What are People Saying About the Terrorist Crisis?

Nearly everyone has an opinion about the terrorist attack on the United States of America. There have been many different responses to the takeover of the four planes, the murder of all of the passengers, and the killing of thousands of people in the World Trade Center and at the Pentagon. It has been the main topic of conversation and discussion among friends, business associates, students, government officials, and talk shows.

As disciples of Christ, we seek to view all things in life in light of the Word of the Living God. We seek to interpret events as we believe God does. Man does not naturally view things as God does (cf. Isaiah 55:8-9). But those who have the "mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16) and are guided by His word are able to evaluate life events more accurately.

I thought it would be interesting and revealing to ask a number of people at one business location what they thought of the national crisis. The specific question I asked was this: "What one lesson have you learned from the terrorist attack of September 11?" I asked them to limit their answers to one sentence. Here are the unedited responses. You will definitely find variety!

"Never take family for granted."
"Strike first!"
"Life is too short; tragedy can strike at any moment."
"Live every day to its fullest because you never know if there will be a tomorrow."
"Man can’t control circumstances, only our responses."
"Nuke them!"
"If we don’t show compassion and concern for others’ suffering, it will come back to us."
"Don’t take life for granted, because we never know what may happen."
"Every one of us is one heartbeat away from eternity—the question is where we will spend it."
"It shouldn’t take a tragedy to pull us together."
"We should not give into anger."
"Never take your strength for granted."
"It is close to the return of Jesus."
"They should have gotten rid of him [Osama bin Laden] eight years ago!"
"The government needs to be more careful about what’s going on in the world and the media needs to know when to be quiet."
"We’ve grown fat, lazy, and complacent."
"Man hasn’t learned how to love one another yet."
"When religious zealotry takes precedence over human life, be it the monks of the Spanish Inquisition or the knights of the Holy Crusades, humanity as a word loses it dignity."
"You can’t trust anybody."
"America isn’t as safe as you think."
"You can’t take people for granted. There’s a lot of evil in the world."
"You learn to appreciate life."
"We take everything for granted."
"We must remain ever diligent in our prayers for the guidance of our country and its leadership as well as our own inner circle."
"Don’t take anything for granted."
"Anything can happen."
"It requires something of this magnitude to realize our capacity to love one another."
"America should be more careful about who they train."
"We take our freedom for granted."
"We are too lax in airline security. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth."
"Be thankful for what you have."
"Don’t take your life for granted."
"When someone tells you to get out, get out!"
"Life is short."
"Be more careful about who is allowed to come to America."
"I don’t value my neighbors as I should."
"Fire back if you have a hijacking on the airplane."
"Do not put your trust in the world."
"Don’t take anything for granted."
"Not any day is promised."
"The Bible is fulfilling itself."
"You never know when you’re going to go, so you should be right with God."
"You never know—tomorrow is not promised to you."
"Never go inside a big building."

We think that many of these comments reflect some healthy thinking, while some are more superficial. Some are quite logical, and do reflect insight. They show that people have an opinion about what has happened.

Many have remarked that people are thinking about and talking about God much more since this dreadful tragedy. This may be true, particularly of those who have some form of faith. Using this as a background, perhaps these same people would be more open to discussing the meaning and brevity of life, the certainty of death, and the need to be prepared to meet the Living God. The prophet said, "Prepare to meet your God" (Amos 4:12b).

With this background, we hope you will read the feature article on this subject entitled, "A Christian View of the Terrorist Crisis."