The news of the horrific massacre in Aurora, Colorado, at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises spread quickly, and just as quickly the talking heads on radio and TV began engaging in wild speculation. What had made James Holmes do what he did? Is he mentally ill? Was it because he had dropped out of his graduate studies? Or had he had trouble finding a job because he was a white male? Had he spent too much time playing video games? Were drugs—legal or illegal—involved? Was this the logical outcome of the life of someone who had recently become obsessed with guns? Did the violence of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy leave Holmes unbalanced? Was he imitating Heath Ledger's Joker? Jack Nicholson's? Had he read too many comic books? Was Batman himself to blame?
It is natural for us to try to make sense of seemingly senseless acts. When confronted with violence on this scale, we often say, "No one in his right mind would do something like that," "He must have been crazy," "Something snapped." But what if James Holmes was in his right mind? What if he isn't crazy? What if nothing snapped? What if he simply decided a few months ago that he wanted to kill a whole bunch of people, and he started assembling the means, and looking for the opportunity, to do so?
What if, in other words, James Holmes is simply evil?
We shy away from such thoughts; we assume that there must be some other cause, something external. The closest Christians get today is to suggest that a person who could so brutally murder people he doesn't even know might have been possessed. Yet while possession is a reality, it is another external cause, even if it came about because of internal faults and failings. We don't want to believe that anyone could simply choose to do evil of his own free will.
And yet the recognition of that fact lies at the heart of the Christian understanding of sin. To the extent that we act in ways contrary to morality because of forces somewhat or wholly outside of our control, we are less culpable for our actions. The worst sins—mortal sins—require the full consent of our will. And that means that they are not caused by things external to us, but arise from who we are, and from whom we have made ourselves to be:
That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. [Mark 7:20-23]
Batman, Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, Christopher Nolan, even Pfizer and Smith & Wesson—none of these made James Holmes murder 12 people and shoot 58 others. James Holmes pulled the trigger, over and over and over again, and each of the bullets that pierced the heart of another man, woman, or child came straight from the heart of James Holmes.
Refusing to acknowledge this reality, ignoring the words of our Lord, at best leads us to search for answers where they are unlikely to be found. At worst, it becomes an implicit denial of the God Who so loved us that He gave us free will in order to allow us to love Him fully in return. The possibility that we can commit sins—even the most heinous of sins—is necessary, if we are truly to be able to love God as He ought to be loved: with our whole heart, and mind, and soul, and strength.
I realised before that there are evil people in this world, who will never be able to realise their own sinful nature and their evil deeds unless God change them. We have always teached our children to walk away and avoid malicious people.
I must thank you for this writeup. Mark 7:20-23 says it all. We are faced and tempted all the time to do things which are not in line with God’s will but it is only if we have true love for our neighbors and the fear of God s that we can strongly resist doing evil.
Thank you for your commentary. My priest had me alittle upset saying it was the movie goers fault also for going to see a movie that had so much evil in it. It had me very troubled.
I am not a theologian, just a mom, but to me an example of human evil would be someone who kills his third and fourth wives, and denies it and goes on to have a contest to win a date with him mocking his reputation. An example of demonic evil is what happened with James Holmes. He and any human being who commits such acts is no longer in his body. Demon(s)have taken over and commit such acts in places that offend God ( ie movies that exite persons to desire violence, sex, etc., even if it is just fantasy, movies such as these are vulgar to purity and offend God), so to take souls with them to hell. Note that the shooting began during a very violent part of the movie. Demons such as the one who took poor James over, crave the souls and blood of humans, and I am quite certain got what they or it wanted. Even if it was just one soul. I am deeply saddened for all souls involved.
Reposting, did not show up..
I am not a theologian, just a mom, but to me an example of human evil would be someone who kills his third and fourth wives, and denies it and goes on to have a contest to win a date with him mocking his reputation. An example of demonic evil is what happened with James Holmes. He and any human being who commits such acts is no longer in his body. Demon(s)have taken over and commit such acts in places that offend God ( ie movies that exite persons to desire violence, sex, etc., even if it is just fantasy, movies such as these are vulgar to purity and offend God), so to take souls with them to hell. Note that the shooting began during a very violent part of the movie. Demons such as the one who took poor James over, crave the souls and blood of humans, and I am quite certain got what they or it wanted. Even if it was just one soul. I am deeply saddened for all souls involved. And if this disturbs you, it should! Love God and turn away from impure and violent entertainments. Note, God does not cause such acts to be committed, people choose these entertainments themselves and place their souls, as well as bodies on some occasions in jeopardy! Pray always! Listen to the Holy Spirit.
Comment #1 — although riddled with spelling and subject/verb agreement errors — is a good message. Love always prevails.
I do agree with the Rabbi. However, the influence of seemingly ‘exciting’ movies, that contain vulgar, and horrible acts do play on ‘weak’ minds, so I am always not in favour of those kind. Moreover, the authorities concerned, should re-defined ‘proper and fit’ maner when releasing movies: this is my humbly opinion, of course using the Good Book, as guideline.
