, as well as being "current", and, for some people, "close to home", giving it that emotional kick it needs to make people forget logic and reason, but when we look past our emotions and think logically and reasonably, we can say the problem is the same, and so the solution is the same.
Before we ask why God allows mass shootings to happen, we should start by asking why they happen regardless. If you don't believe in God, you have to explain what causes mass shootings without Him. Those same reasons, however, will remain exactly the same if you acknowledge God. If God exists, man is responsible for all evil, including mass shootings. If God does not exist, evil would still be man's fault... if evil exists.
If? Yes. To help you understand what I mean by that, let's ask a simple question: Is weed illegal? The answer to this is both yes and no. In some jurisdictions, such as my home country (England), weed is, indeed, illegal. Other places, such as California, have no laws against the use of weed. Thus, we can say weed is illegal in England, but legal in California. Now, is it legal in Antarctica? Although there are treaties between countries regarding Antarctica, Antarctica actually has no governing body, nor even permanent residents. Therefore, it has no legal system. Thus, weed is neither legal nor illegal in Antarctica.
You see, then, how to call something "legal" or "illegal" requires the existence of a governing body. Taking away the governing body results in the removal of all legal implications of any action. Now, what does that mean if there is no God? Ultimately, as God is the ultimate governing body of the reality He created, and good and evil are the divine equivalent of legal and illegal, then if you remove God, there is no such thing as good or evil. That is, unless you can find some alternative governing body.
But what if you can't? What if, for example, you teach that human beings are basically just glorified fish (quoting one of my college professors)? Well, every year, trillions of fish are caught and sold as food. So what are the moral implications of a mass shooting? There aren't any! At least, not in the mind of many atheistic mass shooters.
There are several straw man responses to this argument, which I feel the need to dispel before continuing. As I have done this before, I will be very brief in this article, and link to previous articles in which I have addressed them more fully:
The argument is NOT: "I need God to stop me doing evil". The issue is not our motives for how we behave, but whether or not our behavior has any ultimate value. I might be motivated to eat a pizza, that doesn't make eating pizza good. Similarly, I might be motivated to not eat a tomato, that doesn't make eating tomatoes evil.
The argument is NOT: "you need God to tell you what is evil". Again, the issue isn't our motivations for our behavior, but the implications thereof. If there is no God, however, "good" and "evil" are relative; it's opinion vs. opinion, with no objective basis to judge others.
The argument is NOT: "Atheists are automatically motivated to do the maximum amount of evil". Similar to the above two (hence the absence of a link), ultimately, just because atheism removes the foundation of morality does not mean atheists will not attempt to construct their own artificial foundations. But what do they do when other people's foundations conflict with their own?
Put it this way: Most atheists have some degree of value for human life. There are even some atheists who recognise the evil in abortion. Now, sadly, they're in the minority, so I can't even really use them as an example and expect it to land. This does show, however, that atheists do not have a common morality, nor do they have a foundation for why they should.
Of course, they will argue that Christians are likewise divided. There have even been so-called "Christians" who committed mass shootings. But the issue is not so much what they do as what their religion teaches. Objectively, Christianity ties morality to God. That which God forbids, including murder of any kind, is sin, and therefore mass shootings cannot be justified within the Christian faith. But within atheism, they can.
Now, obviously, I'm not going to sit here and simplify the issue. I am not saying that mass shootings are all atheism's fault, that all mass shooters are atheists, or, again, that all atheists are potential mass shooters. That would all be silly. But here's where I zoom back out from mass shootings and look at the bigger picture.
First, to begin with, for as much evil as there is in the world, God still has the grace to prevent it. He has provided most of us with a conscience that helps us recognise evil. He has provided us with entities such as governments to step in and stop it. He has provided us with family units, whose job it is to raise children on the right paths. We have not seen the absolute depths of human evil, because although God has withdrawn from us, He has not abandoned us.
Nevertheless, we do have to ask where, exactly, we draw the line? See, there are 8 billion reasons God cannot just stop all evil right now. Those 8 billion reasons are us. Sinners. People who, on a daily basis, commit some form of evil, yet God loves us enough not to just condemn us straight away. But this means God has to temporarily allow a certain degree of evil. So there has to be a line drawn somewhere.
