WITNESS: Searching for God's Purpose in the Amish Schoolhouse Murders

The breaking news headlines were horrific. Another school massacre, this time in a quiet Amish community supposedly removed from the secular world. Like everyone, I was stunned by the news as it unfolded on television and the Internet. And like most people, I found the usual questions spinning out and demanding to be answered yet again. How could God allow this to happen to them, of all people?

Like many Christians, my commitment to my faith goes far deeper than those who know me might suspect. I say this because I’ve discovered that in today’s religious climate, my words may be ignored while my actions have far more impact, even though it often takes longer for my actions to have an effect. My belief is so complete that, like the Amish, I believe we must forgive anyone who commits evil acts against anyone, no matter how distant or how close they are to us, regardless of nationality, faith or culture, no matter how atrocious the offense. The forgiveness must be total, without reserve or conditions, and I believe that there can be no exceptions to this rule, a rule that commands us to repay evil with good at all times. It’s an absolute that Christ has given us to follow because He did the same, offering Himself as an example. But here’s the rub… as long as horrors such as the school massacre do not touch those I love, or those within my own community, it’s easy to give lip service to this creed. But what direct action would I take if something like it happened to those I knew and loved?

I pray that I would act in exactly the same manner as the Amish community that, whether they fully realize it or not, has provided us with a perfect witness to the true message of Christ. “Forgive and you will be forgiven. Be merciful and you will be shown mercy. Judge not, and you will not be judged. Love one another as your Father has loved you.” In the perfect wisdom of these words, the Amish found the ability to love the killer of their children, to forgive him completely and without reserve, and to bind the wounds of the survivors—all the survivors, including the killer’s family, which must have been as devastated as the families of the victims. To the amazement of many, the killer’s wife was invited to the funeral of one girl, and when it was announced that donations were pouring into the Amish community to help cover medical bills, Amish leaders asked that a fund be set up for the killer’s family as well. As the world watched, it was privileged to witness the unfolding of amazing—and quite uncommon—grace.

Over the past few years our nation has witnessed the aftermath of high-profile murders of children by sex offenders, and the horrible emotional toll it exacts on the survivors. It’s devastating to watch family members speaking on television about their children “going to be with God,” and then in the next breath let their bitterness spill out as they voice their hopes for a brutal punishment for the killer. It’s heartbreaking to watch because the evil that poisoned the killer has been passed to them…they’re infected with it and until they learn to let it go, it will continue to devastate their lives as well. Even more heart-wrenching is to hear them proclaim their faith in Christ while still demanding swift, retaliatory punishment, as though their belief in Christ demands it. Yet Christ clearly eliminates this option in Chapter 5 of Matthew, when He states: “You have heard it said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’ but I say to you, do not resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also… You have heard it said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be the sons of your Father in heaven… Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

The Amish community in Pennsylvania, with its unblinking faith in the literalness of Christ’s command that we forgive one another and love those who persecute us, has demonstrated the absolute truth of this all-important commandment. Only by repaying evil with good, by forgiving the perpetrator of a vicious and heinous act, could the Amish conquer the very evil that spawned the act. They demonstrated this truth not only to the secular world, but to an often divided and distracted nation of Christians as well, a nation that claims a Christian faith majority, yet as a whole struggles mightily to abide by the simple teachings of that faith on a consistent basis.

In a nation where a surprising number of Christians are still supportive of the invasion of Iraq, supportive of capital punishment, supportive of tax cuts for the wealthy and supportive of an invasive, soul-numbing consumer culture that grows more unsustainable by the year, we see a version of Christianity that bears little resemblance to the message preached by Christ two thousand years ago. This message, the last time I checked, instructs its followers to reject violence in all forms, avoid the accumulation of worldly riches, love one another regardless of nationality, culture or faith, open our hearts to travelers and aliens from other lands, turn the other cheek to evil, help the poor at every opportunity, avoid judging others, and extend the same love to others that Christ extends to us. It’s not just a list of philosophical ideals to talk about, by the way… we’re instructed to live by these rules if we’re to claim ourselves among His followers.

So how did we get so off track? And how can we find our way back?

The recent witness of the Amish community’s Christian faith stands in stark contrast to the much of the self-centered, graceless, finger-wagging stuff that tries to dress itself in the robes of righteousness these days. We live in an increasingly secularized nation that’s drifting into “cultural Christianity,” a largely soulless blend of watered-down faith that requires little more of its members than a simple claim of belief. Once this claim is made, its members often allow themselves to feel positively virtuous about any number of actions that are in complete contradiction to the teachings of Christ. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran minister who was hung by the Nazis for refusing to compromise or deny his faith, had a term for this sort of secularized faith-without-discipleship. He called it “cheap grace.” In a nation where many Christians settle for this cheap grace, it was incredibly moving to watch the Amish take Christ’s words to heart and forgive what might be considered unforgivable by many of this nation’s “cultural” Christians. Cheap grace in the Amish community? Not a chance...

In the weeks since the murders, a community has stood together and provided witness to an unshakable principle that holds the power to conquer evil. Whether you believe in Christ or not, you must consider the incredible, transcendent power of forgiveness. As we search for God’s purpose in these senseless murders, we must look at the whole picture that has unfolded since they took place. Evil was repaid with Good, and Evil was conquered, rendered toothless and impotent in the lives of the Amish community. Their witness is all the more powerful because we live in an age of technology that has allowed the entire world to watch their response. It’s no small irony that this technology, largely rejected by the Amish as too worldly, has been made a vehicle by which they’ve spread this witness to every corner of the planet.

Were those violent deaths part of God’s will? Clearly not. But when we look at the grace and beauty of the response, we find His fingerprints everywhere. Five innocent girls were murdered, and yet the killer was forgiven without hesitation. The murders were senseless and brutal, yet the aftermath was infused with a love and compassion that defies worldly logic. Somewhere in this process, wretched and horrifying Evil was transformed into perfect, redeeming Love right before our very eyes.