Who Is James Holmes? Who Mentored Him?

On the night of July 19, excited movie-goers crowded into a theater in Aurora, CO for a sold-out premiere of the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises.  Before the movie, it was just another evening at the theater as movie-goers allowed Christopher Nolan’s production of lights, sights, and sounds to transport them out of their work-a-day world into the action, adventure, and intrigue of Gotham City.

But while enjoying the imaginary world of Batman, the audience was rudely interrupted by James Holmes, thought earlier to be just another movie-goer.  But, according to ABC News, Holmes donned a “ballistics helmet, bulletproof vest, bulletproof leggings, gas mask and gloves.  Holmes detonated multiple smoke bombs, and then began firing at viewers….” allegedly killing 12 people and wounding 59 others.   After his apprehension by police, he informed them that his apartment was rigged with enough explosives to decimate the building and perhaps neighboring structures as well.

James Holmes' high school photo (L) and college ID photo (R)

When the Friday morning news reports were broadcast, James Holmes and Aurora, CO instantly became “household names.”   We all asked, “Who is James Holmes?”  Some of us tried to look within the man, asking about his mental and emotional stability.  Others searched for sociological influences or political motivations that would lead a person to carry out such a diabolical plan.   Many of us were simply stunned.

Writing on any aspect of this tragedy can easily become an “I told you so” exercise to support one’s political or religious agenda.  Nor is it possible now to give a neat and tidy account of why James Holmes committed the crimes for which he is being held.  For even as I write, James Holmes, his family, the families of his victims, and many others suffer by the hour in various ways.

Yet when tragedy punctuates the normal flow of life, we should take stock of our lives and ask questions that seldom occur during our weekday routines or weekend activities like movie-going.  Questions like the following:   What is wrong or missing in a person that would generate such a tragedy?  If we can know, can it be ‘fixed?’  Who are we as human beings?   Where did we come from?  What is our purpose and destiny?  This week’s blogs are raising these questions, at least “between the lines.”

Each individual must consciously or unconsciously address these fundamental questions of life. The manner in which we address them forms our worldview, or “lens” though which we process and interact with the world around us.  I admit my own inadequacy to answer the questions arising from Aurora.  But let me suggest the strong possibility that James Holmes allowed himself to be “squeezed into the mold” of our contemporary culture, and that he came to lose sight of his origin, identity, purpose, and destiny as an individual.

Perhaps we will eventually know more about whether James Holmes was nurtured in a home and community that helped him gain a sense of his origin, identity, purpose, and future.  Holmes’ neighbor for 15 years described him as a young man who “…washed the car for his parents, he cut the grass, he played soccer.”  Holmes graduated from Westview H.S. in San Diego, CA, in 2006 where he was described as “a smart kid,” “great in chemistry,” and as a “normal teenager.”   In 2010, Holmes graduated with honors with a degree in neuroscience from University of California-Riverside where he was described as an “impressive” student, and “a smart guy.”

Holmes’ choice to specialize in the neurosciences in a highly competitive environment ushered him into one of the frontiers of the biological and medical sciences; and, a field that challenges our very core beliefs about the origin and nature of humans and human consciousness and behavior.  It is likely that James Holmes was greatly influenced by a naturalistic evolution worldview no doubt presented by many of his school teachers and university professors.  Here, James would have learned that he and all of humanity are the product of undirected, random processes within matter that over billions of years have produced molecules, cells, and eventually an array of more and more complex life forms.  If he came to believe that he is the product of purposeless evolution, “survival of the fittest,” then Holmes’ naturalistic worldview would offer him little hope when the deeper questions of life confronted him personally: “What is my purpose for living?   Why should I care about other humans, or about improving our understanding of human health, consciousness, and behavior?

Again, I didn’t know James Holmes, and I don’t want to be overly simplistic.  Some suggest he was influenced by the Tea Party movement.  (Turned out to be a different James Holmes.)  Is my hypothetical scenario any less plausible?  Allow me to continue if you will.

I believe the Judo-Christian Scriptures provide solid answers to the deep questions we have listed here. The Bible teaches that God is the Creator (Genesis 1-2; Romans 1) and that His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made…  The passage goes on to say that this truth is so clear that …they [who deny that God is Creator] are without excuse (Romans 1: 20); instead, professing to be wise, [those who deny] became fools (Romans 1: 22).

