A dark night indeed Jerry Newcombe - Guest Columnist - 7/20/2012 Another senseless act of random violence in America has

made the headlines. This time there was a random shooting in a movie theatre, during the opening night o f The Dark Knight Rises. This was the midnight showing in Aurora, Colorado, just outside of Denver. As of this writing, 12 people are reported to be dead, and 38 injured. The alleg ed shooter was a 24-year-old white male, who was wearing a bulletproof vest and a gas mask. He reportedly acted alone, using tear gas, and firing three guns. How do we make sense out of this kind of thing? Why do things like this happen? I can't help but feel that to some extent, we're reaping what we've been sowing as a society. We said to God, "Get out of the public arena." Lawsuit after lawsu it, often by misguided "civil libertarians," have chased away any fear of God in the land -- at least in the hearts of millions. The shooting was like a scene out of a scary movie. One witness said: "It was ve ry hard to breathe. I told my brother to take cover. It took a while. I started seeing flashes and screaming, I just saw blood and people yelling and a quick gl impse of the guy who had a gas mask on. I was pushed out. There was chaos, we st arted running." (ABC News, 7/20/12). Recently, I wrote on the subject of Hell and how our society has generally lost its cognizance of it. We've lost this cognizance to the point that a recent bestseller was a book by a n "evangelical pastor," who for all practical purposes denied Hell (or the impor t of it). (It exists, but don't worry -- supposedly nobody's going there.) When the book was first published 16 months ago, it made the cover of TIME magazine. This month it was republished as a paperback. This makes me think. "Wow, what the heck happened to Hell?" What -- was there so me new revelation that changed what the Lord warned about? To me, what He said 2 ,000 years ago is still worth heeding: What does it profit you if you gain the w hole world and lose your soul? Tens of millions of young people in this culture seem to have no fear of God. It 's becoming too commonplace that some frustrated person will go on a killing spr ee of random people. If they kill themselves, they think it's all over. But that 's like going from the frying pan into the fire. Where's the fear of God in our society? I don't think people would do those sorts of things if they truly under stood the reality of Hell. I'll never forget what an Alabama black pastor said to me one time when I interv iewed him about Judge Roy Moore, the Ten Commandments judge. He said: "All acros s America people should stand with Judge Moore about the Ten Commandments. Why? Because when they took prayer out of school, you didn't hear about kids killing each other, about them bringing dope to school, shooting the teachers, you didn' t hear about that. You see what I'm saying? That's what's wrong. We need more Go d-fearing." The founders gave us a system where voluntary God-fearing was the underpinning o f civility in society. The more internal restraints people have, the less need t hey have for external restraints. (And the converse is true.) That's why I can't understand the ongoing crusade of those who want to remove any vestige of Judeo

-Christian in the public arena. All they're doing is making everything worse for everyone else. Religion and morality were key to the founders' vision for a civil society. In h is Farewell Address, George Washington highlighted the source of morality: "What ever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." Will somebody please tell tha t to these civil libertarian lawyers always suing against public displays or the Ten Commandments and the like? In America's early years, a "future state of rewards and punishment" was an impo rtant concept. For example: - In 1786, founding father Benjamin Rush wrote: "Such is my veneration for every religion that reveals the attributes of the Deity, or a future state of rewards and punishments...." - Noah Webster's first Dictionary (1828) had many Bible verses. He said one aspe ct of "Religion" includes "a belief in a state of rewards and punishment, and in man's accountableness to God ...." - The Constitution of the State of Maryland, adopted in 1864, required political officials to hold to a belief "in a future state of rewards and punishments." T he same held for South Carolina's 1778 constitution, as did Tennessee's constitu tion of 1796. - The Pennsylvania Supreme Court stated in 1817: "Laws cannot be administered in any civilized government unless the people are taught to revere the sanctity of an oath, and look to a future state of rewards and punishments for the deeds of this life." In short, Hell was viewed as a part of divine accountability. When Osama bin Laden was finally