As you lay dying, you will know.

Love All, Serve All.

Bra

I sense some hostility. Find some inner peace, my friend.

I haven’t heard anyone here say they know with certainty that there is no God.

You say you’re an agnostic. Well, so am I. So are most atheists.

Welcome.

That kind of “we’re in this mess because of loss of absolutes/the rise of evolution/etc” IS just irresponsible. The real reason for the Amish situation (in my opinion) is a loss of community and a profound sense of isolation that we as North Americans feel in our day of hectic overscheduling and increasing social fragmentation. The latest sociological research indicates that we juggle as many as 35 different relational “worlds” (work, hobbies, family, friends, etc.) resulting in what some have called “crowded loneliness.” Is it any wonder that the single thread running through all the school shootings is a person isolated and disconnected from his fellow man?? To put it in Christian language, we are made for relationships and something goes haywire when we don’t have them.

That said, allow me for a moment to offer some sort of explanation for this good man’s well-intentioned efforts to make sense of the Amish shooting so you won’t roll your eyes when you run across this sort of ignorance again:

#1 – A mistaken assumption that we are individuals only (this is an American, rather than a Christian, error).
Couple with:
#2 – A mistaken assumption that truth exists as a list of propositional statements that everyone must agree to in order for goodness and righteousness to reign in the land.
#3 – Participation in an evangelical sub-subculture that unintentionally perpetuates an us/them mentality all in the name of God. Interesting side note–with the exception of a couple of references, the Bible itself almost always talks in pejorative terms about religion–it can be a great evil.
#4 (actually a corollary to point 1)- A complete misreading of the message of Jesus in terms of the radical individualism of North American culture. Community, as I described above, doesn’t even enter the picture for consideration.
#5 – An accurate assumption that we live in a culture of death, not life. I mean this in the broadest possible sense–not trying to make statement for or against the pro-life movement here.

Those seem, to my mind, to be the main things generating a comment like this.
Thanks for letting me in the conversation.

No, but he was a Christian, a homeschooled Christian, whichg usually means a conservative Christian. Just by coincidence I’m sure this does not seem to be mentioned in news stories in the USA, even when they mention he was homeschooled. I found out from an Australian paper; it’s been widely reported overseas.

Is there more alienation today? Could be. The necessity for cooperation and cohension in families/communities to meet basic survival needs has diminished considerably. I feel sympathy for anyone who has lost a child, but that is not an excuse for scapegoating. Sloppy thinking isn’t going to keep anyone safe.

If the Amish, etc, Christians are correct in their beliefs, then these lucky children are all happy in heaven with Jesus, no disease, no problems, singing fun hymns.

If the Christians are incorrect, only then is there a problem. The Christians.

Worship of anything is demeaning and anti-life, and the fictional mass murdering, fear distributing, God/creator with a control problem is a creator of the mass murdering psyche. Where’s the surprise? Where’s the problem?