In this post from Friday over at Come Let Us Reason Ministries, Lenny Esposito tries to argue that those who stood up when asked if they were christians and then shot at Umpqua Community College last week were better off than those who didn’t stand up. First of all, that’s sick. People died in a senseless murdering rampage. They’re not better off; they’re dead. Wouldn’t they have been better off attacking the guy that started shooting? They might have been shot in the scuffle, but at least they wouldn’t have been sitting ducks.
And why should you have to glorify their deaths in this way. It’s sad that they died. Leave it at that. Now let’s do something to help make sure this type of thing stops happening. I’m not the only one who thinks this is happening with too much regularity lately.
In the post, Lenny Esposito says
Some may wonder where God was when all these people were being slaughtered. If God is real, why wouldn’t he protect his own? Does the fact that Christians died prove the Christian God is not real? No, it doesn’t. It only proves that evil exists and needs to be answered.
And there’s the rub… IF god is real. I think he has answered his own question, yet refuses to see it. You can’t say that you have a loving, caring god who knows the number of hairs on your head, and then say he doesn’t intervene. It’s a contradiction. But I’m sure there’s some apologetic line of thought out there that tries to make it seem like this does make sense. i can’t wrap my brain around that. I for one think the problem of evil is a major argument against the existence of a deity who intervenes in the world. It makes no sense that a god would love someone, and then not do something when they were standing up for their belief in him. But that’s been going on for centuries, and we still have no answer. It seems that lack of evidence is piling up against god.
Lenny Esposito goes on to say
I feel more sorry for the non-believers at UCC as well as those on the campus with who I was conversing. There is no way for them to make any real sense out of this tragedy.
So basically he feels more sorry for the survivors. Survivors do need empathy. There are serious mental ramifications to being a survivor. But there is plenty of sense to be made out of this tragedy: it was a tragedy. Those happen. This is real life. And if we don’t do something about it they will keep happening.
Lenny Esposito then makes a big statement.
They may hold that mankind is evolving and getting better, but the empirical evidence doesn’t argue for that.
This article from Oxford Martin School poses some of the evidence that the world is getting better. Relevant Magazine, a christian publication even confirmed this. So why does Esposito say that the empirical evidence doesn’t show this? Because his belief system requires it. If mankind can make the world a better place, there’s no need for a god to come in and rescue us. But the facts still hold up, as shown in last week’s shooting; he’s not rescuing us.
Isn’t it time to get over our iron age mythologies and accept the facts for what they are?
rightgroove 
had a brother at work tell me of a Christian missionary couple in Syria who are under threat of murder from ISIS. he said they don’t want to leave the people they are serving there, even to save their own lives. I asked if they have kids and if they are married. he said yes they are married, no kids. told him that as a Christian husband my first duty is to the safety and well being of my wife. and that the couple is crazy for staying. he scoffed. and said it was ‘serving Jesus’ to stay and preach the gospel in the face of death.
heroicism is like this is not uncommon. but it is not for humility or ‘serving jesus’, it’s pride and a twisted sense of the heroic for personal gratification and to be known as a heroic martyr.
is Christianity a death cult? good question. if they glorify the deaths of those who stood up, willing to be killed for Christ rather than choosing the safety of silence and staying alive… I’d say we have elevated at least thinking of ourselves as heroes for dying above living for our families and choosing to love our families by keeping them safe from murderers.
what kind of monsters chose death for their families and loved ones over life to see themselves as heroic before a God who refuses to intervene when He is All powerful and All loving to do so?
both Lenny and my friend at work can play head games with their own lives if they want, but they probably won’t. instead they condemn Christians for NOT dying and survivors for not being able to ‘find meaning’ in the tragedy without the hope of Eternal Life in Christ. what a sick joke this all is.
-KIA
It’s almost like the shooter and Esposito, and your friend as well, have the same line of thought; if I die, I’ll be remembered for ever, if I live, I’ll just be a nobody. It truly is a sick joke.
I used to read missionary stories and want to be like them… I was a missionary with a holy cause. it was so heroic in my head, but when reality crashes in, its a head game. a deadly head game that encourages people to die for a god who doesn’t care enough to save them
great article I just found. https://thesuperstitiousnakedape.wordpress.com/2013/09/06/death-cult-christianity-6/
I have no idea why I spent 26yrs in this. -KIA
Great read!. I really like the last line; that christians “might one day instead direct their efforts to improving life on this planet today, rather than wishing for its obliteration tomorrow.”