Church Shooting in Charleston, SC
- Thread starter Steve Campbell
- Start date
Pray for them and their families...the shooters family as well....
I agree. We tend to blame a lot of things on demonic forces when in fact it is our own actions that cause the problems.
I heard (whether true or not, I don't know) one of the News channels say that he received $400.00 as a gift from his Dad, which he then used, to buy a gun.
Here in CT we are intimately acquainted as you know, with young men having access to guns (in the Newtown case, apparently full access, as a result of his own mother's instruction and approval of his access) and the destructive potential of that access.
Suffice to say, if guns are not available, they cannot be used. They however (guns) are not the only tool that unbalanced or potentially dangerous people can use. They (guns) are just more lethal.
As a "hunter," I'm not against "guns" as a tool for harvesting wildlife for food; but at the same time, I obviously have a problem with access to guns by folks who likely or suspiciously could misuse the privilege of access.
Even a hammer can be lethal........should we outlaw hammers? (one of the arguments out there these days).
In this discussion about the dangerous tools available out there, "I" would argue that the Internet has begun to show its ugly side. Facebook (yes, Facebook) and other forms of information gathering has proven to be destructive as well as Constructive.
There are all sorts of levels of danger and dangerous tools. In the end, the same argument applies I suppose. It's not the tool that is the problem, it is the user.
How does "Satan" tie into all this? He finds ways to destroy lives, with any tool he can find, and any willing participants. The internet; guns; the media; the printed word; so-called friendships..........anything he can.
Society has begun to go down the road lately, of attempting to find ways to "per-determine" a persons potential for wrong doing. Guess what?! We ALL have the potential for wrong doing! We ALL can kill! Yes, even you!! Even me!!
The ridiculous attempts at pre-determination are akin to the Salem Witch trials. Someone says "I think that person is...." and it festers and becomes (on some level) an accepted idea. People are likely to be swayed to be predisposed to believe a lie.
Yes, you will catch some folks, by per-determination, who might do harm, but other "innocents" will be wrongly accused. Our jails (as it turns out by DNA testing results commonly done now) are FULL of wrongfully accused.
Thank God HE is in charge!! Praise HIM that He IS the one to justify, and rightly judge all mankind!
-Soupy
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I'm largely vegetarian and live with folks that are. All the same personally, I can eat meat and certainly have no bad feelings about what you do (even if personally I could not say skin a rabbit). God has said we can eat meat and my own vague take is perhaps the one of "respect". I can get where I think you come from but things like chasing foxes with horses and hounds for fun does cause me problems.
I debate my potential for killing. I know I don't want to do it and believe it's wrong. On the other hand, maybe I could look at David and Uriah. I think while we are responsible, there is a certain "there but for the grace of God go I" about things.
I for one would not like to be profiled. If you considered my history which once included singing rebel songs, childhood with bed wetting problems, diagnosed schizoprenic once, etc. I might ought to be a complete psychopath. But I just want to be a Christian.
Guns DO NOT KILL PEOPLE!!!! People kill people!!!!!
If the people in S.C. had been killed with a baseball bat, would we know be trying to outlaw baseball????
If I was full of hate or jealously or what ever it was that motived me to want to kill anyone and I did not have a gun, I would then simply beat you to death with a flower pot, or a brick, or stab you with a steak knife.
Cain did not use a gun to kill his brother but he did kill his brother!
We have our eyes on YOU!
If I was standing there watching it and did not intervene then I would blame myself along with the stranger.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Siloam#Biblical_reference
Some who were present" reported to Jesus that the cruel ruler Pontius Pilate had killed some Galileans while they were worshiping. Their example was particularly gruesome since at the moment the Galileans were killed, they were worshiping God by offering sacrifices according to their Jewish religious law.
Apparently those making the report were looking for Jesus to offer some explanation of why bad things happen to good people—in this case even while they were worshiping.[2] The "sin and calamity" issue involves a presumption that an extraordinary tragedy in some way must signify extraordinary guilt. It assumes that a victim must have done something terrible for God to allow something so tragic to happen to them.[3]
Jesus responded as though the question was related to the relative sinfulness of the victims, but only in passing. In a sharp retort, he diverted the focus directly onto the interrogators, making it clear that the most urgent issue was not an explanation to their implied question as to why God allowed such a horrible thing to happen to innocent people. Rather, Jesus wanted them to focus on their own souls.[3]
Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” [Lk 13:2-5]
His mention of the fall of the Tower of Siloam added a nuance to his prior point: accidents happen. Therefore, even in the absence of persecution, death can come unexpectedly to anyone, irrespective of how righteous or how sinful they are. He may have been emphasizing that the time granted by God for repentance is limited