Posted on 04/22/2007 4:42:02 AM PDT by Kaslin
Let’s test your knowledge of world religions. Below is the entire message delivered by one of the four religious leaders at last week’s convocation at Virginia Tech, in the aftermath of the horrible mass murders that left 32 dead and 21 injured.
The test is simple: determine the religion being represented.
We gather this afternoon for many purposes. To weep for lost friends and family, to mourn our lost innocence, to walk forward in the wake of unspeakable tragedy, to embrace hope in the shadow of despair, to join our voices in a longing for peace, and healing, and understanding which is much greater than any single faith community. To embrace that which unifies, and to reject the seductive temptation to hate. We gather to share our hurts and our hopes, our petitions and our prayers.
We gather also to drink deeply of the religious streams which have refreshed parched peoples for many generations. We gather together, weeping. Yes, we weep with an agony too deep for words and sighs that are inexpressible. But also we gather affirming the sovereignty of life over death.
At a time such as this, the darkness of evil seems powerful indeed. It casts a pall over our simple joys, joys as simple as playing Frisbee on the drill field. We struggle to imagine a future beyond this agony. If we ever harbored any illusions that our campus is an idyllic refuge from the violence of the rest of the world, they are gone forever. And yet, we come to this place to testify that the light of love cannot be defeated.
Amid all our pain, we confess that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. We cannot do everything, but we can do something. We cannot banish all darkness, but we can by joining together, push it back. We can not undue yesterday’s tragic events, but we can sit in patient silence with those who mourn as they seek for a way forward.
As we share light, one with another, we reclaim our campus, let us deny death’s power to rob us of all that we have loved about Virginia Tech, this our community. Let us cast our lot with hope in defiance of despair. I invite you to observe a moment of silence.
Difficult, isn’t it?
The message was delivered by Reverend William H. King, Director of Lutheran Campus Ministries at Virginia Tech, and a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The video of the message is available online.
Each of the four speakers were there to represent their religion, to bring the message of comfort and hope rooted in their faith tradition. The Muslim speaker read passages from the Koran in Arabic and appealed to Allah, the Jewish speaker read from Ecclesiastes 3 while an assistant repeated the passages in Hebrew, the Buddhist quoted the Dalai Lama, while the Christian did not even quote from the Bible, nor mention the name of Jesus – the namesake of his religion.
What Mr. King said should be studied in every seminary in America. It is precisely what not to do when given the opportunity to bring the message of the Gospel of Jesus to those grieving the loss of loved ones and struggling to make sense of the evil visited upon them.
The nearest thing to Christianity anyone heard at the Convocation was the playing of Amazing Grace and the unison recitation of The Lord’s Prayer. There was far more Bible coming from the pews than being preached from the pulpit.
No wonder Christianity is so easily and regularly attacked on college campuses. With advocates like this, who needs opposition? We’ve got guys in our uniform playing for the other team.
Mr. King could have spoken the truth. He could have explained why Christians are confident in divine justice, why we believe that good will ultimately triumph over evil, why we know that there is life after death for those that trust Christ. He could have explained that Jesus paid the penalty for all our sins on the Cross that Friday long ago, and rose bodily from the dead on Sunday to prove His sovereignty over evil, sin and death.
In short, he could have preached the Gospel. After all, the murders were only a week removed from Easter.
But, Mr. King decided to do something apparently more important in his mind. He decided to be politically correct and not offend the members of his interfaith community by offering hollow words of humanistic philosophy lacking any real substance, and by appealing to various “religious streams” and by validating the search “for a way forward,” he insulted those of us who actually believe Christianity is true and other religions false.
In so doing, he denied his faith.
He offered those mourning no hope for the present nor any hope for the future.
He left the hearers dead in their sins.
A minister ashamed of the Gospel should not have been on that podium. The Frank Pastore Show is heard in Los Angeles weekday afternoons on 99.5 KKLA and on the web at kkla.com, and is the winner of the 2006 National Religious Broadcasters Talk Show of the Year. Frank is a former major league pitcher with graduate degrees in both philosophy of religion and political philosophy.
So you think that freedom of religion is actually freedom of your religion, or that there were no muslim students at VT?
Pretty much just as freedom of speech is actually only freedom of the speech as long as it doesn't include Jesus or God and that it doesn't offend some liberal group.
One can worship a fence post and be heralded as a 'free thinker' but when we say that Jesus is the ONLY way, we are branded as hate-mongers and intolerant. I know that your question wasn't aimed at me, but...I've had just about all I'm willing to take of "tolerant" people trying to make me feel guilty for worshiping Jesus.
So yea, that same freedom of religion.
I’m no fan of Governor Tim Kaine, but it was rather amazing that in the entire convocation, he was the one who mentioned Christ.
Just so you know, the comment that I was responding to was someone who felt that the Muslim clergy should not have been allowed at the VT memorial. They had a Buddhist, a Christian, a Rabbi, and an Imam. I don’t understand why the poster felt a Muslim should not have been allowed to speak.
Fox was showing a video this morning of a Methodist church in VA - they were having a special service for the families and inviting them to come and speak. The way they explained it, it sounded like a good thing - and the Pastor of the church commented that we needed to rely more on JESUS and His ability to get us through this difficult time.
It was a little late in coming, but I hope it will help some people get their lives back to normal. I can speak from personal experience that losing your child is a horrible thing to go through .. no matter how they die.
My personal relationship with Jesus, and the loving counsel of my Pastor and his wife have been very helpful.
You're right, and perhaps I took it wrong and shouldn't have been so quick to 'jump on you'.
I think that the tolerant attitude towards everybody except Christians is very frustrating...it is to me anyway. I may have incorrectly grouped you into that category. If I did, I apologize.
The only one, as I recall.
You're correct. I meant to type "only one."
Apology accepted. I too am a Christian and would like my religious rights to be preserved. But, I also have a strong love of my country and the principles that it was founded on, including the freedom of religion. I want the right to practice my religion as I want those of other religions to have the freedom to practice their religion too.
Apology accepted. I too am a Christian and would like my religious rights to be preserved. But, I also have a strong love of my country and the principles that it was founded on, including the freedom of religion. I want the right to practice my religion as I want those of other religions to have the freedom to practice their religion too.
I am no fan of his either but I thought his remarks at the convocation were appropriate and comforting. I’m having a hard time typing something positive about him - but he has done a good job throughout the whole situation.
you know, i totally agree and it shocks me. i was not prepared to feel favorably disposed towards him, but i did feel that way. he more than once surprised me, including shouting about not making this a ‘political hobbyhorse’ to the person at the press conference last week that wanted to make it anti-gun.
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