A Response to the Orlando Shooting

Imagine if your area were being terrorized by a burglary ring. Imagine that the burglars were actually bragging about what they were doing and were not hiding their identities. Further imagine that burglary was no longer illegal in your state. These burglars were know to hang out at a local bar. Then imagine that you turn on the news to find out that another local trouble maker had walked into the bar and shot these burglars. What would your thoughts be?

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My thoughts would be that even though these burglars had done wrong by stealing (even if it was not illegal according to the state, it is still wrong in God’s eyes), it would not be right to kill them. I would want the killer brought to justice. I would recognize that the act of burglary probably had something to do with the shooting. I would thus condemn the shooter without defending the burglars.

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As a Christian, I have been trying to sort out what sort of response I should have to the recent Orlando shooting incident. A Muslim man walked into a gay nightclub and shot about a hundred people. Around half of them were killed and others were injured. As I reflect on this incident, my mind immediately goes to triage mode. Those who were injured must be helped and cared for. As a Christian, I believe what God says in the Bible, and He tells us that homosexual behavior is sinful. That means I cannot defend homosexuality anymore than I could defend burglary. Still, God tells us to love our neighbors. He does not suggest that command is voided if they are a homosexual or a burglar. Care for the injured is an obvious response of a loving heart. My love also causes me to care for the emotional trauma that they face.

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As a Christian, I can and must care about them without defending them. In fact, I even care about the shooter, but I will not defend his actions nor his religious teachings. A new religion is replacing Christianity however. The religion is called “Tolerance.” The preachers of this movement have replaced God’s morality with their own. For many of them, it is not enough to care about the victims of the shooting, we must also defend their actions. These preachers of tolerance are quite tolerant of sin, but are very intolerant of what God says about sin.

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Their argument is that killing and stealing affect others and therefore should be wrong, but that as long as homosexuality is consensual, it doesn’t hurt others. For the Christian, however, we are not allowed to just pick and choose which sins are acceptable based on their affects on others. For example the first of the 10 commandments says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Even if you think others are not affected by your worship of your car, that doesn’t make it right.

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I am a Christian. The shooter was a Muslim. I am not surprised that he did not act like a Christian, because his moral standard is based off the Koran, not the Bible. Further, I do not expect an atheist will act like a Christian either. I should, however, be able to expect that those who call themselves Christians, act like Christians. They should follow the Bible instead of the false religion of tolerance. I should also expect that Christians will recognize that vengeance belongs to God and not go on a shooting rampage or condone those who do. In other words, I am not expecting the nonChristian to simply conform to biblical standards, but instead to recognize that there is a God and that He has a right to make the rules. If a person is really a Christian, they will not reject His rules. If you have rejected God and His Word, then be honest and quit calling yourself a Christian. If you want to get right with God and let Him decide what is right or wrong, then repent and be converted.