Toubabou

BBC NEWS | Americas | Students shot at Cleveland school

Officers were earlier reported to be looking for a 14-year-old boy said to have been unhappy at a suspension from the SuccessTech Academy in Cleveland.

Will any of the gun banners note that it is against the law in the United States for a 14-year-old to possess a firearm at school?

BBC NEWS | Americas | Gun rampage town seeks to recover

“A young off-duty sheriff’s deputy” kills five people. The anti-gun people shriek, “See, even the authorities can’t control the evils of guns!” The problem with this reasoning is that we’re not going to disarm governments. Police and military are going to continue to arm themselves. Very few of those people will act as Mr. Peterson did on Sunday, but others will sell department weapons to criminals either for money or because of criminal involvement. Other weapons will be stolen from unattended vehicles or even evidence rooms. As long as there is a weapon in existence, there exists a possibility of it falling into the wrong hands.

The answer is to allow people a chance of defending themselves. Wisconsin is one of only two states that completely prohibit their citizens from carrying weapons. (”Bearing arms” is the constitutional expression.)

The Jawa Report: Christianists: Jesus Washing bin Laden’s Feet!

Rusty had my dander up a little bit, because I skimmed this the first time through. Apparently there was more below the fold, where he says he doesn’t believe in cheap repentance

In a God willing to forgive where no forgiveness is begged.

Rusty is correct that bin Laden deserves hell. What he seems ignorant of is that he, Rusty, also deserves hell. It is only by the grace of the cross that any of us (including your humble culturally-confused interlocutor) can escape that fate. I don’t hope for bin Laden’s salvation in the sense that I don’t think it’s likely. But I do hope for it in the sense that I think it’s desirable. Jesus has already taken the punishment for everything bin Laden has done. It’s a shame Osama doesn’t want to benefit from that.

When Robert Spencer says that Christianity is a religion of peace, it is because of the nature of Jesus that it is so. It is to the extent that we follow our natural inclinations that we come up with the ignoble incidents of history that are forever dangled over us.

I should also note that, although Jesus has forgiven bin Laden, it doesn’t mean there should be no action taken to temporally punish him for his crimes, nor to prevent him from perpetrating more. Those are separate issues, and on those I suspect I am not so far from Rusty. I should probably also note that Jesus’ forgiveness is not enough alone to keep Osama out of hell. He’ll need to appropriate Christ’s righteousness to pull that off, and that takes making a relationship with Jesus - making peace.