killed in May 2011, a CNN/Opinion Research Corp oration poll released shortly after found that 61 percent of the public thought he went to Hell, thus showing that a lot of Americans still believe in Hell. I know in my natural state I am worthy of Hell before a holy God, who doesn't gr ade on the curve. I am eternally grateful that on the cross Jesus went to Hell f or me, so I don't have to. The next time someone wants to take out their frustra tions on others by killing innocent victims, they ought to consider the eternal consequences of their evil actions. Jerry Newcombe is the host of and spokesman for "Truth that Transforms with D. J ames Kennedy" (formerly The Coral Ridge Hour) and spokesman for Truth in Action Ministries (formerly Coral Ridge Ministries). http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=1634768 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------DaveP First, let me say that I was baptized a Christian, and in one form or another , I have remained so for over 60 years. When I see talk such as this, disguised as the teachings of Christ, it makes me sick inside. If there is anything that we humans do that make these sorts of tragedies possible, it is to follow false doc

trines that lead us to dark places in our souls. You divide the human family int o "us and them". We are all God's children, and the Jesus that I believe in woul d never have said the things I am reading.Please sir, I beg you, in the name of the living God you profess to believe in, remove the hate from your own heart, b efore you condemn any others. This is the worst kind of religious hypocrisy. You seem to believe that your faith sets you above those who don't follow you (reme mber....the first shall be last...) Please learn to understand other human being s and bring Love back into your heart. We need to stop this new form of Christia n Inquisition against other beliefs..we need to help Christ heal the world...wit hout false truths or man made re interpretations....we just need this... God is Compassion, Understanding, and most of all Love...so please, be God like in all you say and do...this is what will save all the souls on planet Earth. There rea lly is no other choice. The war between good and evil is inside each of us, not with what others believe or don't believe...In the end we can all be "saved"...( In my Father's house, there are many mansions...) First, let me say that I was baptized a Christian, and in one form or another , I have remained so for over 60 years. When I see talk such as this, disguised as the teachings of Christ, it makes me sick inside. If there is anything that we humans do that make these sorts of tragedies possible, it is to follow false doc trines that lead us to dark places in our souls. You divide the human family int o "us and them". We are all God's children, and the Jesus that I believe in woul d never have said the things I am reading. Please sir, I beg you, in the name of the living God you profess to believe in, remove the hate from your own heart, before you condemn any others. This is the worst kind of religious hypocrisy. You seem to believe that your faith sets you above those who don't follow you (remember....the first shall be last...) Please learn to understand other human beings and bring Love back into your heart. We need to stop this new form of Christian Inquisition against other beliefs..we ne ed to help Christ heal the world...without false truths or man made re interpret ations....we just need this... God is Compassion, Understanding, and most of all Love...so please, be God like in all you say and do...this is what will save al l the souls on planet Earth. There really is no other choice. The war between go od and evil is inside each of us, not with what others believe or don't believe. ..In the end we can LaszloPanaflex You know what makes God angrier than people loving each other? Money changers in his temple, like you Mr. Newcombe. It's in the Bible. Take a look sometime. Mo86 You know nothing of God. Address the points made in this article, instead of spe wing off this nonsense. zeff Nothing like deflecting from the topic. I guess you don't like his premis? Do yo u actually know what makes God angry pride and and unrepentant heart. Jess I think you're confusing who's being prideful here. You think you belong to the right club because you follow money changing elites like Newcombe. Raoul Naw, I think what makes the god pissed off is someone who can't spell. Hint - it 's not 'premis', it's 'premise'. Steven Toth Laszlo, there is no indication whatsoever within this article that Mr. Newcombe is a "money changer in the temple". You might be better off spending your time s tudying The Bible rather than spouting off at random! Perhaps then you'll unders tand the truth of Mr. Newcombe's point.

