Ok What's this world coming to...

[Peter Teolis]

when will it end. Now there have been 6 killed in Lancaster Pennsyvania one room Amish school house.

The world is going to ---- in a handbasket.

Keep Praying...


http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/02/amish.shooting/index.html

:fav11

[Jen Blackburn]

oh how sad :(

:fav11

[Barbara Moulton]

I hate this.

[David Cash]

Hopefully no more off balance people will get the nerve to go through with it after hearing this latest report. It is so very sad.

David Cash

[Jim Franklin]

I spoke with the coach at the school where my wife teaches and suggested that it was about time that school administrations offer helmets and flak jackets and he said, "You got that right."

[Gina Stevenson]

Yes, this is so sad. It nearly seems as tho' those contemplating such a thing get pushed over the edge by hearing about such things, when three school incidents happened within a week or less! Makes one wonder how much bad news we really should publish ... tho' were it withheld, there would certainly be cries of "suppression!"

But, when copycat-style things seem to occur over and over, just do wonder about "the news." How about "the stimulating news" ... stimulates those in contemplation into action ... the wrong sort of action.

Wonder how many people who've also been contemplating something else will act now ... those who've been contemplating homeschooling, I mean ... how many will now begin it, lest it's their kids' school next?

[Barbara Moulton]

While I would never try to rank these types of crimes, I have to say, that I find the details that are now being released concerning this latest shooting, are particularly vile.

Binding and shooting young Amish girls execution style. It truly makes me sick.

Let us pray for the families of these precious children.
Naomi Rose Ebersole, 7
Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12
Marian Fisher, 13
Mary Liz Miller, 8,
Her sister, Lena Miller, 7.

[Doris Grant]

My heart is just breaking. I can not imagine losing a child in this manner. The tears well up every time I think of a child being gunned down.

Doris

[Terri Knoll]

I feel the same way, I don't rank crimes either and agree this is sick, praise God He is the same always, and the Amish are not shy about giving Him the Glory anyway...bless their hearts.

[Peter Teolis]

It has now hit very close to home. Last night my friends daughter was robbed at gunpoint by 4 males as she got off the bus near her home at the University. She is safe and unharmed physically and has come home to Pefferlaw for a few days. She is the 4th victim this school year, I am told and the police are having a hard time catchig these guys.

Pray for this to stop. Pray for my friends daughter and their family. It is unsettled around their house right now.

Thanks :fav11

[Andrea Larabee]

Let us pray for the families of these precious children.
Naomi Rose Ebersole, 7
Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12
Marian Fisher, 13
Mary Liz Miller, 8,
Her sister, Lena Miller, 7.


They will be in my prayers! One observation I have made about this tragedy is that all the children were within the "age of accountability." No adult's lives were taken, right? Which is merely a true blessing because the Amish do not teach that Jesus Christ is their Savior. I hope that does not sound like a sick observation. Just something I noticed.

My heart aches for all and for the ones who witnessed it.

[Terri Knoll]

just one link if you google mennonites/amish

http://www.anabaptists.org/history/cof-1963.html

traditionally the amish/mennonites don't use modern technology so most of what you will hear is hearsay

however they have been acting accordingly in news reports they are forced to be into.

[Andrea Larabee]

just one link if you google mennonites/amish

http://www.anabaptists.org/history/cof-1963.html

traditionally the amish/mennonites don't use modern technology so most of what you will hear is hearsay

however they have been acting accordingly in news reports they are forced to be into.

From what I understand, the Amish doctrine is even different from Mennonite regarding Jesus as their Savior. This could also vary in different groups. I by no means study the Amish life and doctrine. It's just what I've understood about their beliefs.

[Andrea Larabee]

According to this website they do believe that Jesus is their Savior. I am actually quite surprised considering they do not seem to live in the freedom Christ has given us through salvation. I personally could not live by all their rules, laws, and have to live at risk of being shunned.

I think you're right Teri:basic03

http://www.holycrosslivonia.org/amish/amishfaq.htm#bel

[Terri Knoll]

It has now hit very close to home. Last night my friends daughter was robbed at gunpoint by 4 males as she got off the bus near her home at the University. She is safe and unharmed physically and has come home to Pefferlaw for a few days. She is the 4th victim this school year, I am told and the police are having a hard time catchig these guys.

