Well I never thought I’d be writing one of these, but in this day and age trouble is found everywhere. On the heels of the 4 dead in Atlanta, some asshat doubles it and kills 8 in suburban Milwaukee. Some church gathering at the Sheraton in Brookfield, the dead are in age 15-72. This is where I had my first job washing dishes (and seeing Joe Namath) some…25 years ago.
Dude, seriously, if you want to kill yourself why do you have to take 7 decent people along with you?? Just go out in the field and do it, I’m sure the world will be a better place because of it.
The victims were all in the same room at the hotel, Tushaus said. The suspect, a man of about 45 who was armed with a handgun, was affiliated with the church, which had been meeting at the hotel every Saturday morning for four or five years.
Tushaus did not identify the victims but gave approximate ages. Two boys ages 15 and 17, a 72-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman died at the hotel. Three men ranging in age from 44 to 58 died later at a hospital.*
Nice one. Because it’s a religious group, somehow, tacky sarcasm is called for, and we can dispense with sympathy and outrage for people who died while simply attending a quiet church service.
I grew up in New Berlin and worked at that hotel in Brookfield in H.S. Thankfully I’ve never even heard of the guy’s family.
Reports are now saying he was upset and stormed out of a sermon a couple weeks ago and that either the sermon or the sect itself heavily emphasizes end-times beliefs. On top of that he was about to lose his job.
Why these assholes feel the need to take out as many as possible when they plan to kill themselves the whole time is beyond me. What fucking point does it serve?
I hope this cock-sucker is forced to fellate Satan himself.
I swear, this is one of the things I seriously do not understand about religions that believe in an afterlife. According to their religion, when one dies, one goes to heaven. This is apparently the reason to live - to believe in God and Jesus so that one goes to heaven after one dies. Why shouldn’t their co-religionists be happy that they are in heaven now? Seriously.
I’d like to add that I do not believe in an afterlife (as should be obvious), that I am as saddened by the deaths as I am by any death, and that I am honestly bewildered that those that do believe cannot accept Early Out’s post as a valid answer. Seems to me they should.
Hey Big Cheese not that I ever imagine myself starting a thread like this, but if I were you, I’d ask a mod to close it. It’s just too ripe for hijacking
Those who believe, in order to maintain the self-delusion, are very selective about how they interpret the available evidence. Typical news story: tornado takes the roof off a church during services, and, amazingly, no one is killed. Invariably, one or more of the parishioners come forward to claim that The Good Lord must have been watching out for them. They never think that perhaps The Good Lord tried to kill them by sending a tornado to their church, and that it was only dumb luck that He missed.
No one is celebrating the death of these poor unfortunates in Wisconsin for the simple reason that, no matter how comforting, some self-delusions really are too silly to maintain under all circumstances.
Apparently, hijacking=asking uncomfortable questions that naturally arise out of the events referred to in the OP.
Frankly, by those standards, it’s not clear to me what a “non-hijack” response to the OP would consist of. A condemnation of Terry Ratzmann would seem somewhat superfluous. How many “ain’t people awful” responses would be appropriate?
I can guarantee that this is NOT part of their beliefs. And even if it were, it doesn’t call for such a jerkish response. One of the wounded–if she survives–will have to face the loss of her husband and son. Another is a little girl who’s only 10 years old. Would it really hurt you to show a bit of compassion?
My pastor (not of The Living Church) and one of my uncles personally knew the slain pastor and his family–this tragedy has hit pretty close to home for them.
Up to the mods I guess. I don’t want to get in the middle of religion. We can always vent about dumb people on the Atlanta threads, or the next idiot that kills people because he’s depressed or mad–which probably will be soon.
Just so you know, this is not uncommon. My kids’ bio-dad and his wife were, up until a few months ago, part of a little church like this in Arkansas that met at a hotel and went on about ‘living in the end times.’
They tend to be the disaffected, antisocial, and desperate- people that can’t or won’t have anything to do with even the most far out ‘public’ denominations, so it’s sort of a recipe for trouble.
No, they do not. They believe that they will be resurrected at the return of Christ, and that he will reign on Earth, and all those who were faithful, and endured till the end, will be kings and priests in His kingdom.
And as for being an “apocolyptic” church, let me just say that, for them, “the end of the world” refers to the end of this AGE of man–a time that, according to the Bible, will be marked by the worst time the earth has ever seen, but will be ended by the return of Jesus, who will establish His rule. Not a rapture, and not “let’s all commit suicide and meet up in that comet.”
It’s not my intent to debate religion. I am not preaching, nor do I want to start some big hostile argument about who’s right or wrong. I just think that before you start passing judgement on a group, you should at least know something about them. And I still say that news of the outright murder of seven people should be greeted with a little more compassion–and a lot LESS snarky sarcasm.
They may be in Heaven now, and perfectly happy. However, that doesn’t erase the sadness of the family and friends left behind. They will miss talking, seeing, touching, and living their life side by side with the now dead, that is not something you celebrate. Take comfort in perhaps the thought of them now in heaven(or whatever)but being that someone brutally murdered a kid is not worthy of celebration.
Perhaps next time you have a question regarding religion you should ask it without sounding like a dick. God my have infinite patience, but we aren’t gods, and when you(seeminlgy)insult someone’s religion by asking asinine questions…you shouldnt expect a good response.
The United States does not have unlimited, unrestricted gun ownership, asshat.
Some states come close to having nothing more onerous than the Federal Regulations (which all states must meet at a minimum), while others come close to banning handguns outright, and make rifle and shotgun possession fairly difficult.
A few municipalities do ban handguns outright, and severely restrict rifles and shotguns.
Get a fucking clue before shooting off at the mouth.