The “world system of thinking” which denies the truth claims above can easily force each of us into its mold.   Later in Romans, we are warned not to allow ourselves to …be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2).  In other words, “be careful not to allow your way of thinking and defining reality to be molded by a world system that bases its “truth” on the pre-supposition that ‘all we see is all there is’.”

In June, 2011, Holmes enrolled in a highly competitive graduate program in neurosciences of the School of Medicine at the Aurora campus of the University of Colorado.   A classmate described him as “a loner,” and he reportedly dropped out a month ago.  The last course in which he enrolled was on “mental illnesses and psychiatric disorders.”  Holmes’ parents and neighbors observed changes in his behavior; and, for reasons not yet clear, he had become reclusive and left an impression on neighbors in Aurora that he was “deeply troubled.”   When asked whether he takes drugs, his answer: “Prefer not to say.” And, “Am a nice guy. Well, as nice enough of a guy who does these sort of shenanigans.”

So, the question is, “What was becoming of James Holmes during this past year?”  Maybe you’ll say I’m oversimplifying that which brought about the change in James Holmes’ behavior.  Perhaps we will never know.  However, we do know that human health and well being are strongly dependent upon a clear self-awareness, social affirmation, sense of purpose, and an understanding of their relationship to the natural world and reality beyond the material world.

I’m curious that Holmes and his family attended a local Presbyterian church where it is reported that “Jimmy was clean-cut, well-spoken and a good kid.”  What influence did the social and spiritual environment at his church have on James’ life?  After all, God’s plan is for His Truth to be taught, witnessed, and applied consistently within local churches, His body at work on Earth.  Here and in a “Christian home,” James’ life and worldview might have been transformed (changed) by a regular renewal of his mind (Romans 12:2) by regular reading, meditation, and application of the truth of Scripture.   The Book of Psalms opens with this proclamation:

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.   -- Psalm 1: 1-3

Blessed (happy; having much joy in our “happenings”) are the man and the woman who “delight,” “meditate,” and “walk” according to God’s plan outlined in Scripture.  The human heart is, spiritually speaking, the seat of our worldview and value system; our mind, the seat of our decision-making (or “will”).  Both heart and mind must be continually nourished by the truth claims of the Scriptures.  Result:  We are armed against the false claims from a “world system” of thought that denies the authority of God and Scripture.

The tragedy in Aurora is that many lives were suddenly taken or changed forever by a person whose mind had become disoriented and darkened, perhaps by genetic and physiological causes; or, just as likely, by allowing his mind to be “programmed” in such a way that he exchanged his purpose for living and learning about the human mind for the diabolical purpose of destroying human lives.

I close with two applications.   First, I disagree with those who claim that gun control laws need to be stiffened to prevent such disasters.   If my logic above is correct, this was not about access to guns and ammo; it was about the spiritual and emotional health of a person.  Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) said it well:  I don’t think there is a solution here in Washington to solve this problem.  Just as I don’t believe Washington can produce a health care program that will meet the physical health needs of its citizens, neither can it address the emotional and spiritual health needs.  That must come from individual accountability fostered within healthy families, communities, and churches.

Second, I believe there is a somber lesson for those of us who would be teachers—whose “profession” is to be professors of truth.  As professors on college campuses, we should be good stewards of our profession of faith and of our academic discipline.  Students will observe and learn from our profession of truth through both our words and our actions.   Such “professing” helps students to acquire understanding about the world around them as they examine truth claims about human origins, purpose, and destiny.   School teachers and college professors have the privilege and responsibility to nurture young men and women who are looking for answers to these important questions.   May God be merciful to teachers and professors who have rejected the Creator’s clear message of hope that has been revealed in creation (Romans 1: 20) and in God’s Word, the Bible.   As the Apostle James states:   Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.  James 3:1

Related Topic from Oikonomia:    Of grave concern is the tendency within the evangelical church and associated college campuses to question the biblical account of the origin of human life by the special creation of Adam and Eve as given in Genesis 1-2, Matthew 19:4, and elsewhere.  See Caution at the Gate to a Perilous Path (Feb 06, 2011) and Could He? Would He? (Apr 30, 2011)

“Public Servants” and Citizens--Both Stewards of Freedom

We are a nation that has a government—not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our Government has no power except that granted it by the people.
-- Ronald Reagan,  January 20, 1981

In his first inaugural address, President Reagan reminded us that government is to be a servant of the people.  That is, “civil servants” are to be “servants” of the people, and to exercise stewardship of the power granted to them.  At the same time, we as citizens have a responsibility as stewards of the freedom and opportunity afforded to us by our founders.   We exercise our stewardship by holding elected officials accountable as stewards of the privileges and responsibilities of their offices.  All of us are ultimately stewards of the rights endowed by our Creator.

