My former pastor, on occasion, would use a phrase that is very profound. He would say, “Every tub has to sit on its own bottom.” I’m assuming that the saying has it roots in the rural South. Although being from the rural South it was unfamiliar to me and was, at first, a little difficult to understand, in spite of its profundity.
However the sense of the euphemism finally sank in: we are all responsible and accountable for our words and actions.
As we are painfully aware, a maniacal young man took the life of six other human beings and wounded 14 more a week ago today in Tucson, Arizona.
Immediately after this heinous act of absolute malice many news agencies reported that the shootings were committed due to the influence of inflammatory political rhetoric. Those reports were soon debunked as false upon the discovery that the killer was not driven by any political ideology.
I wish not to be flippant nor cavalier concerning this tragic situation and surely extend my condolences to the families of the victims. I only use the title and the subsequent illustration to share what I have yet to hear through the national media: the real cause of these unspeakable acts of cruelty.
Giving credit where credit is due, some in the media have rightly insisted that the murderer is solely responsible for his heinous actions. But what has not been reported is why this person did what he did. In the Epistle of James, the Bible says,
“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” (1:13-16)
I do not suggest some religious connection to the murders, only that a person’s wicked deeds originate in his own heart and mind and because of his own sinful appetites. Willful sin is the reason that funerals are being conducted and victims continue to struggle for survival. Murder is the result of sin. Sin always results in death.
My pastor was and remains to be correct. Not only will “every tub sit on it own bottom”, every sinner will stand before God.
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
