{"id":71572,"date":"2019-03-15T10:52:15","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T16:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=71572"},"modified":"2019-03-19T23:06:41","modified_gmt":"2019-03-20T05:06:41","slug":"new-zealands-darkest-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/03\/new-zealands-darkest-day.html","title":{"rendered":"“New Zealand’s Darkest Day”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Christchurch<\/a>
Christchurch Square, in Christchurch, on the southern island of New Zealand, with cathedral
(Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

O you who believe! \u00a0Seek help in patience and prayer. \u00a0Truly God is with the patient.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

And do not say of those who are killed in the path of God \u201cThey are dead.\u201d \u00a0Rather, they are alive, although you do not perceive them.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger, and loss of wealth and lives and fruit, but proclaim good tidings to the patient,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Who, when a disaster strikes them, say \u201cTruly we belong to God, and to Him we shall return.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Those are they upon whom are blessings from their Lord, and mercy. \u00a0And those are they who are guided [by God].<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Qur\u2019an 2:153-157 (my translation)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Words fail when contemplating the horror visited upon Christchurch, a city of about 405,000 people on the South Island of New Zealand \u2014 and when considering, with\u00a0Moses 7:24-37<\/a>\u00a0in mind, the terrible fact that this evil act was carried out in a place called, precisely,\u00a0Christchurch.<\/em> \u00a0Indeed, Satan \u201clooked up and\u00a0laughed, and his\u00a0angels\u00a0rejoiced.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may disdain our thoughts and prayers<\/a>, but we mortals are powerless to do much in terrible occasions such as this. \u00a0We cannot bring back those who have been murdered.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are<\/em> some mundane things that we can do<\/a>, and, of course, the authorities in New Zealand (and perhaps elsewhere) can and will seek to bring to justice those who planned the attack and carried it out \u2014 although earthly justice will be insufficient in this case. \u00a0But all of us should reflect upon what happened there. \u00a0All of us should pray for the victims and their families, and vow that we will not contribute in any way to such abominations in the future. \u00a0Rather, we will be peacemakers, as the Savior asks us to be.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In that context, I mention an Australian senator by the name of Fraser Anning, who took the occasion of the Christchurch massacres\u00a0to issue a statement including the following:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place. Let us be clear, while Muslims may have been the victims today, usually they are the perpetrators.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some time ago,\u00a0Senator Anning was in the news for a speech in the Australian parliament in which he called for a \u201cfinal solution\u201d to immigration. \u00a0Perhaps he\u2019s merely astoundingly ignorant, but it\u2019s impossible for me<\/em>, anyway, to hear the words final solution<\/em> without thinking immediately of the Nazis\u2019 notorious \u201cfinal solution\u201d or Endl\u00f6sung.<\/em> \u00a0What they proposed as\u00a0die Endl\u00f6sung der Judenfrage<\/i> (\u201cthe final solution to the Jewish question\u201d) was genocide.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

As an aside, I can\u2019t help but wonder whether there might be \u2014 there probably isn\u2019t, but it\u2019s not quite inconceivable \u2014 some connection, at least slight and\/or indirect, between the mass murders in Christchurch and this curious little story, also from Christchurch:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Zealand Police Investigating 2 \u201cSuspicious\u201d Fires That Struck Latter-day Saint Buildings within 48 Hours\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 O you who believe! \u00a0Seek help in patience and prayer. \u00a0Truly God is with the patient. And do not say of those who are killed in the path of God \u201cThey are dead.\u201d \u00a0Rather, they are alive, although you do not perceive them. And We will surely test you with something of fear […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1643,1694,4276,66,4282,2673,1769,2208,4279],"class_list":["post-71572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anti-islamic","tag-anti-islamic-propaganda","tag-bigotry","tag-islam","tag-massacre","tag-mosque","tag-muslim","tag-new-zealand","tag-white-supremacism"],"yoast_head":"\n"New Zealand's Darkest Day"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    O you who believe! \u00a0Seek help in patience and prayer. \u00a0Truly God is with the patient. 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