On this Independence Day, 2011, one of my U.S. Senators from Ohio, Sen. Sherrod Brown, e-mailed a statement which prompted me to reply to him online.   His statement is below followed by my response to him:

Two hundred and thirty-seven years ago, farmers, merchants, laborers, and soldiers celebrated a new nation – fixed in freedom and equality. They faced tough odds, but they were armed with the vibrant American spirit and rock solid patriotism that has carried our nation forward since its founding.  – Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)

Senator Brown,

Thank you for your e-mail reminding us to celebrate Independence Day.  In your opening statement, you have emphasized two important ingredients that have been valued by Americans for centuries--"freedom and equality."  Please allow me to respond in the spirit of the Founding Fathers as expressed in the Declaration of Independence which states (emphasis mine)

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness.

The intent to our founders was to establish a nation in "freedom from" the tyranny of the King of England whose policies no longer respected individual freedoms.  To the Founding Fathers, "freedom" was based on "truths" that were "self-evident"; namely, that basic "rights" are "unalienable" and exist as an endowment from a Higher Power, not simply from man-made laws.   Based on this foundation, our Constitution encouraged individual initiative, entrepreneurial spirit, and investment in business and technology that has made possible a standard of living (including a health care system) unequaled in the world.

Senator Brown, you also used the word, "equality."  However, wouldn’t you agree that the Founding Fathers meant to give us a system of government that provides more than "equality?" Wasn’t their aim to assure "freedom" under the law so that each person would have "opportunity" for the "pursuit of happiness" as stewards of their individual abilities and opportunities?  The Founders understood what many of us have forgotten; namely, that each person is endowed genetically from his Creator and is nurtured by his environment (parents, family, and local community) to achieve at a given level in a vocation (or "calling") that fits his or her abilities. Not all can be doctors, or farmers, or NBA stars, or United States senators.   But as much as possible, each should have the opportunity to "earn" their way to a fulfilling way of life.

Yes, there are injustices in America today.  But these can be corrected by enforcement of the law, not by taking from those who have worked hard to gain an honest living and "giving" to those who have less as if to "create” equality.  This merely creates dependence and a dehumanized class of Americans that also happens to be a voting constituency for politicians who, like drug dealers, promise them another "fix" (at an ever increasing cost).   Those such as yourself who are in positions of power must steward that power by being protectors of individual freedom.  Government assistance is needed to meet acute needs, but government should also create an environment that constantly promotes individual self reliance.

As a U.S. Senator in our American culture that seems to have forgotten the importance of individual responsibility and initiative, you may soon have an opportunity to vote for or against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  In the spirit of offering “a fair share” of “affordable health coverage” to all Americans, this legislation fails on at least four counts. 

First, it is “unaffordable” by our nation which is already trillions of dollars in debt.  Second, as far as I can tell it does not provide health and nutritional incentives to Americans, many of whom have undisciplined lifestyles and eating habits.  Thus, it would require those of us who are individually responsible for a healthy lifestyle to subsidize those who make bad nutritional choices, or who unfairly take advantage of health care because it is “affordable.”

Third, it will further “shelter” health services from a “free market” environment wherein healthy competition could both improve quality of care and reduce costs.  However, if enacted, the proposed legislation would promote the same deterioration in health care that we have witnessed in our public educational system.  Can we not learn from the failed attempts of government-managed education as well as Social Security and Medicare (both deeply in debt)?   Government has been unable to “compete” with “free market” approaches to providing goods and services—whether it be transportation (recall Amtrack), postal service (U.S. Postal Service versus FedEx), or recent attempts at “green energy” in which taxpayer dollars were poorly invested (Solyndra).

Finally, it appears that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will further erode the doctor-patient relationship which has been historically crucial to the quality of health care in America.  As Ronald Reagan stated in a radio address, July 6, 1977, “…wouldn’t it violate everything we believe in to adopt a system based on the idea that the patients have a right to a doctor’s services without regard for his right to say how and on what terms those services will be delivered?”

