Why are people so Cruel?
Thirty-two years ago on this date, June 4, 1989, Chinese troops stormed through Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing, killing and arresting thousands of pro-democracy protesters. In the month previous close to a million primarily young Chinese students had gathered in the Square to demand democracy and the resignations of their repressive Communist leaders. Three weeks into the protests the government had had enough! Chinese troops and security police stormed through Tiananmen Square, firing indiscriminately into the crowds. Reports estimated at least 300, possibly thousands, were killed in the slaughter and as many as 10,000 arrested.
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev stated he was saddened by these events and hoped the Chinese government would work to democratize their political system. Members of U.S. Congress denounced the massacre and voted to impose economic sanctions against the People’s Republic of China.*
Cruelty often results when the power of a man is magnified, and cruelty breeds quickly when once set loose! It deceives us. We play with it, and even introduce it to our children.
Cruella de Ville, is a witch-like character whose name is a clever dress-up of ‘cruel’ and ‘devil’ subliminally describing her. She first appeared in the 1956 novel by Dodie Smith, The Hundred and One Dalmatians, then in Disney movies by the same or similar names. The latest installment, “Cruella,” is now showing in theatres.
Why? Why are we so cruel… and why so blind to it?
“…the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty” observed the psalmist (Ps. 74:20). Apart from Christ the human heart is a very dark place indeed. Jesus said “If your eye is bad (evil), your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matt. 6:23). What is an “evil” eye? It is an eye that is blind to the Grace and graces of God, an eye that is un-illumined by the agapé love of God, an eye that thinks only of itself. John writes, “Jesus …knew all people. …he knew what was in each person.” (John 2: 24,25). The prophet Jeremiah pinned it perfectly “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9). The very darkness within us blinds us to its presence.
Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” (John 9:39). Jesus turns up the contrast, He removes spiritual cataracts, and by His brilliance blinds the wicked.
Spiritual sight : Spiritual blindness — Which it will be is up to you.
Press on…
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*SOURCE: Retrieved June 2, 2021 from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/tiananmen-square-massacre-takes-place. – Originally pub Nov. 13, 2009
thebrokenrunner 