jerry seltzer there is some evil stuff in that Bible... Mick I blame this tragedy on you being born, Mr. Newcombe. Clearly God's wrath has be fallen us for the travesty that was your birth. Oh wait, that would be a grotesq ue example of the fallacy of post hoc, ergo propter hoc, where events that follo w each other in time are somehow presented as causally connected without the ben efit of actually presenting evidence to connect the events, which is exactly wha t Mr. Newcombe has done here. Raoul Mick, while someone like me can appreciate your philosophical definitions of som e of the fallacious premises presented by this clown, I'm pretty sure what you w rote just flew completely over his, and his sycophantic followers' heads. Scott David Julian Raoul, I find your post incoherent. You seem to be challenging the Theistic worldview, but once you do this you've l ost the basis of rendering such moral and philosophical judgments as you (and Mi ck) have made. The laws of logic on which you are relying are immaterial entities. Such entitie s coherently exist in a Christian perspective, but not from a secular or atheist one. So you are using a presupposition of Christianity to criticize a Christian position. You (and all similar) critics are espousing one view while using a very differen t one to make the criticism (indeed, the very one you are criticizing!). In this way, skepticism is its own refutation. Might be best to back off of the philosophy until you can establish a sound basi s for engaging in it (unless you do indeed affirm Christian Theism and I have mi sunderstood your post: is such a case, I apologize!). Humility is, after all, a Christian virtue. Mo86 What on earth is this incoherent drivel? Please address what was said in the art icle. Judas If it's no tragedy for Christians to die, then I suggest all you believers go no w and be with your God. Leave the rest of us here alone to sleep in on Sundays. Drew You already sleep in on Sundays. mircea For a true Orthodox christian is not a tragedy to die, but it is a tragedy to di e UNPREPARED ! I mean without having peace with absolutely all the people (forgi veness and repentance, asked for forgiveness), without being confessed and had t aken the Holy Communion. MAY GOD SAVE ALL THE SOULS !

Mircea Joe I love all these wonderful articles about how the world is a worse, less safe pl ace than it was 'when I was young' or 'in the good old days'. Facts are, violent crime rates are at the lowest they've been since 1963. That's right, this count ry is safer now than it has been in nearly 50 years. Youth violence has been dro pping steadily since 1993, sexual assaults are lower now than any time in the la st five decades as well. We hear all these stories in the news precisely because they're less common. jerry seltzer because of violence (mostly guns) 55 Americans die EVERY DAY. which means that a nother 43 died in addition to that tragedy at Aurora. And you have no authority to decide the disposition of their "souls". Maybe, like the Mormons, you can bap tize them and assure their travel to that mystic place. Pat Joe, That is simply false. You just made up those dates to further your agenda. kel Pat, actually Joe is correct. It SEEMS like there is more violence because we ha ve 24/7 information on everything in the world. This is factual and easily obtai ned information. shle896 Sorry, but he is right. While the number of murders are larger than they were in 1963, we also have doubled our population since then, hence the crime rate trul y is down exponentially. Raoul Well Pat, do you have any dates and facts to counter his? Didn't think so! Johnny "The founders gave us a system where voluntary God-fearing was the underpinning of civility in society." Exactly VOLUNTARY! That's why our founders envisioned a wall of separation between church and state and why state-sponsored group praye r is not permitted in public schools instead, students are FREE to choose, volun tarily, whether or not they want to pray, at their desks, before their meals, wh erever they want. No one's going to stop them. But neither will those who choose NOT to pray be subjected to the will of the state, the tyranny of the majority, to COERCE them to pray. VOLUNTARY God-fearing is indeed the underpinning of civ ility in society! It's the American way! jed Looks like the killer came from a church going family. Hmmm... Zeff HMMM.... Do you know which denomination? Hmmm... perhaps it was one of those lib eral kind that teaches God is madly in love with you no matter what HMM... Perha ps it was one of thos watered down the Biblle isn't relevat kind Hmm....Homosexu ality is OK kind Hmmm...The guy was under demonic control and learned that its O K to give into ones human instincsts kind Hmm....That you don't need to be born again kind Hmm... That I have all the answers because I'm basicly good kind Hmm. .. Perhasp your right Hmm... jillibrown I thought we were ALL god's children. You're so unlike your god and christianity . And you "christians" wonder why people reject your brand of christianity.