And so, today, as my U.S. Senator and “public servant”, I invite you to join me in celebration of “freedom from tyranny” and celebration of the fact that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  I also commit to pray that you and your colleagues in the U.S. Senate will reexamine these principles and recommit to enacting legislation that will respect the limits of government and protect the rights of the individual and local community.  After all, human health in America has historically rested upon a Judeo-Christian moral code that has guided our families, communities, and institutions; and inspired our health care professionals who need the freedom from bureaucracy to provide for the health care needs of their patients.

Respectfully,

John Silvius
Cedarville, Ohio

"A Steward's Prayer"

As we approach the end of the first decade of the 21st century, it is clear that some monumental challenges will follow us into 2010. A central question facing American politics is “What is the responsibility of ‘the have’s’ toward ‘the have not’s?’” This question is inherent in the debates involving diverse issues including “bank lending to homebuyers,” “fertility for childless couples,” “universal health care,” and “global climate policy.” Consider the common element among these four issues which are often discussed in the context of “social justice.”

First, the current economic crunch was precipitated in part by a crash in the housing market brought on by the unhealthy dynamic that arose when clients with limited financial resources were awarded low-interest loans. Many of these loans were offered through banking policies encouraged in part by well meaning government bureaucrats who believed that “the have’s” should help “the have not’s” to “have it now.”

Second, the current debate over embryonic stem cell research and its potential threat to the sanctity of human life has resulted in part from the population of frozen human embryos that exist as a result of couples (and individuals) claiming their right to be biological parents through use of fertility drugs and in vitro fertilization. What or who should take precedence, the rights of the unborn or newly conceived, or the rights of adults who seek to gain from human enbryos.

Third, those who favor universal health care claim that the millions of American citizens who “have not” been covered by health insurance should be able to join “the haves.” Finally, the “climate change” debate centers on whether “the haves” among nations –i.e. those with the industrial and economic capacity to limit their emissions of greenhouse gases-- should take on the responsibility and cost of limiting emissions out of concern for the planet as a whole and the “have not” nations in particular.

In each of the four issues, policies are being drafted by our elected officials that will give the federal government greater authority to redistribute monetary wealth and (supposedly) opportunity to those who have less. Many, including this writer, believe these policies will bring major changes to American society and culture. At the same time, the growing secularization of American culture is leaving us more and more divided over what is “right” and “wrong.”

The rightness or wrongness of public policy depends ultimately upon a belief in objective truths which individuals accept and are willing to implement through their decisions and actions. For example, our founding fathers believed that the “human rights” of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are endowed from a sovereign Creator. It follows, that freedom is secure as long as the citizens recognize their responsibility to steward their time, talents, wealth, and power in cooperation with God’s divine purposes. The apostle Paul asks, “what do you have that you did not receive (I Corinthians 4:7)?”

Personally, I believe the most fundamental concept of a “free society” is the concept of stewardship. Stewards recognize that what they “have” is ultimately “on loan” from God. Such stewardship is guided and motivated by “love”—love which itself comes ultimately from the overflow of the God of the Bible Who is love. The citizen-steward who is motivated by love can do “what is required of him” as stated through the Old Testament prophet Micah; namely, “do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8)."

Political leaders and citizens who exercise biblical stewardship marked by a passion for justice, mercy, and humility will seek godly wisdom in matters like affordable housing, human fertility, health care provisions, and climate change. Such wisdom from above will help us correctly discern the respective roles of social institutions – family, church, and government—and how each can do its part in promoting “social justice” whose ultimate goal is “righteous living.” The best “stimulus packages” are those containing just what is needed for each individual and community of America, filled and provided through godly wisdom by members most closely acquainted with the needs at hand, motivated by the great commandment—“to love the Lord your God... and your neighbor as thyself (Matthew 22:37,39).”

And so, as the first decade of millennium 2000 comes to an end, leaving us with huge challenges, please be encouraged by a God Who calls us to be His children (John 1:12). As His children, we are to be stewards of the riches of His wisdom and of the time, abilities, and resources entrusted to us. God gives us the responsibility to use what we “have” in ways that promote “biblical justice and mercy” toward our neighbor and toward the creation around us.

Perhaps “A Steward’s Prayer” recently published in Flourish Magazine online will convey a stewardship perspective to you as you read and pray through it, and plan to make a difference in 2010.