Pray for this to stop. Pray for my friends daughter and their family. It is unsettled around their house right now.

Thanks :fav11

I doubt it will end, but of course I pray! In our town here the police have set up several warning/flashing signs to remember to lock our doors as someone opened an unlocked sliding glass door and tried to take a child from her bed. Her sister heard her struggle and ran to the room and fought off the offender that ran from the house. He has not been caught nor do they know who he is. At our house, all of the windows are screwed shut from the inside...another tip from police officers so our children won't go missing in the night. However good that does with all the goings on lately eh? They will just take them from the schools or follow them home...or find them on myspace...or let them go thru NBC to become a youth pastor or....
or let them be a Florida senator...

I am kidding and I am not, it's NOT going to go away, tho I pray, but I will continue to do so.
and prayers go up for your same concerns


(((hugs))))

[Doris Grant]

I heard on the new today that the family of one of the girls that died when to the shooter's parents and told them they forgave their son and would be praying for them. How many of us would do the same?

Doris

[Jim Franklin]

You can be assured of my prayers, Peter.

[Jim Franklin]

As has been reported the Amish preferred that the girls were killed rather than sexually penetrated. I am sure that in their culture killing is a release where as penetration would have meant a lifelong struggle with shame, perhaps even being shunned as a prospective bride by the young men of that culture.

[Andrea Larabee]

As has been reported the Amish preferred that the girls were killed rather than sexually penetrated. I am sure that in their culture killing is a release where as penetration would have meant a lifelong struggle with shame, perhaps even being shunned as a prospective bride by the young men of that culture.


UGH!!! This story just seems to get worse.:basic04 I cannot imagine making that same decision....

[David Cash]

The conservative Mennonites that I know include some with roots in the Amish. Based on what I hear from them, there seem to be some Amish people who have become born again. The general picture I get, however, is that many Amish congregations would recognize Christ as the Savior, but would feel that a testimony of being sure of one's personal salvation was pride. The overall impression I get of the Amish would be that there is a very strong tendency to base salvation on keeping the rules rather than a personal conversion. (Part of this is also based on the testimony of a former Amishwoman who was in a charismatic church when I worked with her in a factory.)

It would be typical for a person getting saved in that environment to leave it for one of the conservative Mennonite churches. Keep in mind that the Mennonite/Anabaptist movement is similar to the Methodist/Holiness tradition in that there are a number of denominations within the bigger group. These range from non-evangelical Amish through liberal. In the middle are a lot of evangelical believers. The edges of the movement probably get into doctrinal and spiritual places we wouldn't want to go. (Although I can't really speak of the liberal element.)

I want to doubt if those girls would have been rejected by the community had they been raped and survived. The Amish, beneath their old-fashioned trappings, are as human as the rest of us.

David Cash

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

I found a good article on the faith of the Amish here:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/columnists/all/stories/DN-amish_06edi.ART.State.Edition1.3dce193.html

Tell you what, my heart has been touched by their response to the inspeakable evil visited on them.

[BobHunt]

I just saw the news special on the Amish school shooting, and they said that when the girls inside found out he was going to shoot them, one of the older girls stepped forward and said, "Well shoot me first then" hoping to save some of the other girls.
I was amazed to listen to the news on the way to work one day this week, because the main message they reported was about the several Amish people saying that they forgive this man. The Amish people prepared the bodies of their own little girls for burial, and the news said that as one family was doing this, that they sat their other kids down, and told them that we must not think bad about this man, that there must be forgiveness in our hearts for what he did. Folks, we may think these people strange, but I wonder how many of us could have done the same? You see, its not the outward dress, its not the creeds, doctrines, beliefs and practises that really tell who we are inside, its the HEART!!!!!
They also told of the school shooting in Colorado, only a few miles from where Colombine was, and how a dad stood watch while girls were held hostage, later they learned that they were molested before they were let go, but his daughter was the last one held hostage. He wanted to somehow contact her and so he text messaged her, asking how she was, the only reply he got from her was "I love you guys." That was the last earthly message he ever received from her.