Monday, December 10, 2007

Christians Say The Darndest Things (001)

Gunman kills 4, wounds 5 at religious centers before being killed.
http://my.earthlink.net/article/nat?guid=20071210/475cc7d0_3ca6_1552620071210-294223625

Such a shooting spree ending in so much death and pain is a sad thing. What is sadder still is the response from the religious believers involved. Do they have no rational thinking skills at all? Let's look at these comments:

"Violent crimes of any sort are tragic enough, but when innocent people are killed in a religious facility or a place of worship, we must voice a collective sense of outrage…" said Gov. Bill Ritter.

He started off right but why does he give special status to people at religious facilities? If you get killed at the opera, or while dining out, or at a Denver Broncos game it's tragic but not as tragic as if you are at church! What kind of twisted logic is that? Dead is dead.

The gunman was killed by a member of the church's armed security staff before police arrived

I'm certainly not opposed to people protecting themselves and I'm glad the guard was able to take the guy out before he shot anyone else, it just seems incongruous.

Jessie Gingrich, … cowered in her car, fumbling with the ignition key. "I was just expecting for the next gunshot to be coming through my car. Miraculously - by the grace of God - it did not,"

Oh Jessie, do you realize what you're saying? You're so special that God protected you but those others who were killed or wounded, well God didn't have the time of day for them. He has the power to protect people and protected you but not them. Wonder why? Maybe they were a bunch of sinners who deserved God's wrath. Yeah, that's the ticket. Sinners. But not you, you're one of God's special people. Hurray for you.

And two others in the parking lot saw the gunman:

They stayed in the vehicle and prayed for the gunman.
"It was obvious that he was in some sort of pain and going through a lot," Gibbs told "Today." "I just prayed God would bring him peace."

Right! Am I being a bit too cynical? I bet they prayed that he wouldn't notice them. But that really begs a question. If God is in charge (I've seen that sentiment expressed by Christians) and God is omnipotent and omniscient (I've been told that's the case) then what the hell is this praying about. Obviously this is all part of God's plan and mere mortals should not be trying to interfere with the work of The Great One. He knows what He's doing and has the power to carry it out. Sit back, relax and enjoy. Or, maybe you should consider the idea that there is no God controlling things and it's up to you (and the security guard) to do what you can when things go randomly wrong.
BTW, Gibbs’ statement is this week’s winner in my “Christians say the darndest things.” contest.

New Life, with about 10,000 members, was founded by the Rev. Ted Haggard, who … admitted committing undisclosed "sexual immorality."

Have any of the church members considered the idea that this is God's revenge? That this is God's way of telling them that their way of worship is not pleasing? I doubt it.

These brainless believers will go on believing in God, believing that he is a good God, and believing that he has total control over the world, despite every occurrence that demonstrates that this is not true.

1 comment:

Ketan said...

You write so well! Why did you stop writing?