The horrifying events in San Bernardino recently have stirred up more than one controversy. However, the headlines of the New York Daily News last week just added to the turmoil. Pictured below, some people felt the front page was totally out-of-line while others echoed acceptance.

I know more than one person is questioning “WHY” this awful event happened, and feeling that prayers from politicians and others are getting us nowhere. It reminded me of a 2008 interview on CBS’s Morning Show when Jane Clayson asked Billy Graham’s daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, “If God is good, how could He let this happen,” referring to the destruction of the World Trade Towers in 2001.  She calmly replied, “I say God is also angry when he sees something like this. For years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government, and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has just quietly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone. We need to make up our mind – do we want God or do we not want Him. We cannot just ask Him in when disaster strikes.”

What do you think? Have we invited the negative events that have continued to happen in this country by neglecting to acknowledge God and follow His word as we live our lives, or are terrorist attacks, crumbling stock markets, and all manner of evil occurrences that we hear about on the news simply random happenings? How many of you are old enough to “remember when” and wish for the “good old days?”

My prayers remain with the grieving families who will have no joy in this time of holiday celebrations because innocent loved ones were taken too soon.

Sue – Voice II

I echo Sue as my prayers remain with families who have lost loved ones this entire year due to the hateful acts of others. This type of tragedy that occurred in San Bernardino is most difficult because the totally innocent have died at the hands of heinous terrorists and diabolical criminals. I have to also agree with Anne Graham Lotz regarding her comments about how we have neglected God as a nation. We simply cannot pick and choose when we will include God or even mention His name as an answer to the current dilemma or situation. It is absurd for a finite man to think he can remove and replace God in a kept place just as he would a box of cereal. God truly does hurt in the face of tragedy because He knows, cares and understands our pain. He already fixed it once and for all when He (the innocent) came and died for our (the guilty) sins. As His disciples, we have been given the power to overcome fear through our faith, prayer, evangelism, and also by taking a united and bold stand for our beliefs. We must witness to a lost and dying world until all whom we contact and connect with are transformed into to “HIS IMAGE.” The proverbial, “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me,” still rings true today. It can only be the God in me – the God in each of us that will bring about authentic and necessary changes.

Deidre Hester, Voice I