yourtown4jesus.com

As a Workplace Chaplain, hired by a nursing home
chain with over 500 employees in ten locations, I
couldn’t help but wonder if things might have been
different if that janitor had access to the services of
a company Chaplain who could counsel him, pray
with him, help him to leave his job with dignity and
hope that God STILL had a plan for him - and maybe
even help him find another job.

I find it frustrating how willing people are to invite -
not only grief therapists and counselors - but chaplains
and ministers, to tend to those who survive tragedies
the likes of the massacre at Virginia Tech. Research
reveals that people STILL prefer to speak with a
clergyman in times of trouble. American businesses
have caught the vision as many now put Chaplains
like me on the payroll. Why not America’s Universities?
Face it, a person with a personal tragedy in the dorm
or back home is a person with a personal tragedy in
the classroom.

Campus Outreaches are fine, but an individual has to
leave their comfort zone and go there. A Chaplain
leaves his/her comfort zone and goes to the individuals.
Some colleges have a Chaplain. Most don’t. All of
them should. That’s my commercial.

It’s despicable how the media and some others are
trying to turn this V-Tech tragedy into a gun control
issue, a violent video game issue or a medication
issue. Some were politicizing the matter before any
bodies even made it to the morgue. Don’t jump the
gun, people; this was a spiritual issue, perpetrated
by a sad, sad soul whose deepest needs weren’t
being addressed, even though there were warning signs.
Either no one KNEW what to do, didn’t care, or the
school had no one on staff who was equipped to help.
As a result, 32 other families - no, an entire nation -
suffered the consequences.

What a wonderful time this would be for the officials
of V-Tech to call upon the families of the five Amish
school girls who were killed execution-style in
Pennsylvania, October, 2006. The Amish community
forgave that killer and comforted his wife. For some
communities, such a massacre brings nothing but
demands for tighter gun laws and better security, as
embittered loved ones attack the killer’s family or
threaten lawsuits. After all, someone must surely pay!

No, not the Amish. That’s not how they handle life.

Or death.

I lived among these wonderful people as a boy in
Bremen, Indiana. I’m sure they struggled with the
slayings of their children - and still are - but they
CHOSE to turn the other cheek, urging others to
join in forgiving the killer and accepting even their
most horrific tragedy as being part of God’s will.

“They know their children are going to Heaven.
They know their children are innocent … and they
know that they will join them in death,” Gertrude
Huntington, a Michigan researcher and expert on
children in Amish society said. “The hurt is very
great, but they don’t balance the hurt with hate.”

Imagine! No prayer in the Name above all names,
Jesus Christ. I’m thinking that if there were more
of that kind of thing going on, i.e., prayer in Jesus’
Name on America’s campuses, there would be less of
this kind of tragedy to have to deal with - and more
strength to deal with such things if and when they
DO occur. Jesus said, “What does it profit a man to
gain the whole world yet lose his soul?” Our nation is
wealthy, arrogant and imperialistic. We’ve ushered God
out of one institution after another, including our universities.

There are no natural solutions to spiritual problems,
folks. Why not turn to the Creator of all things, Jesus
Christ, and His book the Holy Bible, when we need
answers? Gun control and security systems are
obviously riddled with flaws.

MURDER IN THE BIBLE

Tragedies like the one at V-Tech have a way of
causing people to contemplate life - its purpose,
eternal things, have suddenly become a hot topic - once
the dust has settled. Chatrooms, e-Mail messages,
blogs are loaded with this topic as the masses
are trying to make sense of what happened and find
answers and solace. Rightfully so. We are spiritual
beings enduring an earthly experience and, as long
as we are walking around in these earth suits,
we need to know.

When I first began reading it, one of the things that
I found fascinating about the Bible were the number
of “every day things” that took place throughout its
pages…adultery, conspiracy, incest, betrayal, wars
and, of course, murders. For example:

Genesis 4– Cain kills his brother, Abel, jealous of
his relationship with God.

Genesis 9:6– God prohibits the murder of men
because they were created in His image.

Exodus 2:11-12– Moses kills an Egyptian because
Moses saw him beating a Hebrew slave.

Exodus 20:13– The sixth commandment prohibits murder.

Numbers 35:25– There shall be cities of refuge put
aside to house those who have killed another, but
have not murdered them. The cities are meant for
protection from an avenger.

Numbers 35:31– The penalty for murder is death.

Joshua 20:3– Murder is defined as the intentional killing
of another with premeditation to do so.

2 Samuel 11:14-17- This recounts King David’s actions
when he sent Uriah to the front line of the battle because
David knew this would get him killed so he could take
Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba.

DO NOT MURDER…UNLESS GOD SAYS SO?