Jed Zeff: Your last name wouldn't be Phelps would it? Zeff Ok perhaps his parents weren't Atheist. I don't know that. He was a camp counselor at a Jewish camp. But for the sake of argument he went to church Hmm.... Or perhaps he went to a Unitarian church that taught that all paths lead to heaven and man is basically good Hmm... Perhaps he went to a seeker friendly church that its all about love and that God was so madly in love with him that he could do no wrong Hmmm Perhaps he went to a Catholic church that taught he had a second chance in purgatory if he messed up in this life Hmmm... Perhaps he went to a watered down protestant church that said the Bible isn t relevant anymore and we can make up our own rules and that being born again is praying a prayer rather than a heart changed life Hmm... Perhaps he was taught in school his whole life that we are just products of evolution and that good and bad are relative and he became so obsessed with evil that it took over his mind. Hmmm Perhaps he heard in school we should follow all our instincts and that to be human is to give into your base emotions Hmm Perhaps he watched violence in his lonely life so much on TV and his DVD s and identified with those who thought like he did and wanted to make a name for himself because of his sick pride Hmmm Perhaps he did go to church as a kid Hmm TD hmmm, you are annoying!! Riddles It's disgusting that Jerry Newcombe would use such a tragedy to promote his agen da. jillibrown Shameless. deanrd Funny. Cuz I'll never forget so called "religious leaders" saying the 9/11 attac k was because God lifted his "veil of protection" because the US allows feminist s to have rights and gays to exist. David Kellemen That "god" seems to be very prickly and easily offended. Not the kind of creatur e I want anything to do with. Pat You are a blatant hypocrite. You portray an idea of god which is painted in the fashion you want God to be seen, then you JUDGE God. If you only realized how tr ansparent you are, you would be humiliated. If you think that rejecting a god that you made up is going to get you off the h ook of rejecting the real God, you are truly delusional. raoul the only delusional nut jobs around here are people like YOU with your old testa ment prophet impersonation in full bloom Chang J Perhaps people should put the money where there mouth is and drop charges for mu rder. It's God's will right? Part of God's plan. And the murderer was rewarding them with heaven, just as Joshua did in Jericho killing babies. So if there shou

ld be charges it should be against God. Mike Yuscavage Can everyone please continue to use this tragedy as a way to promote their own p olitical/social/religious beliefs? What better way to show compassion for the vi ctims and their families? Thanks. Robert X It's not the guns; it's the depravity. Our society glorifies violence in all its media. What should we expect? Neil Houghton Just the facts... in societies where these kind of guns are not available this i s rare. It is becoming commonplace in America. Carlos Santiago Man is a violent creature, when you visit country's where guns are banned, the v iolence take different forms. Until man follows God and loves his neighbor, viol ence will occur. JimCA Yes, the violence takes different, NON LETHAL, forms. It's a large part of the reason they have lower murder rates. Subject_Of_The_King You didn't think that one through. Mexico, just south of us, is much more strict regarding gun ownership. Look what shape they are in. nerrrp Because the cartels buy guns from American gun shops literally dozens at a time and smuggle them across the u.s.-mexico border, due to the nearly nonexistent re strictions on the type and amount of guns you can buy as long as your record's c lear? Clint DuPlechian They just use bombs instead. Give me a break. Bill Again, it's NOT the guns. There are millions of people with more than one firear m in this country, legally owned, who never use them in this way nor would conce ive of ever doing so. Mostly, the people who DO these things, only recently boug ht the guns. FIRST came the nutball idea to do the deed, THEN came the purchase. When many of us went to school, guns didn't have to be registered, didn't have to go through a dealer, and could come by US mail. Yet, NEVER did we think of br inging one to class and gunning down the teacher, or others. It just never happe ned. So what changed? Gun laws got tougher, but incidents like this continue to grow in severity and number at the same time society is changing for the worse a nd rejecting ANY faith in God, and embracing the idea that whatever evil thing e nters in to a persons mind is okay. It's all about "me" and hang everybody else. Easy access to guns through the mail.....nothing like this ever happened. Tight restrictions in place, this happens all the time now. YOU tell me what's differ ent if NOT that society is becoming more evil, and less God fearing. shle896 Sorry, but NOBODY needs or should be allowed to buy a semi-automatic assault rif le. Period. If not for the type of weapon he used, he NEVER would have been able to kill 12 and injure 58. Saying "Guns Don't Kill People, People Kill People" is like saying "Nuclear Bomb

