We Are All French

This past Friday night, tragedy struck the nation of France when terrorists attacked locations across the city of Paris. Why does this kind of violence continue?

“Pray for Paris.”

My friend’s text message took me by surprise. As far as I knew, Paris was doing fine. I didn’t know of any natural disasters that were impacting Paris or anything that would specifically require prayers.

Then I found out. There had been another attack on Paris and more innocent civilians had died—their lives violently interrupted by the acts of a coordinated group of Islamic extremists. The scourge of terrorism had struck the world once again.

Paris attacked

It wasn’t until I started seeing the news reports that I fully realized what had happened. It wasn’t just a terrorist attack. This was a coordinated, six-pronged assault on the citizens of Paris. Five combined bombings and mass shootings left at least 129 dead and 180 wounded, according to BBC News.

As usual, the tragedy was reflected as much on Facebook as it was in the news. There were dozens of posts asking people to “pray for Paris,” with the magnificent Eiffel Tower in the background. One post even went so far as to say, “Pray for Paris: We are all French.” Facebook even introduced an app that allowed users to overlay their profile pictures with a translucent French flag.

A reminder

After receiving the text message and reading of the attacks, I joined the thousands, if not millions, of people who were saddened and grieved by the brutal attacks in France. The terror group ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying that it was retaliation against France for assisting in the bombings in Syria. The victims, however, were mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and possibly even children who had little to do with the decision concerning events in Syria.

None of the 129 dead woke up that Friday expecting to die. To them, it was another day in their lives. Many of them entered the restaurants or bars with the thought of enjoying a quiet meal or drink with family and friends. Others went to a rock concert for an evening of enjoyment.

The attacks are a painful and shocking reminder about how short and fragile life really is. The Bible says that life is a like a vapor; it can be there one moment and gone the next (James 4:14). These attacks demonstrate this truth all too clearly. This came home to me as I realized that recently five of my friends were in Paris. If the timing of the attack had been a little different, they could have been among the victims.

Why?

A question that is currently being asked, and will continue to be asked, is “why?” Why did these men commit these atrocities? Why did the authorities not uncover the plot in time? Why did God allow these killings to take place? Why do we continue to see these types of mass violence?

I imagine that subsequent investigations will uncover the reasons behind the first two questions. The reason that God permitted these killings to occur, and why man can never achieve peace, is an answer that goes all the way back to the beginning.

God gave man a chance to live without death and suffering. Sadly, mankind chose a different direction in the Garden of Eden, introducing death, suffering and misery (Genesis 3). Ever since then, God has given each individual a choice: life or death. God urges us to choose life, but we frequently choose the sinful way of death instead (Deuteronomy 30:19).

No more!

Right now, the French are looking forward to a time when there will be no more war, no more death and no more killing—though they may not be thinking of it in those terms. In this way, we are all French—we all grieve because of the evil of this world and look forward to a world without pain and suffering.

Such a world is coming. Most people don’t see a hope beyond the current tragedy—there appears to be no end to the menace of Islamic extremism or various other threats to peace around the world. God gives us a vision, however, of a world where there will be peace (Isaiah 9:7). The bombs and guns that ruin lives all over the world will be turned into instruments of work and peace (Micah 4:3).

God Himself will eventually bring a world that is free of pain and tears, of death and mourning, of terror and fear (Revelation 21:4)!

We are all French

We all mourn with the French for the 129 dead and for the rest whose lives have been impacted by these heinous acts. We all realize that our world will never be the same.

We all earnestly look forward to a time when this pain and death will no longer be a reality, but will be a dim memory as we live eternally in the Kingdom of God! We all should be seeking and praying for the Kingdom of God to come to this earth so that this reality can be what we see and live (Matthew 6:10; Revelation 22:20).

To learn more about the cause of suffering in our world, download and read our free booklet Why Does God Allow Evil and Suffering?

Photo by ehpien/CC BY-MC-ND 2.0