Al Mohler, in his commentary, All That Terror Teaches: Have We Learned Anything? asks whether we really learned anything from 9/11 and the terrorism attacks. Mohler writes: "We must hope so, but lessons learned in a moment of urgency have a way of fading into memory. What lessons must remain?"Here are the lessons Mohler draws:
- The terror has taught us to accept reality.
- The terror has taught us to distinguish between good and evil.
- We learned once again that God is ultimately in control, or else we are lost in a cosmos of chaos.
- We learned that the Gospel has enemies.
- We learned that spirituality is no substitute for Christian faith.
Mohler concludes:
The lessons terror taught us are still fresh for those with the will to remember. The gaping hole in Manhattan's skyline and the scarred landscape of Washington point to the unspeakably greater loss measured in human life and human misery. The distance of years has not healed the wounds, but it has sharpened the memory. There are lessons we have learned. In the midst of a very different war, the indomitable G. K. Chesterton understood the same lessons.
From all that terror teaches,
From lies of tongue and pen,
From all the easy speeches
That comfort cruel men,
From sale and profanation
Of honour and the sword,
From sleep and from damnation,
Deliver us, good Lord!
--G. K. Chesterton, "A Hymn"
