{"id":30018,"date":"2017-11-09T06:00:24","date_gmt":"2017-11-09T11:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=30018"},"modified":"2017-11-13T13:57:07","modified_gmt":"2017-11-13T18:57:07","slug":"dear-next-mass-church-murderer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/11\/dear-next-mass-church-murderer\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear Next Mass Church Murderer,"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"card-1800383_1280\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A reader of this blog wrote this, and I thought it was worth passing along, with his permission, though he asked to remain anonymous. . . .<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear next mass church murderer,<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 We\u2019d like you to consider our church as your possible target.\u00a0 Our church is (**********) Church, located at (****************).\u00a0 We\u2019re a big church \u2013 up on a hill, you can\u2019t miss us.\u00a0 In terms of \u201cbang for your buck\u201d our typical attendance is roughly 4 to 6 times that of the little Baptist church in Texas that the last mass murderer shot up.\u00a0 And we have four services for you to pick from.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Understand, (of course you do) that you will very likely die that day as well.\u00a0 Several of our members are police officers and often attend services with firearms.\u00a0 And surely, in a congregation as large as ours there are several folks who have concealed carry permits.\u00a0 And, even if there are no police in attendance that day and nobody in the congregation is armed, everyone has a phone now so some teenager who you failed to shoot quickly enough will slip out, call 911 and the police will be there pretty soon.\u00a0 About seven minutes was the response time in Texas.\u00a0 So you\u2019ll likely die and the media is increasingly moving towards the sensible policy of not broadcasting your name afterwards so at least your name, if not your actions, will be forgotten.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 And the whole \u201cdeath\u201d thing raises a very important point.\u00a0 Ours is a Christian church and death is a particular interest of ours.\u00a0 We think we have it figured out.\u00a0 As you enter our sanctuary, you won\u2019t be able to help noticing that the most prominent feature displayed there is a large cross \u2013 an ancient Roman instrument of execution.\u00a0 It\u2019s our teaching that it was a death, the death of God\u2019s Son on a cross like that, that frees us from the fear of our own death.\u00a0 Don\u2019t misunderstand \u2013 we\u2019re not seeking death, but we\u2019re not fearing it, either.\u00a0 Jesus demonstrated that if we followed Him through our own death, we would then follow Him into resurrection and eternal life.\u00a0 He demonstrated this for us and that demonstration was remarkably well-documented both in the Book He left for us and in the lives of His closest friends and followers, most of whom died rather than deny that Jesus\u2019 resurrection had happened.\u00a0 Which to our way of thinking is a very strong endorsement.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 Understand that we are not seeking our death.\u00a0 Nor, for that matter, are we seeking yours.\u00a0 To the contrary, our goal is passing out life.\u00a0 \u201cThe thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full\u201d is how Jesus said it in John 10:10.\u00a0 The thief referred to here by Jesus turns out to be a very specific thief and it\u2019s our concern that you are working for him.\u00a0 We\u2019d rather you come in and work along side us instead.\u00a0 The doors are always open \u2013 at least on a Sunday morning.\u00a0 Our weekly service typically ends with the pastor saying something like, \u201cthe peace of the Lord be with you always.\u201d\u00a0 And that\u2019s what we want \u2013 for us and for you; peace.\u00a0 Come visit us.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

*****************<\/p>\n

Illustration by diapicard via Pixabay, CC0, Creative Commons<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The whole \u201cdeath\u201d thing raises a very important point. Ours is a Christian church and death is a particular interest of ours. We think we have it figured out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":30019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,600],"tags":[4272,475,5875],"class_list":["post-30018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church","category-crime","tag-anti-christian-violence","tag-church-2","tag-sutherland-springs-church-killings"],"yoast_head":"\nDear Next Mass Church Murderer,<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What could you say to someone who would shoot up a church? 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