Another shooting at a church. Hmmm…As of today, the police do not yet have a motive for why a 58 year old man, with a rifle in his hand, would enter a church during a children’s program and kill at least two people and injure several others.
It’s been nuts lately with reports of church shootings. School shootings we can understand, right? At least we understand the concept of bullies and victims and somebody losing it in a school environment – no matter how sad and scathing it is every time it happens – we kind of get it.
But church shootings?
As I have opportunity to talk with people, I learn that there are a lot of people ticked off at the church. They’re not ticked enough to walk in with a gun, but they are ticked enough to never walk in again. The reasons vary, but the results are the same, and the church loses more and more members and credibility.
Why do you think this is?
4 comments:
Why? 1. Societal trend. We see this everywhere in our society – school, work, malls, freeways, etc. In that respect, we shouldn’t be surprised that it happens in church also. 2. We are generally doing church wrong. Wendy – You are doing a great job at raising this issue and moving us in the right direction. Church should be the one place that it doesn't happen.
My first thought about shooting at a church is that people don't like to hear the truth. Not all churches speak or act from the truth of God.
As I read the news stories, I had another thought. This story at least agrees with me: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080728/ap_on_re_us/church_shooting Unfortunately just as some churches are intolerant of "other ways," some individuals cannot think of the world functioning any differently than their way. Some individuals haven't learned what most learn in kindergarten, don't hit others. They continue to verbally and physically hit others.
That being said, there do seem to be some pressures on this man that he didn't know how to get past. Maybe those that don't learn childhood lessons, are destined to repeat them, and others. My fear is that we will see copycats.
Picking up right where Todd left off: our expectation is that church is the one place I should NOT get hurt. So when I do, the hurt is all the deeper and more profound. The healing, then, must be equally deep and profound...and is not a journey many people are willing to take, because, like most good medicine, it comes with its own pain. With this post, Wendy, you have touched a HUGE exposed nerve in our culture. Ouch!
The reasons are pretty obvious ... the church is condemning of the gay lifestyle, politics, they allegedly possess a lack of transparency, and are deemed hypocrites based on the lifestyle they preach but don't adhere to (the divorce rate for a Christian marriage is actually slightly higher than a non-Christian marriage).
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