Those final moments in the doomed sub

Man's depravity runs deeper than any ocean

Last week, like many of you, I was caught up in the drama of the missing Titan submersible. The tiny ocean capsule began a journey to the ocean floor so that its occupants, 3 wealthy explorers and a the 19-year-old son of one of them, could view the ruins of the Titanic. The Titan lost contact with its launch ship nearly two hours into its trip, and thus began a desperate, multi-national search for the vessel before breathable oxygen was set to run out on Thursday.

When that day arrived, I published some thoughts on the entire saga that I had written late Wednesday night when I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t anticipate them going viral, but the article did, and so I’m hopeful that the Holy Spirit was able to use it to provoke others to center their thoughts where they belong.

I’m hopeful that they can do the same for all of you, which is why I’m making today’s Memo available to free and paid subscribers. Obviously we now know far more about the tragedy than we did at the time I wrote on Wednesday, so I’ve tweaked a few parts of my original article to reflect that. But while so many were focusing on the missteps, mistakes, and cut corners taken by the OceanGate company that ran the tours – and there were far too many – I just kept thinking about the five souls aboard.

I kept thinking about how none of them thought when they began to submerge that they would never return. I wondered what they might have been thinking when the lights went dark and their controlled descent became chaotic. I thought about the dad trying to comfort his son in the dark and cold, and what the others might have been saying to one another. I went back and forth as to how I wanted it to end for them if it had to end for them – hoping on one hand that it would have been fast and instantaneous (as we now know it likely was), but hoping on the other hand that it would have been slow enough that they could talk with the one true God and make some last, desperate appeals for the salvation of their souls.

And as my brain was processing all those various thoughts and emotions, I wrote this. Again, I hope it can somehow be a blessing to you.

As international hopes for a miracle in the case of the five souls lost beneath the waves of the North Atlantic have dwindled into a grim recognition that rescue is a near if not complete impossibility, my mind is unsettled.

First, I’m heartbroken for those who have apparently died either in a merciful, instantaneous pressure-implosion, or an agonizingly dark and cold suffocation. And for the families of those victims, I can only pray for a peace that can come from God alone.

But also, I’m indignant how tragedy has once again demonstrated that the depths of man’s depravity, the pit of man’s hatred for his neighbor runs far deeper than the lost ruins of Titanic. What better place to see this truth amplified than the streets of social media.

MSNBC commentator Elie Mystal used the tragedy as an opportunity to make the discussion about his two favorite topics: race and politics.

He tweeted this, after everyone on the left, including those at his own network, just got done hand-wringing over the fact that Joe Rogan’s debate challenge to a doctor notorious for spreading Covid misinformation inspired some lunatic to show up at the doctor’s door. The “we must watch our rhetoric because there are crazy folks out there” crowd sure seems selective in their outrage.

But things went well beyond Mystal’s standard political race-hustling, plunging into unrestrained giddiness over the prospect of these four men and a teenager dying.

And before we dismiss these as just mean tweets from an increasingly belligerent pod of pronoun-declaring sexual revolutionaries, understand this wickedness runs much deeper. For instance, this exchange:

First of all, the phrase “ontologically evil” is completely misused. Ontology deals with metaphysics, that is, the spiritual world. Ontological evil then is not caused by humans, but rather is the supposition that evil is a fundamental principle in the universe. I’m assuming that what the poster meant was “billionaires are really evil,” and thought using a word like “ontologically” would make him sound smarter. He thought wrong.

Regardless, notice what is the emotion animating these cruel statements. Jealousy and envy. While conservative commentators like Matt Walsh have been making stirring defenses of the doomed submariners for their spirit of adventure, I don’t think that’s what is being attacked. The ghoulishness is born of a Marxist worldview that assumes those with money are oppressors, so a group of them suffering and dying at the bottom of the ocean is no more a loss for humanity than if a group of Nazi SS guards or slave traders were killed.

What a miserable way of looking at the world. What a miserable way of looking at people.

Thankfully, there’s a better approach. Jesus told His followers, “A new command I give unto you – that you love one another. As I have loved you, you are to love one another.” Notice there’s no distinction for race, politics, or socioeconomic status there. No room for boasting, envy, jealousy, or conceit.

The painful reality we all should acknowledge is that five souls have perished. Regardless of how quickly, consciously, or painfully it happened, five souls have separated from their physical bodies. There’s not a person talking about it right now that will not experience that same separation far sooner than anyone of us care to acknowledge.

What mattered in those final moments aboard the doomed submarine is what will matter for all of us in our final moments. It has nothing to do with bank accounts, investment portfolios, retirement plans, political positions, charitable giving, good deeds, or liked tweets. It has everything to do with whether you accepted the one gift that was offered to every man, regardless of race, rank, gender, or condition – the gift of salvation through Christ alone.

How much better off humanity would be if that was the focus of all our conversations in the wake of this tragedy.

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If you are looking for more information on this tragedy, here are some good options:

• Evidence as to what actually happened to the submersible: U.S. Navy heard what it believed was Titan implosion days ago

• Profile of each of the victims on board: Tribute paid to Titan five killed in ‘catastrophic implosion’ on ocean floor