s Don't Kill People, People Kill People". Complete B.S. Suricou Raven I can't think of much civilian use for those big magazines either. The only use I can think of for rifles at all is hunting, and if you can't kill that deer in six shots or so then you really suck as a hunter. JimCA Sorry, that doesn't pass the laugh test. You could make the same case for everyone having access to personal nukes. After all, only one in a few thousand is likely to actually use them to kill people - the vast majority would be quite law abiding. Jared McKittrick How predictable is the religious right...every time a tragedy happens they blame the lack of religion. When George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin he felt no re morse because it was part of "god's" plan, and religious people RESPECTED him fo r it. And I guarantee if the monster that committed this act cited religion as t he reason for doing what he did, you morons would immediately side with him. End rant. Suricou Raven No. They'd just claim he wasn't a 'real' Christian.' Will I read the comments and realize how correct this article is. The replies show ju st how angry and bitter atheists can be despite their attempts to blame Christia ns for all the hatred in the world. First, let me say that I was baptized a Christian, and in one form or another , I have remained so for over 60 years. When I see talk such as this, disguised as the teachings of Christ, it makes me sick inside. If there is anything that we humans do that make these sorts of tragedies possible, it is to follow false doc trines that lead us to dark places in our souls. You divide the human family int o "us and them". We are all God's children, and the Jesus that I believe in woul d never have said the things I am reading.Please sir, I beg you, in the name of the living God you profess to believe in, remove the hate from your own heart, b efore you condemn any others. This is the worst kind of religious hypocrisy. You seem to believe that your faith sets you above those who don't follow you (reme mber....the first shall be last...) Please learn to understand other human being s and bring Love back into your heart. We need to stop this new form of Christia n Inquisition against other beliefs..we need to help Christ heal the world...wit hout false truths or man made re interpretations....we just need this... God is Compassion, Understanding, and most of all Love...so please, be God like in all you say and do...this is what will save all the souls on planet Earth. There rea lly is no other choice. The war between good and evil is inside each of us, not with what others believe or don't believe...In the end we can all be "saved"...( In my Father's house, there are many mansions...) First, let me say that I was baptized a Christian, and in one form or another , I have remained so for over 60 years. When I see talk such as this, disguised as the teachings of Christ, it makes me sick inside. If there is anything that we humans do that make these sorts of tragedies possible, it is to follow false doc trines that lead us to dark places in our souls. You divide the human family int o "us and them". We are all God's children, and the Jesus that I believe in woul d never have said the things I am reading. Please sir, I beg you, in the name of the living God you profess to believe in, remove the hate from your own heart, before you condemn any others. This is the worst kind of religious hypocrisy. You seem to believe that your faith sets you above those who don't follow you (remember....the first shall be last...) Please

learn to understand other human beings and bring Love back into your heart. We need to stop this new form of Christian Inquisition against other beliefs..we ne ed to help Christ heal the world...without false truths or man made re interpret ations....we just need this... God is Compassion, Understanding, and most of all Love...so please, be God like in all you say and do...this is what will save al l the souls on planet Earth. There really is no other choice. The war between go od and evil is inside each of us, not with what others believe or don't believe. ..In the end we can You know what makes God angrier than people loving each other? Money changers in his temple, like you Mr. Newcombe. It's in the Bible. Take a look sometime. You know nothing of God. Address the points made in this article, instead of spe wing off this nonsense. Flag as inappropriateNothing like deflecting from the topic. I guess you don't l ike his premis? Do you actually know what makes God angry pride and and unrepent ant heart. I think you're confusing who's being prideful here. You think you belong to the right club because you follow money changing elites like Newcombe. Naw, I think what makes the god pissed off is someone who can't spell. Hint - it 's not 'premis', it's 'premise'. Laszlo, there is no indication whatsoever within this article that Mr. Newcombe is a "money changer in the temple". You might be better off spending your time s tudying The Bible rather than spouting off at random! Perhaps then you'll unders tand the truth of Mr. Newcombe's point. there is some evil stuff in that Bible... I blame this tragedy on you being born, Mr. Newcombe. Clearly God's wrath has be fallen us for the travesty that was your birth. Oh wait, that would be a grotesq ue example of the fallacy of post hoc, ergo propter hoc, where events that follo w each other in time are somehow presented as causally connected without the ben efit of actually presenting evidence