First, I am not surprised when any person does anything these days. But still, burning down your house and then flying a plane into an IRS office is pretty off the charts. As one who has dealt with the IRS on numerous occasions, I find most of their employees to be courteous, hard working and considerate. There are some who are none of those things. But still to fly a plane into an IRS building says something more. Out of curiosity, I read the man’s manifesto that he put on the internet to explain his actions. As expected it was rambling and self-absorbed. But two things struck me. The man was a self-professed atheist and communist. You see when you have to fear of an after-life, you have no fear of doing things that are evil per se. And flying a plane into an IRS office is evil. And as a communist, he railed against the inequities of the tax code which favored the rich without really thinking about how much the rich actually pay in taxes percentage wise. As I read his manifesto, it became clear that while, yes, this man was unbalanced, he was filled with the kind of endemic hate that comes from a life apart from God. And from that life came a very evil act. In the Book of Ecclesiastes, Soloman who was by many accounts one of the wisest men to ever rule, wrote that everything under the Sun is vanity (or worthless) except pleasing God. If you read this man’s manifesto and then read Ecclesiastes you will see a parallel. Both show a sign of despair in the current condition of man. However, Ecclesiastes ends in hope, this man’s flight ended with no hope.