Faith, Fear and the Wages of Columbine

These people have missed the point -- people died the most horrible death that day, they can't be replaced. We must take hope in Christ to comfort us and learn from tragedies--these men feel burden because they have taken the pain upon themselves essentially saying Christ is not pwerful enough for us to cast our cares on. And why bash another pastor (Frankliin Graham) he is using this tragedy to help other individuals see that life does not end here--we can take comfort that those who accept Christ are in heaven.

The entire situation has nothing to do with the pastors/clergymen. They represent Christ and His word and try to help in any way they can and whomever needs the help. The real tragedy is that too many young people lost their lives that day, many that had nothing to do with bullying these boys. It is sad to say that it still exists today, and the bullying continues despite these types of tragedies. If it does not show in childhood or puberty, it will certainly show as that person grows into an adult. Some will outgrow this stupid "game" that even adult children play with others, some cannot ever let go. The fact is that children mimic their parents or other adults around them and this grows into a pattern for them. Whatever the method to keep themselves from being victims, children will use. It is treacherous and distinct and has grown in children today, in numbers we do not care to count, so we turn the other way and hope it goes away. It won't go away until we confront the person(s) using abusive techniques toward others. It is always easier to turn away and pretend it does not happen. Is it easier when these kinds of consequences happen to innocent children/adults in our communities? We have all been so conditioned to throw blame elsewhere and let someone else accept that blame. I have news, we are all someone else and we need to teach ourselves and our children to accept the blame for our/their actions, always! As for guns, we have a constitutional right to bear arms. Mine is for my protection should I ever need it. Get this straight everyone, anyone that wants a gun can buy a gun off the streets and it can never be traced to the person that uses it unless DNA or fingerprints are left. Parents/grandparents, uncles/aunts, cousins/friends; if you teach a young child to use a gun, then you must be held responsible along with the child, that child takes against anyone. If you do not show responsibility for keeping that gun out of the hands of a child, you must be held accountable along with the child, of the actions of that child. When the government backs out of so much of parents/guardians life in raising that child, when the government will hold responsible the parents/guardians along with that child that does any kind of harm, you will see a bigger change in what happens to our society. Until that happens, be on guard. When you work with children closely today, you will see parts of a child the parents do not see or as in some cases, do not care if they see it or not. And that is the problem. As long as parents allow their child to roam freely, to have access to items they are not emotionally nor mentally capable of having any sound responsibility for, these rampages will happen and the innocent will always be hurt.

I wish these ministers would have done a "Rocky." Remember when Rocky lost to Clubber Lang played by Mister T? Apollo Creed took Rocky back to the beginnings. Back to the hood to get the "eye of the Tiger" back! In this case the eye of the Tiger is getting back to their original purpose in serviing Christ. These ministers should go to the inner cities of America where ministers deal with death on a daily basis. Where is the Newsweek article for these ministers? The Columbine ministers failed to see that though "God is a good God" tragedy still exists in this world and to shun their congregat ions from that reality is a failure in properly interpreting Scripture. Pain comes to use all, I pray that we can see that Christ is not divorced from us when it comes.

If nothing else history, Columbine and each one of our posts to this [and other] news article prove that humankind are as [eternally] divided in our viewpoints, values and solutions as the day when Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the snake, and Cain killed their son, his brother Abel. If nothing else everyday humankind prove that what does not change is us.

<<<Comments such as "As for the taunts, ostracism, etc. - some personalities go out of their way to seek attention, positive or negative, any kind will do -- then moan about the attention they receive" suggested by AntiKoolAid emphasize the disturbing lack of knowledge and empathy for victims of so-called 'silent crimes' where the perpetrators are hardly ever brought to justice. People going out of their way to seek attention through the style they choose to adopt - why not call it a reaction rather than labelling this behaviour as anti-social? Seeing as it is obviously born of something, I very much doubt you'll find content individuals involving themselves in acts of rebellion, whether it be through music, clothes or ethos, just for the sheer hell of it. It's obviously a symptom of an underlying issue, rather than narcissistic attention-seeking. The vanity you speak of isn't real. I find it astounding that a decade after this tragedy, so little is being done to nip the causes of such aggression, rage, confusion, oblivion (where the line between good and bad becomes blurred) in the bud - more counsellors, more faith and more willingness to support victims, punishment and rehabilitation for bullies, a heightened general awareness will undoubtedly create the sought positive effects. Instead of pointing the finger, we should try to look introspectively and seek out what is truly evil - because true evil is by definition, ignorance and apathy.