He was in his right mind and he wants to die. He has probably asked God for forgiveness and has been forgiven. He will probably get the death penalty. Which is exactly ehat he wants. If he had killed himself he could not have went to heaven. So someone else will do it and then he will get to go to heaven.
It sounds like he knew exactly what he had to do to die without killing his own self and get to heaven. He is not insane. He is bright. He needs to lay in prison a many a years to realize exactly what he did to so many good people. The suffering they have to endure because of what he did is insane not him.
The one who were killed are angels now looking about wanting to console the suffering ones.
james allowed himself to be taken over by the devil.come to think about it ,his action was not an over night thing ,james had all his action planned out .we should look into his family background.is he a neglected child?does the mother pray for her children ? is the family prayerful?etc. for my cadid opinion i feel the young man is frustrated and wishes to draw attention to himself or on the other hand sporadic shooting and killing is the only crime that will keep him away from whatever he is facing and the authorities to recognise him and keep him in their custody.i wish him a good stay with the police for repentance and may the souls of the dead ones rest in peace and i equally wish the injured ones quick recorvery
PLEASE,lets not for get to pray James Holmes AND his family. They need our prayers also.
There is evil in this world and James Holmes is evil. How he got that way is another conversation. Looking like you’re insane is very different from actually being insane.
Beautiful, innocent lives are gone, thanks to him. I will continue to hold them in prayer. The Denver Catholic communities have been galvanized by this; and that is a good thing. I guess J.H. needs our prayers, too.
We are in the end times & the devil is hard at work to get many souls as possible before the end comes. Yes it is possible jh is posessed. Watch for more of things like this.
This horrific act has left many in shock. One must truly evaluate oneself to see how one sees our neighbors. We live in such horrible acts unspeakable acts and I ask myself where is the compassion ,consideration,respect, love ? If we do not open our hearts to God and make Him our central point in our lives what is left? EVIL that is left and one must have God to not harm anyone, but respect and love. We must be with our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ.
But isn’t it in Jesus Christ that we are brought back from sin and into our Father’s hands again? I thought no great of a sin can Jesus not forgive as long as you reconcile with Him and offer him your heart and mind and body and soul? In my opinion, James Holmes has not found Jesus’s because it is only through Him that he will find his Infinite Mercy. Maybe this is his opportunity to finally meet Jesus and know what He is all about. Without the outside world nagging on what he should or shouldn’t be, maybe he will finally find peace in Christ.
And why are we pushing for the Death Penalty? Are we not giving anyone a chance to meet and reconcile with Jesus? In my opinion, we should all be given a chance to reconcile with Jesus no matter how great our sin is. . .
On the subject of evil, have you seen the story regarding medical death panels in the UK? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2161869/Top-doctors-chilling-claim-The-NHS-kills-130-000-elderly-patients-year.html
We must remember to pray for his conversion while he is jail. God have mercy on his soul. We have to remember that he is a child of God and needs the power of God’s forgiveness. I realize that this is a horrific crime and I do not feel sorry for him, but I pray that his hardened heart will be released of its shackles and he can convert before his death. In the hearts of Jesus and Mary, good day.
Ok read your other article on this regarding demonic possession and I read Fr. longdaker’s excellent article. it just convinces me more that James was infested or whatever you want to call it …with a demon or more. he probable has a weakness, social anxiety, lonliness? High functioning autism?? Something that made him go into himself, perhaps into a fantasy world where he pserhaps met a demon who befriended him and then ultimately lured him into committing the slaughter of innocent souls. I cannot help but wonder if he confided to anyone in his family, or a psychiatrist , or therapist about what he was thinking, about the demons in his head. was there no one in his life that cared? I do not know the state of his soul, but the act in my opinion is not of ” human evil”..ie, it wasnt done out of selfishness or pride, or desire for riches, there had to be a sinister reason that only James knows about, a reason the demons convincend him of. He may have been so deluded by the demonic influence that he may have thought what he was doing was necessary and good…we dont know what his intention was or if he is sane or not, But my point was that this is certainly not mere human evil….no way!
When we watch in horror this level of malice it is very problematic to try to assert a single or even a principal cause for the same. I totally agree with your basic premise that this person is undoubtedly responsible for his actions but to dismiss the malevolent influence of demons, satan or the demonic world in this scenario is a modern denial of its reality and its capacity to influence humans.
When Jesus spoke of satan he spoke of a real entity, a real being capable of affecting human lives. Jesus Himself called satan the prince of this world and a prince rules.
How anyone can explain that following “by the book” the joker strategy of publishing his criminal targets before striking (as in the movie) by sending the written letter detailing his plans to his doctor, the document was untouched in a postal office for more than a week? Can anyone call this a strike of luck?
No. For me, the spiritual opposition to God that acts in this world intervened to obscure that letter and prevent it to reach its intended destiny. That is not influence. That amounts to conspiracy. And that is as real as it gets.
That’s why Jesus called us to pray incesantly and pray to the Father to deliver us from ” the evil” as it was originally quoted from Jesus , not “from evil” as we like to say.