Anger Is The Root Cause Of Murder

“Thou shalt not kill.” (Exodus 20:13)

Our nation was stunned when a thirty-two year old Pennsylvania man walked into a one-room Amish schoolhouse and shot 10 young girls. While his life showed no signs that would indicate Charles Roberts was capable of such a heinous crime, notes to his family later revealed that he was an angry man – angry at God as well as himself.

The national media descended on Lancaster County, Pennsylvania leaving all of us to realize that none of us is immune from the evils of the world. Indeed, if something like this can happen in Amish country, it can happen anywhere.

I admire the Amish for their faith. They are non-violent and are using this tragic incident to illustrate the importance of forgiveness. They are trying to model how Christ would respond and believe that ultimate judgment is God’s responsibility. “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)

Murder is the worst example of what anger can do. It is wrong because it robs God of the opportunity for his plan to work itself out in the lives that were taken. After all, the Bible says that we are created in God’s image, which means that we have the potential to manifest and show God’s character in our lives. But when man takes a life, the seed that God planted may not have yet sprouted. Interestingly, one of the Amish mothers remarked that her child was just beginning to blossom.

We tend to view murder from an Old Testament perspective. In other words, those of us who would never commit such a crime separate ourselves from murderers. We are not like them, so we don’t see ourselves as part of the problem, which is exactly why C.S. Lewis once said: “The greatest evil is not done in those sordid dens of crime…It is conceived …in well-lighted offices by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices.”

Jesus told us that we need to view murder from a New Testament perspective. He believed that murder as described in the Old Testament law was wrong. “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” (Matthew 5:17-18) But he also warned us to stop pointing fingers. The fact is that many are guilty of the same anger that caused Charles Roberts to go on his shooting spree. So to those of us who would never even think of killing someone, Jesus told us that while we are not murderers, a higher court will judge us for the anger that we harbor in our hearts.

The New Testament perspective and Jesus’ point is that murder is just a symptom. The disease with which we should really be concerned is anger. Jesus knew that unbridled anger ultimately exacts the greatest toll in our lives.

So to us, it is murder. But to God, it is anger. You see the world judges itself by the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. One man has anger in his heart and murders because of it. Another man has those same seeds of anger, but expresses it through a good old-fashioned tongue-lashing. To us, there is an enormous difference. To God, they are the same. That’s why God himself, in the person of Jesus Christ said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.” (Matthew 5:21-22)

Ironically, it’s the Old Testament that offers the greatest advice about anger. “Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still.” (Psalms 4:4) I wonder what would have happened in Charles Roberts had taken God’s advice and slept on it?