Wonder how much press this will get - not nearly as much as it would have if the thugs had not been prevented from proceeding with what they apparently intended to do!
Click on the title for the entire article.
A group of college students were in an apartment when two armed intruders burst in through a patio door, separated the men and women, and demanded everyone's cell phones and wallets. They they started counting bullets (cartridges for the gun informed). One thug asked the other how many bullets he had - the answer was he had enough.
At that point, one of the students grabbed a gun out of his backpack and shot at the thug who was watching the men, who then ran out of the apartment. The student then ran to the room where the other thug was preparing to rape the student's girlfriend. He told the girls to get down and started shooting. The thug jumped out the window and expired shortly thereafter, near his own apartment.
We have had several tragedies recently where multiple people were killed by a gunman. Here we have a massacre prevented by an armed citizen. I wish this would get as much press as the other incidents, but since it advances the idea that people can and should be able to defend themselves with deadly force, we probably won't hear much about it.
Perhaps 20/20 could do an expose on everything that this young man did wrong and why he should not have been armed....
---Katie
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
How Others Think.... (ELCA)
There are some interesting insights in this piece for anyone who has ever asked, "How can these people think this is a good idea?"
How others think . . .
by Rev. Frederick W. Baltz, WordAlone board member, Galena, Ill.
When people in the churches hear what is coming before the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Churchwide Assembly in August they often ask: "How can anyone believe we should make such a change when the Bible is clear?"
Allow me to offer an opinion about that, after wondering myself for a long time now.
First, if we assume those who would change our ministry standards are completely unbiblical in their approach, we are mistaken. Listen and you will often hear them talk about being prophetic, and about "justice issues." Their biblical platform is to a large extent the Old Testament prophets. Not the Isaiahs or Jeremiahs as much as the Amoses and the Hoseas. Making the huge mistake of believing anyone can be called to the prophetic ministry by desire, rather than by call, they have set out to be prophets, and prophets as they understand them must have someone evil to oppose. That would be us.
There is another understanding of the prophetic ministry that makes it above all the proclamation of the Gospel. In that respect we are all prophets, as Joel 2:28-32 put it, followed by Peter in Acts 2:17-21, "I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy."(Acts 2.18b) But "the prophetic" for many in the ELCA now seems to mean "the political."
Another biblical contact point for those who would change the ministry standards is their criticism of Pharisees. Pharisees are understood by them as any people who quote some tradition of the elders and oppose the changes Jesus would surely want to make. Pharisees are said to be hypocritical and not to be respected for their different points of view. They would say that you can spot Pharisees; they are always the ones against change. Again, that would be us.
Why do I so often sense a judgmental anger among people whom I know want the ministry standards changed? How do people who are at least nominally Lutherans have such little difficulty condemning others as sinners whose beliefs about homosexuality don't match their own? I truly believe a substantial number of people in ELCA leadership circles believe the denomination would be far better off without its conservatives, or, to them, Pharisees. If so, they are not particularly concerned that the ELCA might split this summer. In fact, they may hope it does! The Pharisees would be gone!
It is important to try to understand how others think. Only in that way can we work out differences and reach agreement. If others in the ELCA think about us as I'm afraid they do, reaching agreement doesn't look promising.
(This came from the Word Alone Network mailing list. For more information and articles on ELCA topics, click on the title!)
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Hmmm. I think I remember being called a Pharisee from the pulpit once...or twice.
---Katie
How others think . . .
by Rev. Frederick W. Baltz, WordAlone board member, Galena, Ill.
When people in the churches hear what is coming before the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Churchwide Assembly in August they often ask: "How can anyone believe we should make such a change when the Bible is clear?"
Allow me to offer an opinion about that, after wondering myself for a long time now.
First, if we assume those who would change our ministry standards are completely unbiblical in their approach, we are mistaken. Listen and you will often hear them talk about being prophetic, and about "justice issues." Their biblical platform is to a large extent the Old Testament prophets. Not the Isaiahs or Jeremiahs as much as the Amoses and the Hoseas. Making the huge mistake of believing anyone can be called to the prophetic ministry by desire, rather than by call, they have set out to be prophets, and prophets as they understand them must have someone evil to oppose. That would be us.
There is another understanding of the prophetic ministry that makes it above all the proclamation of the Gospel. In that respect we are all prophets, as Joel 2:28-32 put it, followed by Peter in Acts 2:17-21, "I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy."(Acts 2.18b) But "the prophetic" for many in the ELCA now seems to mean "the political."
Another biblical contact point for those who would change the ministry standards is their criticism of Pharisees. Pharisees are understood by them as any people who quote some tradition of the elders and oppose the changes Jesus would surely want to make. Pharisees are said to be hypocritical and not to be respected for their different points of view. They would say that you can spot Pharisees; they are always the ones against change. Again, that would be us.
Why do I so often sense a judgmental anger among people whom I know want the ministry standards changed? How do people who are at least nominally Lutherans have such little difficulty condemning others as sinners whose beliefs about homosexuality don't match their own? I truly believe a substantial number of people in ELCA leadership circles believe the denomination would be far better off without its conservatives, or, to them, Pharisees. If so, they are not particularly concerned that the ELCA might split this summer. In fact, they may hope it does! The Pharisees would be gone!
It is important to try to understand how others think. Only in that way can we work out differences and reach agreement. If others in the ELCA think about us as I'm afraid they do, reaching agreement doesn't look promising.
(This came from the Word Alone Network mailing list. For more information and articles on ELCA topics, click on the title!)
--------
Hmmm. I think I remember being called a Pharisee from the pulpit once...or twice.
---Katie
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