During my time in the British Merchant Navy, I had the opportunity to visit New Zealand. Indeed, at that time in my life, my plan was to emigrate to Australia; get a job in a good hotel (I was an experienced chef); be married to a nice Australian Christian girl (there were a couple of distinct possibilities!); and eventually retire to New Zealand. None of that took place, but I have friends who live in New Zealand - including a couple in Christchurch. The news of the deaths, yesterday, caused me to reflect in a number of ways.
The random killing of any human being is to be abhorred. When nearly fifty are slaughtered, our minds reel. We pray that those who have been bereaved in the Christchurch massacre will be helped by those who are able to most effectively do so. It is never easy to bring help to the bereaved - I know that from both personal, and pastoral, experience. However, I also know that those who are able to turn to Jesus, receive help, and strength, that are not available from any other source.
Death, of course, is one of the certainties of life - at least until the Rapture of the Church! Yet it is something that we tend to assume won't happen to us - certainly not if we are under some arbitrarily-chosen age! Yet death is no respecter of persons. It touches all - infants; young children; teenagers; 20s and 30s; those heading towards, and in, "middle age"; the elderly. My point is that it is highly unlikely that any of the victims in Christchurch left their homes that day thinking that they would not return!
That being the case, is it not wise for each of us to take time to consider our readiness to meet with physical death? Of course, there are different beliefs as to what happens when that event takes place. For some, there will just be 'nothingness'. Life is extinguished - and that is that! Others believe that we have another shot at life - in circumstances that are dictated by the life we are living this time around.
However, for those of us who claim to be disciples of the Lord Jesus, the Christ, the outlook is much more positive. The anonymous writer of the Letter to the Hebrew disciples of Jesus makes it quite clear that there is no "second" (or subsequent) chance: "... it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment, ..." (Heb 9:27). And there is the assurance that, for those who have repented of their sins, and accepted, by faith, the gift of full salvation that Jesus gained for us at Calvary, we will live with Him eternally. Of course, for those who have rejected Him, or simply ignored Him, there is only eternity without Him. That is referred to as hell - and it is not something that any thinking person would wish to suffer!
Of course, Christians are regularly the victims of deadly attacks. In Nigeria, for example, it is the Muslim terrorists of Boko Haram, and the Muslim Fulani tribesmen who slaughter Christians - not in their tens, but in their hundreds and thousands. Indeed, some 90% of all Christians who died in 2018 as a result of terrorist activities (mostly at the hands of Muslims) were murdered in Nigeria! One single attack by Boko Haram, last year, left 106 dead; while one attack by Fulani militants resulted in the deaths of more than 200! However, such events do not receive the attention of the world's media in the same way as has the attack in Christchurch!
So what is a proper response for disciples for Jesus in this situation? May I offer three suggestions?
1. to pray for the bereaved, regardless of their religious, ethnic, national, or social background.
2. to remember that, if all of those who died in Christchurch were devout Muslims, then they died without the Christ - and so without hope - and to seek to do whatever we can to bring the Gospel message to the followers of Islam. It is reported by many that more Muslims are coming to saving faith in Jesus than ever before. We may not be able to physically go to a Muslim country - but we can support, prayerfully and financially, organisations such as SAT-7 (https://www.sat7uk.org/), FEBA (https://feba-radio.org/), and Arab World Media (http://www.awm.org/),who do work amongst these people.
3. to pray for our fellow disciples of Jesus who suffer for His Name's sake - often in ways that are beyond the understanding of most of us.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God." (John 3:16-21).
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God." (John 3:16-21).