The April 16 massacre on the Virginia Tech campus is a brutal reminder that life is fragile and that evil exists in our world.

The young people and others in the university community, as well as the students’ families across the U.S., are struggling to make any kind of sense out of this devastating act of violence.

As a Christian, I understand there is life beyond the grave and that there is hope in the resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus Christ has taken the sting and victory out of death (1 Corinthians 15:55).

While such an event is troublesome for a believer, for those who are not people of strong religious faith the random and horrific nature of this violence is going to be much more difficult to handle.

It is my fervent prayer that Christians on the Virginia Tech campus will, in God’s strength, reach out to meet the emotional and spiritual needs of their fellow students in this dark hour.

The staff of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission joins all believing Americans in lifting up in prayer to our Almighty God all those whose hearts are broken over the bloodshed and whose lives are shattered because of this terrible tragedy. May they find comfort in our Father’s arms.

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Dr. Richard Land is president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the Southern Baptist Convention's official entity assigned to address social, moral, and ethical concerns, with particular attention to their impact on American families and their faith.