to connect the events, which is exactly wha t Mr. Newcombe has done here. Mick, while someone like me can appreciate your philosophical definitions of som e of the fallacious premises presented by this clown, I'm pretty sure what you w rote just flew completely over his, and his sycophantic followers' heads. Raoul, I find your post incoherent. You seem to be challenging the Theistic worldview, but once you do this you've lost the basis of rendering such moral and philosoph ical judgments as you (and Mick) have made. The laws of logic on which you are relying are immaterial entities. Such entitie s coherently exist in a Christian perspective, but not from a secular or atheist one. So you are using a presupposition of Christianity to criticize a Christian position. You (and all similar) critics are espousing one view while using a very differen t one to make the criticism (indeed, the very one you are criticizing!). In this way, skepticism is its own refutation. Might be best to back off of the philosophy until you can establish a sound basi s for engaging in it (unless you do indeed affirm Christian Theism and I have mi sunderstood your post: is such a case, I apologize!). Humility is, after all, a

Christian virtue. If it's no tragedy for Christians to die, then I suggest all you believers go no w and be with your God. Leave the rest of us here alone to sleep in on Sundays. For a true Orthodox christian is not a tragedy to die, but it is a tragedy to di e UNPREPARED ! I mean without having peace with absolutely all the people (forgi veness and repentance, asked for forgiveness), without being confessed and had t aken the Holy Communion. MAY GOD SAVE ALL THE SOULS ! Mircea I love all these wonderful articles about how the world is a worse, less safe pl ace than it was 'when I was young' or 'in the good old days'. Facts are, violent crime rates are at the lowest they've been since 1963. That's right, this count ry is safer now than it has been in nearly 50 years. Youth violence has been dro pping steadily since 1993, sexual assaults are lower now than any time in the la st five decades as well. We hear all these stories in the news precisely because they're less common. because of violence (mostly guns) 55 Americans die EVERY DAY. which means that a nother 43 died in addition to that tragedy at Aurora. And you have no authority to decide the disposition of their "souls". Maybe, like the Mormons, you can bap tize them and assure their travel to that mystic place. Pat, actually Joe is correct. It SEEMS like there is more violence because we ha ve 24/7 information on everything in the world. This is factual and easily obtai ned information. Sorry, but he is right. While the number of murders are larger than they were in 1963, we also have doubled our population since then, hence the crime rate trul y is down exponentially. Well Pat, do you have any dates and facts to counter his? Didn't think so! Flag as inappropriate"The founders gave us a system where voluntary God-fearing was the underpinning of civility in society." Exactly VOLUNTARY! That's why our founders envisioned a wall of separation between church and state and why statesponsored group prayer is not permitted in public schools instead, students are FREE to choose, voluntarily, whether or not they want to pray, at their desks, b efore their meals, wherever they want. No one's going to stop them. But neither will those who choose NOT to pray be subjected to the will of the state, the tyr anny of the majority, to COERCE them to pray. VOLUNTARY God-fearing is indeed th e underpinning of civility in society! It's the American way! HMMM.... Do you know which denomination? Hmmm... perhaps it was one of those lib eral kind that teaches God is madly in love with you no matter what HMM... Perha ps it was one of thos watered down the Biblle isn't relevat kind Hmm....Homosexu ality is OK kind Hmmm...The guy was under demonic control and learned that its O K to give into ones human instincsts kind Hmm....That you don't need to be born again kind Hmm... That I have all the answers because I'm basicly good kind Hmm. .. Perhasp your right Hmm... I thought we were ALL god's children. You're so unlike your god and christianity . And you "christians" wonder why people reject your brand of christianity. Ok perhaps his parents weren't Atheist. I don't know that. He was a camp counselor at a Jewish camp. But for the sake of argument he went to church Hmm.... Or perhaps he went to a Unitarian church that taught that all paths lead to heaven and man is basically good Hmm... Perhaps he went to a seeker friendly church that its all about love and that God was so madly in love with him that he could do no wrong Hmmm Perhaps he went to a Catholic church