Exodus 20:13 reflects the commandment, “Thou shalt not
murder.” This is a direct order from High Command, right?
What confuses some people is that, just twelve chapters later,
Exodus 32:27, we read, “Thus says the Lord, the God of
Israel, ‘Every man of you put his sword upon his thigh, and
go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill
every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every
man his neighbor.’ ”

Huh?

The mind boggles! Why would God issue the “no murder”
decree, then turn right around and issue that one?

It’s not that difficult to comprehend, actually. “Murder” is
portrayed in Scripture more as an attitude of the heart. It’s
when an individual chooses to “be like God” and determine
life or death on their own.

To further understand, let’s look at the word “love.” When
we think of love, images of couples holding hands, people
laughing, kissing, embracing each other, might spring to mind.
Never will we have images of a woman wiping strained peas
off her elderly father’s chin as he sits in his wheel chair. Rarely
would we think of a mother with tear-filled eyes visiting her
tattooed, pierced son in jail.

Was Abraham murdering his son? If you heard about it on
tonight’s news, yes, he would be tried and fund guilty of attempted
murder. In God’s eyes, He was being obedient. By ordering Israel
to kill, God bears all responsibility for the loss of life, not Israel.
In fact, when Israel failed to obey God’s order to kill, they were
punished.

Remember when King Saul was instructed to wipe out the Amalekites?
He disobeyed God’s directive to eliminate the nation of Amalek,
the ultimate enemy of Israel. Amalek embodied evil. Their
pathological hatred for Jews was so great, given the
chance, they would have wiped the Jews off the face of the planet.
Their major ambition was to rid the world of the Jews and their
moral influence and return the planet to idolatry, paganism,
and barbarism.

Such cosmic battles between good and evil cannot be settled
diplomatically. God commanded the Jews to destroy the entire
nation, down to the last bovine. Saul waged war against Amalek,
just as commanded, and won. But when it came to fulfilling
the decree, he failed, leaving some of the Amalekites alive. At the
urgings of the people, even the cows were spared. To make matters
worse, Agag, the king of the Amalekites, was also spared.

To this day, Israel continues to struggle with the consequences
of Saul’s disobedience and the spirit of the Amalekites. That nation
survived as Agag lived long enough to father a child before he
is murdered - I mean KILLED - by the Prophet Samuel.

Today, there’s no way to identify the descendants of Agag. His
descendents are mixed into the melting pot of history. We do
know that the Amalekite ideology survived. There has been more
than one occasion when people have arisen bent on exterminating
the Jews. The Bible itself mentions that the battle with Amalek
represents the ultimate struggle in history between good and evil:
“…I [God] shall surely erase the memory of Amalek from under
the heavens…God maintains a war against Amalek from
generation to generation.” (Ex 17:14-16)

CHRISTIANITY AND MURDER IN AMERICA

Surprisingly, the relationship between Christianity and murder
actually runs counter to what we’d expect.

For example, the murder rate in the Bible Belt is significantly
HIGHER than the United States average. Louisiana’s church
attendance rate is #1 in the nation and their murder rate is
DOUBLE the US average. Britain’s murder rate is 1/6 what
ours is. Australia, Sweden and Japan are 1/5th what we have.

With few exceptions, there are actually very few “advanced”
nations that have high rates of church attendance and low rates
of murder.

Can we deduce that Christianity causes murder?

No, because Christianity espouses peace, forgiveness, and
turning the other cheek, right? Certainly, church attendance
doesn’t work against these central Christian concepts. Does it?
No, of course not. So, what other reversely-related factors can
we look for where church attendance is concerned?

First, there’s educational levels. Though smart people DO
commit murder, let’s face it, an educated Church Attender is
less likely to be involved in a drive-by shooting.

Secondly, there’s economics. A wealthy Church Attender is
least likely to fit the profile of a murderer.

Thirdly, there’s social tolerance. Many Church Attenders are
brought up in an “Us vs. Them” environment and aren’t always
willing to embrace those who are “different” or aren’t from
their neighborhood or even their church.

Fourth, a liberal point of view is not likely to be tolerated by
many Church Attenders where Baseball, Apple Pie, Uncle Sam
and ultra-conservative viewpoints are the norm. Even the
media in many towns won’t print things that are true for fear
of losing subscribers, customers, and being ostracized by
the local good ol’ boy network.

Finally, we must also bear in mind that most of our regions
that include many Church Attenders ALSO include two
minority groups that are statistically associated with higher
than average crime rates. In addition, some of these same
regions attract the highest concentration of illegal
aliens who, statistically, are responsible for a sky-rocketing
per centage of crimes.

Michael Tummillo