Thursday, January 31, 2008

almost like a sequel to the "rambo" entry

A few days ago, I wrote a review of sorts concerning the movie "Rambo". One comment I made was about the difference between those who sit in relative safety judging others and those who are in the middle of such circumstances and must decide.

I came on this recently, and really, I couldn't have written a more telling piece if I'd wanted to. I'm going to provide the web address, but I'm not going to link to it, because I really don't want to. It might give it even a bit of a google-bump, and I don't want to help this kind of garbage any more then I have to.

http://thomerica.com/reformanda/2007/12/death-at-new-life.html

The tone of this is about as arrogant and insufferable as I've ever come across, and I don't say those things lightly. It would have been one thing for him to have said that he did not like how the church handled the situation, that may have been fair, but when rhetoric such as this comes from him (taken from various places in the blog entry)...

Though I pray with you that the God of Jesus Christ will be glorified in this tragedy, I must prophesy to you, my brother, that our God, the God of Jesus Christ, has not been glorified. He has not been glorified in your actions prior to, during, or after the shooting.

Today the Body of Christ was wounded, not by an unbelieving gunman but by its own left hand. Today we struck back at our enemy, and hit ourselves. It was not merely New Life Church in Colorado Springs that was in the spotlight today, but the Church universal, and the Church universal has been disfigured...

Nevertheless, despite our stance of solidarity with you, you must be held to account for your actions. The severity of the damage done to the Body of Christ today must be made plain...

Your church, directed by your decision making, was more concerned about its own safety than the life of a lost man and your witness to the gospel of God's radical love before a watching world.

On your website you claim that your "purpose is to ... obey God according to the Scriptures." And yet when God in the Scriptures commands you to pray for those who persecute you, instead you kill him and tell a watching world that your "prayers right now are for those who were injured, and for the families who lost their loved ones."

I am ashamed, brother Boyd. I am ashamed because rather than going the way of the Crucified One and the martyrs who followed Him, the One whose Spirit indwells and empowers us both to be fashioned after the character of God revealed in Jesus, you chose that we would go the other way. Going this other way, you made it almost impossible for yourself to give thanks to Jesus Christ for His self-sacrificial service. You made it impossible for yourself to lift up the courage of the One who died for His enemies, who inspired and empowered you to follow in His footsteps. Instead, you thanked the police. You expressed your gratitude to the "courageous men and women in our law enforcement agencies and the way they responded." Rather than extolling the Christian virtues of self-sacrifice and enemy-love, rather than testifying to the power of prayer and committed Christian nonviolence, you exhibited the standard anxiety of a wealthy, privileged class of citizens when you sighed, "The police were on the scene, the building was secured, our people were safe."

You claim that you "emphasize every portion of Scripture," yet when it comes down to the wire, overcoming evil with good (Rom. 12:21) is not on the agenda.


...this goes beyond simple disagreement. This calls into question the pastor's witness and perhaps even his faith.

Nice job, jumping on a pastor who's already trying to deal with his own grief and the grief of his people, with nonsense like this. Maybe this guy's been read Job, and learned a few tips on comforting from Job's friends.

One comment I particularly "liked" was this one...

The opportunity for the unique witness of a Bible-believing, Christ-following people in a world gone mad with violence was surrendered for the safety and security of predominantly wealthy Christians.


Yeah, don't worry about the lives of those predominantly wealthy Christians.

For my part, I have no problems with church's having security, and if they have them, they should also expect that those in security should use whatever means possible to protect them. And in this case, the guard used a gun, and I think it was a wise choice.

If this ...person (to substitute for some far stronger terms)... on the blog were a pastor and decided with his church that they didn't want security, all well and good. That would be their choice, and the consequences would be their own, just as this Colorado church's was. But for him to write in such a judgmental fashion (and despite his words of professing humility at the end he is being about as judgmental as a person can be) goes too far, and it sickens me.

May I be kept from such "comforters".

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