that taught he had a second chance in purgatory if he messed up in this life Hmmm... Perhaps he went to a watered down protestant church that said the Bible isn t relevant anymore and we can make up our own rules and that being born again is praying a prayer rather than a heart changed life Hmm... Perhaps he was taught in school his whole life that we are just products of evolution and that good and bad are relative and he became so obsessed with evil that it took over his mind. Hmmm Perhaps he heard in school we should follow all our instincts and that to be human is to give into your base emotions Hmm Perhaps he watched violence in his lonely life so much on TV and his DVD s and identified with those who thought like he did and wanted to make a name for himself because of his sick pride Hmmm Perhaps he did go to church as a kid Hmm It's disgusting that Jerry Newcombe would use such a tragedy to promote his agen da. Funny. Cuz I'll never forget so called "religious leaders" saying the 9/11 attac k was because God lifted his "veil of protection" because the US allows feminist s to have rights and gays to exist. That "god" seems to be very prickly and easily offended. Not the kind of creatur e I want anything to do with. You are a blatant hypocrite. You portray an idea of god which is painted in the fashion you want God to be seen, then you JUDGE God. If you only realized how tr ansparent you are, you would be humiliated. If you think that rejecting a god that you made up is going to get you off the h ook of rejecting the real God, you are truly delusional. the only delusional nut jobs around here are people like YOU with your old testa ment prophet impersonation in full bloom Flag as inappropriatePerhaps people should put the money where there mouth is an d drop charges for murder. It's God's will right? Part of God's plan. And the mu rderer was rewarding them with heaven, just as Joshua did in Jericho killing bab ies. So if there should be charges it should be against God. Can everyone please continue to use this tragedy as a way to promote their own p olitical/social/religious beliefs? What better way to show compassion for the vi ctims and their families? Thanks. It's not the guns; it's the depravity. Our society glorifies violence in all its media. What should we expect? Just the facts... in societies where these kind of guns are not available this i s rare. It is becoming commonplace in America. Man is a violent creature, when you visit country's where guns are banned, the v iolence take different forms. Until man follows God and loves his neighbor, viol ence will occur. Yes, the violence takes different, NON LETHAL, forms. It's a large part of the reason they have lower murder rates. You didn't think that one through. Mexico, just south of us, is much more strict regarding gun ownership. Look what shape they are in. Because the cartels buy guns from American gun shops literally dozens at a time and smuggle them across the u.s.-mexico border, due to the nearly nonexistent re

strictions on the type and amount of guns you can buy as long as your record's c lear? They just use bombs instead. Give me a break. Again, it's NOT the guns. There are millions of people with more than one firear m in this country, legally owned, who never use them in this way nor would conce ive of ever doing so. Mostly, the people who DO these things, only recently boug ht the guns. FIRST came the nutball idea to do the deed, THEN came the purchase. When many of us went to school, guns didn't have to be registered, didn't have to go through a dealer, and could come by US mail. Yet, NEVER did we think of br inging one to class and gunning down the teacher, or others. It just never happe ned. So what changed? Gun laws got tougher, but incidents like this continue to grow in severity and number at the same time society is changing for the worse a nd rejecting ANY faith in God, and embracing the idea that whatever evil thing e nters in to a persons mind is okay. It's all about "me" and hang everybody else. Easy access to guns through the mail.....nothing like this ever happened. Tight restrictions in place, this happens all the time now. YOU tell me what's differ ent if NOT that society is becoming more evil, and less God fearing. Sorry, but NOBODY needs or should be allowed to buy a semi-automatic assault rif le. Period. If not for the type of weapon he used, he NEVER would have been able to kill 12 and injure 58. Saying "Guns Don't Kill People, People Kill People" is like saying "Nuclear Bomb s Don't Kill People, People Kill People". Complete B.S. shle896: I can't think of much civilian use for those big magazines either. The only use I can think of for rifles at all is hunting, and if you can't kill that deer in six shots or so then you really suck as a hunter. Sorry, that doesn't pass the laugh test. You could make the same case for everyone having access to personal nukes. After all, only one in a few thousand is likely to actually use them to kill people - the vast majority would be quite law abiding. Flag as inappropriateHow predictable is the religious right...every time a trage dy happens they blame the lack of religion. When George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin he felt no remorse because it was part of "god's" plan, and religious pe ople RESPECTED him for it. And I guarantee if the monster that committed this ac t cited religion as the reason for doing what he did, you morons would immediate ly side with him. End rant. They'd just claim he wasn't a 'real' Christian.' I read the comments and realize how correct this article is. The replies show ju st how angry and bitter atheists can be despite their attempts to blame Christia ns for all the hatred in the world. Nothing for you here ... yet. But as you comment with Disqus and follow other Di squs users, you will start to receive notifications here, as well as a personali zed feed of activity by you and the people you follow. So get out there and part icipate in some discussions!