Today we have all be shocked and grieved by the Boston Marathon dual bombings. 3 people have been killed and 148 have been injured. Here are a few of my musings as I have listened and watched the emerging story.
1) The greatest thing we can do is pray. Pray for the injured. Pray for the Emergency Personnel. Pray for the families of the people who have died. Pray for the people of Boston who are now in fear. Pray for the Bombers for the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Pray great faith filled prayers of hope.
2) I think one of the best responses other than prayer is to focus on the helpers. Yes the person who set the bombs is a sick individual or a member of a sick organization, but the people who rushed into the scene to help, greatly outnumbered the bomber as he was cowardly rushing in the opposite direction. We can focus on the evil of humanity, and there is certainly some truth in that, but the good of the human collective is always shown in tragic events like this. I choose to focus on the good and as I speak to my daughters about this event or indeed any terrorist event, that’s what I get them to focus on.
3) In the immediate aftermath of an event, I am always saddened by the people who take opportunity to further their particular cause. Whether it be a racist cause, blaming the Saudi’s as I saw one tweet from a news commentator did:- or blaming the US Senate’s failure to appoint a Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Commissioner;- or push their pet conspiracy theory; Now is not the time.
4) Recently I preached on Globalization. The bombings are a classic example of the Global Village. An event 13,000 kilometres away weighs heavy on our emotions, impacts sharemarkets around the world, and dominates our Social Media feeds – all in almost real time.
5) At this stage, 3 Americans have been killed. So sad. However over the weekend 50 people in Iraq were also killed. I want to make sure that I am not influenced by the media’s biased weighting of people’s lives. The people in Iraq matter just as much as the people in Boston. I will feel sad for both groups of people and will pray for all their families
Categories: Current Affairs, Political Commentary or Thoughts
peterpilt 
I have had the same conversation today with an African friend. The world will talk about these 3 deaths for weeks and months but when larger numbers are killed in third world nations, it will all be said and done in 24 hours because there is nothing to be gained politically. Every life is precious and today we saw a tragedy but let’s recognize that tragedy happens everywhere in our broken, messed up world. Let’s be the first to reach out and extend love and care and prayers for all involved. Evil seeks glory for itself. Let God’s goodness shine brighter through those who gather around.
You do raise some vaild points Peter. Especially resonating is point 3. where you comment on those who leverage the situation to further their own personal agenda; a racist cause, and a Saudi news commentator sharing their views, perhaps we can add an evangalist blogger?
Interesting that you have settled on the bomber being a single male, “as he was cowardly” is there something you know about this event that everyone else (apart from the culprits of course) may know???
You did make an effort to discuss other events that you believe are more important such as the recent tragedy in Iraq, sorry but I could not seem to find your blog on that?
Max
I didnt say that the events in Iraq were more important, I was making a comment about the biased media reporting.
You obviously were looking for something to be negative about my blog as you want to put me in the same category as others who have used the Boston Bombings to further their cause. I didnt preach about sin in the world and the solution is faith in Jesus Christ. I didn’t make an ignorant assumption that the bomber was a Muslim. I didn’t align myself with the Republicans and the conservative right. Maybe you would have been more comfortable had I done that and then you could have been justified in your negativity
Oh Peter. Such a shame you jumped straight into my attempt at providing some balance as an attempt at negativity. I will pray for you. If “the people in Iraq matter just as much as the people in Boston” does this mean you would have mentioned the tragedy in Iraq even if the Boston bombings had not occured today? I pray for people like you.
Max, Your comment once again is a barbed comment. Saying things like “I pray for people like you” People like me? Passionate Pastors of a local Church? Australians? Fathers of Daughters? People who head up Social Justice Organisations? No none of these. You meant “People like you” in a negative sense. Its ok. I will pray for people like you too.
Nope. Not negative.
A balanced report of how you saw the outworking of events. Well done Peter! It put tradgedies into perspective. We also rarely hear or read about the many Christians being martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ.
Robyn, I do think both yourself and Peter need to read more widely. Perhaps look for news from more than one source. Be in control of where you receive your information in order to disseminate it yourselves rather than be fed “news”.
Just lost my comment by having to yet again reset my WordPress password.
Please watch this video and other related to it and tell me if you think it’s outrageous to suggest that the event was staged by disaster actors ie people who act out acts of terrorism and other disasters as exercises for US law enforcement and emergency agencies.