I've seen things no one would ever want to see. Two weeks ago, I saw a video of a 15 year old girl named Tamana, murdered in the name of an "honor killing" in Afghanistan. Honor killings happen publicly. Tamana was one of 42 such honor killings in four months. Someone in the Taliban would tell you Tamana committed a sin that deserved death.
He let off some smoke bombs and then opened up fire on the audience.
He has killed 12 people by the time of this writing and injured 59.
Today someone on Facebook claiming to be Apostolic wrote this status:
(names have been changed....even though he doesn't deserve it).
The man seems to be implying that the movie theater's tragedy would serve the purpose of revealing the sins of an Apostolic who is committing a sin of watching a movie at the movie theater.
Now whether or not you think going to a movie theater and watching a movie is a sin or not, I don't care.
Tragedy is really messed up. And I wish there was some way of getting some kind of meaning. But I can't. I pray for the victims and their families and just look to the skies and say "God, you there? We need you more than ever right now."
So let's agree on this:
Tragedy.... especially something like this shooting.... as mindless and confounding as it is... should never ever be recast to serve any kind of agenda. Religious, political, or ideological.
Just saying that you're "not trying to be un-sensitive to the situation!!" [sic] does not in any way forgive your errors. The status is insensitive (correct spelling). That status is stupid. That status is heartless and pathetic. And it is not representative of anything that resembles being a human being who has real feelings that empathize with one's neighbor.
And with that said, I have no problem admitting that on behalf of all of us who are human, who have a heart, who are not indifferent and callous to human suffering....
on behalf of Apostolics
I will freely admit that the man "Mr. Superior" who wrote the above status.....is NOT Apostolic. No matter how much he'd like to think so. And no matter how many movie theaters he will not be visiting for the rest of his life.
True Apostolics don't equate sinful acts with the right to murder. There is no lesson in death. Let's not make one up. No matter how "honorable" you think your cause is.
Mr. Superior is not Apostolic.
Amen, and amen.
ReplyDeleteThat's sick. One of my fb "friends" said after Steve Jobs passed "Now the creator of the iphone and ipad will have to meet the I AM", of course, implying that he knew where Steve Jobs would spend eternity. Unreal.
ReplyDeleteNo he isn't. Standards aren't the point. Being loving, caring, compassionate...that's the point.
ReplyDeleteThis verse is becoming one of the anchors of my life... "You shall know them by their fruits". (MAT 7:16)
ReplyDeletePeople don't judge trees by their foliage, what is of real value to man is the fruit... that is taken internally.
Thanks Joel for reminding us...
That's a great point, Jeff.
ReplyDeleteI disagree!! You can't read what Mr. Superior wrote, and judge his level of Christianity by one quote on his on Facebook. I believe that God COULD use a tragedy to wake someone up from their sin, and use it for His glory. I want to be the person that loves God through anything, but if God had to use something to wake me up....wow, that's a God who loves us!!
ReplyDeleteIt has nothing to do with standards. When someone lets go of something they once held onto with conviction, God is a jealous God and wants that first love back. Everybody has a choice, but God loves us SO MUCH that He is willing to do anything to try to bring us back closer to Him. It could be a tragedy....it could hurt us, it could scare us, it could reveal us....but NOTHING is worth missing Heaven for. The love of God would become even more evident, and it would be eternally worth it.
Hey Anon.
ReplyDeleteYou're wrong.
-Joel
P.S. You are talking to imaginary people in your head. I never mentioned standards.