Today's MOZEN: The Devil Made Him Do It.

F LoBuono

Recently, I watched an interview with the woman who first spotted the killer Dylann Roof and reported the sighting to the authorities. Apparently, she recognized his car on a street in North Carolina and called 911. From her tip, Roof was captured without incident. During the course of the interview, the woman kept giving thanks to god and that it was "god's will" that he was caught. Well, here's my dilemma: Someone has to explain to me how the same god who took nine innocent lives in a South Carolina church in the first place is the same one who "allowed" the perpetrator to be caught a short time later. I mean it. I need to understand the faith-based rational of a god who, if he controls everything in every life, would "allow" the massacre of those dedicated to his service only to make it all "OK" by orchestrating the murderer's eventual capture. Really? I mean, what's the point? If god is ALL MERCIFUL, ALL SEEING, and ALL LOVING, how could he possibly allow such senseless violence to happen in the first place? Was someone else responsible? Did the DEVIL make Roof commit such a heinous act? Did god look away at that moment? When the victims apparently begged for their lives, why didn't he listen?

 My questions my seem caustic and sarcastic, but they are not. I do not knock people of faith. They seem to have found something that I continue to search for. However, I don't see "god" or "faith" working that way. For me, there is no white bearded man in flowing robes, sitting on cloud, pulling our strings like some divine puppeteer! There is no horned, long-tailed red devil sitting on our shoulders and whispering in our ears making us do evil things. These are just manifestations of the concepts of good and evil as WE HUMAN BEINGS define them. Perhaps, the personification of these ideals is necessary for most of us to understand them. However, in my mind, it's a gross over-simplification! In fact, in my opinion, it can be counter productive. By shifting the responsibility for our own deeds to a nebulous being, we avoid accepting and understanding our capacity for both good and evil. It doesn't belong to anyone else. It belongs to us.

So, it is with the case of the South Carolina church murders. The devil didn't make Dylann Roof kill those people. It was a sick mind fed by a warped view of race and justice that is all too prevalent in our society, especially in the deep South. And, god didn't "allow" him to be spotted and eventually apprehended - that was accomplished by vigilance and excellent police work. We need to accept full responsibility for our actions - all of them. When we do, we can address the issues with reason and logic. Then, perhaps, we can truly approach divine.