If God just let evil run riot, the human race wouldn't have lasted very long at all. Imagine if Adam or Eve just straight up killed each other. If, at any point, God stopped restraining evil, it would just be an instant "game over". But let's imagine we could rank things in order of evil things God didn't stop. If God stopped the thing that took first place, then whatever took second place would become the most evil thing we've ever seen. And if God stopped that, then third place would become the most evil thing we've ever seen.
So again, where do you want Him to stop? Obviously, we all want Him to stop at our level. We want Him to stop the evil we don't like, but when it comes to the evil we do like, suddenly we want God to be tolerant. God, why didn't you stop that mass shooting, the Holocaust, rape gangs etc.? Oh, but God, why can't we have gay sex, abortions, excessive alcohol, drugs etc.? Now imagine a world in which the worst thing that ever happened was a naughty picture showing up on the internet. Well, there's two possibilities here. The first is it would be so evil in our eyes that we ask why God didn't stop that too? The second, which I believe is more likely, is we would say that since this is the worst thing that ever happened, we don't even need God.
In His infinite wisdom, God has set His own lines, and we, who have significantly less than infinite wisdom, have no business challenging Him on that. Our job is not to question how He runs the universe, but to accept our place within it.
Ultimately, mass shooter or not, Scripture makes it clear that all of us have sinned, and the wages of sin is death. We have all earned this penalty. But it gives God no pleasure to deliver it (Ezekiel 18:32; 33:11). He wants all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). Therefore, because He doesn't want anyone to perish, He is patient enough with us to give us time to repent (2 Peter 3:1-9).
But we must make no mistake: This was always a gift from a higher being. It is not something He owes us, nor does He Himself lose anything if we reject it. In truth, God has a right hand, and a left hand, and to ignore either of these will result in a wrong view. On the right hand, God is loving, and kind, and merciful, and patient, and full of grace. That is why even one sinner may be forgiven for their sins. But on the other hand, God is just, and wrathful, and jealous, and angry with the wicked every day. By His will, we may be saved, but it is entirely possible to resist His will.
Now, in Scripture, God actually describes a concept known as "reprobation". Reprobation is described in Romans 1:28-32: "...even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them."
Here, we see that effectively, this is a tug of war, and if you tug hard enough against God, He'll simply let go of the rope. The direction you pulled in, you will instead fall in, and you will hit the ground hard. And whose fault is it? It is not God's for letting go of the rope, for if God had let go of a rope you were not pulling, you would not have fallen. The fault, therefore, is on you for pulling on the rope. And as a culture, we have certainly pulled hard on that rope.
Do not be deceived: God has always been the one in charge. We may have our elections. We may fall prey to dictators. Our lands may be taken by insurgents, or invaded by hostile powers. But no matter who is president, king, czar, prime minister, fuhrer, sultan, emperor, governor, you name any leader you want, not one of them is free from God's power. But as of yet, He has not tightened His fists. And so they have shoved God out. They are like the Prince John to Robin Hood's King Richard. And as a culture, if we haven't sat back and let them, we've cheered them on as they do it. How can we complain about ungodliness when we have championed it? Have we never heard the phrase "you've made your bed, now lie in it"? We did this!
It cannot be denied that the world would ultimately be a better place if we all repented and obeyed God. In a truly Christian world, there would be no mass shootings, nor violence of any kind. There wouldn't even be a need for guns. There would be no army. There would be no police. They'd be out of a job. But an atheist society could never guarantee that. Indeed, they would need guns more than they do even now. And you can be sure the people who needed them most would be denied them by the people who abused them the most.
The ironic thing is, a time will come when there is a fully Christian world. It will be called "Heaven". There, there will be no death. There will be no violence. There will be no sin. This is because it will be populated entirely by those who have repented of their sin, and confessed Jesus as Lord, believing He not only died for their sins, but that God raised Him from the dead.
But there will also be another world, retained for those who would not repent. This world will also lack sin, for when every eye sees God, every knee will bow to Him. But the sins they have already committed will be retained, and they will suffer the shame of them forever. Every man and woman will be judged according to God's commands: "You shall not steal", "you shall not murder", "you shall not commit adultery" etc. And no one could stand that judgement. Therefore, those who will not allow Christ to stand it for them will fall in it.
The choice is yours: Heaven, or Hell. Eternal life, or the second death? To me, the choice seems obvious. But others may wish to continue to use mass shootings as an excuse to suffer a worse fate. Either way, God wins. My advice, as He has invited you to do so: Join Him in that victory.