Firstly, my deepest condolences go out to the families of the deceased and my thoughts are with the two pastors mentioned in this article. This was truly a senseless crime and this is exactly why I am about to write the following...
I am really shocked by the standard and sweeping statements prevalent in this article - clearly not much research had been done and it is beyond obvious as we read,, "a 17-year-old boy who went to school one Tuesday morning and, with his good buddy Eric Harris, massacred 13 people just for fun" - and appalled at some of the comments I have read in response to this article; I am, however, inclined to agree with RealityCheckToday for a very succinct and apt approach to the piece. >>>

What Harris and Klebold did was horrific and heartbreaking, but, atleast for me, part of that heartbreak is reserved for those boys as well. We blame their actions on so many seemly non-connected issues: religious immorality, bad parenting, the violent media, alcohol and drug use of our youths, music, video games, gun control....etc. What we never look at is in all the cases of mass school shooting around the country all of them were done by boys, the vast majority of them were done in rural environments (not in urban as is popularly believed), the vast majority of them were done by "white" children, and ALL were victims of extreme bullying. I am not trying to justify their actions or to say that their victims deserved what they got. But i AM saying that if we truly wish to prevent these monstrous events from happening then we must first ask the right questions. What is happening to the boys in our classrooms that is causing them to do such terrible crimes? What part is society (and by that I mean you, me, all of us) doing that promotes these actions? Why does bullying exist and how can we elliminate it? I do not believe, as this article asserts, that Klebold and Harris "massacred 13 people just for fun?". To say that trivalizes it by providing a too easy and dismissive answer.

Amazing!, It is truely sad to see our society act only as experts on the internet. you people think you are now experts on a very very complicated church matter. Well the fact of the matter is I read every one of the post on here and almost cry because of the condesending tone everyone of you take towards the people of this particular church.

Truth, this pastor was asked to leave his church prior to the shootings, He was then asked after the shootings to not engage the media. He was obviously grief stricken as most clergy were in this area, so as a church we offered to send him to a sonoud retreat in which he could get help with dealing with traumatized children and parents. He refused. The fact of the matter is he was not there for the other people involved in this horrific act. The only reason his congregation asked him to leave was due to his conduct prior to the shootings, but im sure you all never believe the spin or story that the media creates.

As for the person who seems to be an expert on domestic weapons policy, get a better argument. THink why do people with guns usually flock to schools and malls. They know no person will be able to stop them there, that is the problem

Also I find it extremely hypocritical that you all can judge and chastise the people of st philip for judging their own pastor, ya you all are much better people than thos of littleton, according to Michael Moore. grow up

God does work in mysterious ways. It gives me support to see that people do believe in God, but it irritates me & angers me that people who say they believe in God criticize who don't believe as they do, are rigid and secular in their beliefs. As a RN, who has worked in Critical Care, ER & Trauma for 30 years (I started @ the age of 20), & working in a large inner-city multi-cultural community, I have seen God's work & his miracles in so many different ways, that I can't judge, nor do I decide when and if the work is God's, man's or the result of evil. I am very religious, being raised Catholic, left my faith for awhile, looking at other options, & deciding to return & practice Catholicism. I think the greatest work of Christ that I see, is those people who I see who care for other's who need help, who forgive other's for their misakes when they need forgiveness, who accept all, and welcome all, who profess a desire to believe, even though they don't believe all that they believe, the way they believe it. I never have seen that Jesus ever turned away anyone who wanted to listen, believe or follow him, no matter what that person's past included. He helped all who believed in him, and asked for help. Sometimes, it seems that he doesn't give us what we ask, but later, it becomes evident that he gives us what we needed, including the option to help those, including ourselves, who needed help, healing, love & forgiveness. I leave all judging up to God, I am but a vehicle of his love & work, hear on earth, in the form of man, & hope that with my work, involvement & maybe my death, the greater Truth will become known to me when I meet God.

What article do all of these posts have to do with? Did they read the same thing I did? How did it get to gun control vs alcohol control, whether there's a "god" or not and other opinions expressed on everything except what the article pertained to; the effects of a horrible tragedy on two people who tried to comfort those affected most as part of their duties as pastors in that community. Or did I miss something?

Why not make it illegal to allow people to drink? A heck of a lot more lives each year would be saved then are killed by guns. If a kid went blindfolded into a crowded room with a gun, shooting people at random, that would result in a media blitz. The same kid kills people while driving drunk, nothing. It'd make more sense to sue distillers and brewers and call for getting liquor out of the hands of the common citizen because of the lives drunks take on our roads than it would to sue gun manufacturers and wring hands yearly over the Columbine incident.

I don't believe there was any credibility taken away from this lady saying yes, but to make it credible means that they killed people that believed in god. I won't justify things at all, but we are putting too much blame into things that didn't really matter in this shooting. These kids had life that was terrible and someone should've done what Jesus would do, HELP THEM.

Why not make it illegal to allow people to drink? A heck of a lot more lives each year would be saved then are killed by guns. If a kid went blindfolded into a crowded room with a gun, shooting people at random, that would result in a media blitz. The same kid kills people while driving drunk, nothing. It'd make more sense to sue distillers and brewers and call for getting liquor out of the hands of the common citizen because of the lives drunks take on our roads than it would to sue gun manufacturers and wring hands yearly over the Columbine incident.