Texian Weblog: The Wisdom of the World II

A few months ago, I did a post on how the mainstream media was attempting to blame a pastor for the horrible actions of a member of his church. The article implied that the pastor was at fault because his teachings were very far out of the mainstream.

I want to bring to your attention two more articles that attempt to imply the same thing.

First, Church Gunman Said Upset Over Sermon. This article implies that the man who killed seven people on Saturday at a church service might have committed those murders because he was “upset over a sermon he heard two weeks ago.” The article doesn’t say what the sermon was about. The AP admits that no one knows exactly what part of the sermon made him so upset, but certainly someone must have told them what the sermon’s topic was. Yet, the sermon’s topic is never mentioned.

The story goes on to say how neighbors were shocked to find out this man could commit such a horrible deed. As usual, they say he was a nice, quiet person. One neighbor even said, “It's not like he ever pushed his beliefs on anyone else.” Well, no. Of course not. People who tell others what they believe are the real wackos. But this guy kept his faith to himself, so he was normal. I guess if he talked more about his faith, then he wouldn’t be considered “normal” and it wouldn’t be so surprising that he killed seven people in cold blood. He would have been just another crazy Christian. You never know what those nuts are going to do.

Later in the article we find out that the pastor of this church was from Texas. Oh, now I understand. This church was started in Texas. Now it all makes sense. That’s why this guy went crazy and started shooting everybody: his pastor was from Texas! And, of course, only crazy people live in Texas. That’s why they all vote Republican.

Finally, Don Free, an uncle to one of the surviving victims, said, “[God] was supposed to be everywhere. He could have at least been there.” Now I’m confused. I thought this whole thing was the pastor’s fault. Now it’s God’s fault? But wait, let’s go back a little in the article. The fifth paragraph says this:

“I just remember crawling on the carpet and just praying, screaming out and praying,” [Chandra] Frazier told “Good Morning America” on Sunday.

So, she was praying, and yet she still survived. Sounds to me like God was there.

The other article, Wis. Sect Focused on 'End Time' Prophecy, tells us more on the strange beliefs of this church.

First, we hear about their crazy beliefs about the end of the world. AP, I have news for you. A lot of “mainstream” churches believe the same thing. They just keep it to themselves because they don’t want anyone to write nasty articles like this one about them. Hopefully, the reader sees the point I’m making here. The AP is claiming that this church is crazy because they actually read and believe the Bible.

Later, the article explains that this particular church is an offshoot of the Worldwide Church of God, which believed “that Anglo-Americans were Jews, descendants of the lost ‘ten tribes of Israel.’”

Oh, but it gets wackier according to the AP:

They believe in faith healing, strictly oppose divorce, and are told to shun worldly involvements, including politics, military service or participation in juries.

Notice how the article uses the present tense in this paragraph. I found that rather confusing because I’m familiar with the Worldwide Church of God. I knew they once held such beliefs, but quite a while ago they began to abandon them. I was confused, until I read the next paragraph that said they don’t still believe that stuff. The AP just used the present tense to make us believe the Worldwide Church of God did still believe it. That way, we would think they are crazy, too.

Now, this particular church did break away from the Worldwide Church of God because of its move to mainstream Christianity. So, they still believe this. But, is it really all that strange? After all, the Amish believe the same things, and we consider them “quaint,” not crazy.

The fact is that the AP, and others like them, prefer Christians to be quiet. Christians can believe whatever they want, so long as they aren’t too vocal about it, especially if they believe the end is near. That’s scary and the anti-Christian groups don’t like to hear about it. Notice how we don’t hear anyone in the mainstream press trash Catholic beliefs, even though there are so many priest-abuse scandals out there that its hard to keep them all straight. The AP and others won’t be critical of the Catholics because they are considered “normal.” After all, Kennedy was Catholic.

And they really shouldn’t be critical of the Catholics. If a member of a church commits a horrible deed, like having sex with little boys or killing seven people, the blame lies with that person, not with his church and its teachings. Never did this man’s pastor tell him in a sermon, “Hey, you know what would please God? If you came in here next time with a gun and kill me and a bunch of other people.” Never did the Pope say, “Hey, all you priests out there. I know you’re a little upset about the whole celibacy thing. But, don’t worry. You can molest the little boys in your church.” If that had happened, then I would agree that the church holds some responsibility if its members go off and do these things. But, of course, that didn’t happen. So the blame lies with the member and no one else, not even God.

–J.E. Heath
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