Posted on 11/14/2007 5:15:06 PM PST by Graybeard58
Rowan Ford’s pastor urged mourners at her funeral Wednesday to put away anger and hate over the death of the 9-year-old girl who authorities allege charge was raped and murdered by her stepfather and another man.
Speakers remembered Rowan as a “sweetie” who loved everybody at her church in her southwest Missouri village of Stella and was always the first to show up for services and youth activities.
More than 300 people filled the Gospel Lighthouse Church in Neosho, about 15 miles from Stella, a larger building than her hometown church that was chosen because of the anticipated crowd.
Rowan’s mother, Colleen Ford, 44, did not speak during the service. She sat with her four adult children — two daughters and two sons — in the front facing Rowan’s closed white casket that bore a bouquet of red and white roses.
The service program, featuring a photo of a smiling Rowan, did not list stepfather David Spears among the surviving family.
Spears, 25, and his friend Chris Collings, 32, are in jail without bond on charges of first- degree murder and rape after investigators allege they both admitted attacking Rowan. A judge entered a not-guilty plea for the men at a court hearing Tuesday. Both are applying for public defenders.
“Many of you, if it was up to you, you’d organize a vigilante committee today and go after them,” the Rev. Glenn Ennis said during the funeral service. Ennis is pastor of Stella Baptist Church, which Rowan attended in her hometown of about 170 people.
Ennis urged mourners to remember that Rowan “is in a place today that is full of love, joy and peace.”
“If we focus on the evil in the situation, guess what? Who gets the glory? Satan
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
Perhaps a committee should be organized and these two be hung and left in the town square so that God may judge them?
You SCUM will face a very angry God on Judgement Day/oh so Pi$$ed!
For all these articles about Rown Ford I have tried to enter rowanford as a keyword and it is never accepted. Does anyone know why this is? I’ve never had trouble entering keywords before.
There really are times to kill. This is one of them.
That pastor is a moron.
I don't think so.
Too many letters for one entry maybe, I just entered what I thought was Rowan Ford, maybe I committed a typo but it showed up as RownFord. If you put in seperate words Rowan (space) Ford, the soft ware will enter two words alphabeticaly.
He's practicing Christianity.
Personally, I think the good Pastor is full of sh!t. Anybody who doesn’t want to kill these sh!tbags has no soul.
It wasn't a typo. I just tried it again as two separate words and no luck. I've tried on several threads about this subject and nothing. I've posted keywords countless times. Must be some weird software glitch.
I think it is terribly wrong to NOT be angry.
Pastor Ennis: When a mad dog is on the loose, it is killed. There are two mad dogs being kept alive. You are wrong.
I am sure that the ACLU will be on their side.
I like this pastor already. It’s not easy being a Christian especially in circumstances like these when it’s easier to hate.
These two should be executed, but not out of hate or in anger, but to serve justice. Unfortunately, there are too many who cannot tell the difference.
One of my working companions said that when the law was looking for this girl his own daughter came into their bedroom at night because she was frightened. He lives in the same county this happened in.
Thou shall not “murder”......but, it does not mean, the way I understand, that we shall not execute for justice (eye of eye, tooth for tooth?)
I think the Pastor was wrong about the anger part, it's a little too soon to put that away but I sincerly believe and plenty of people will disagree, that's it is never too soon to try putting away hate. It has no effect on the person who is hated but enough of it will kill the hater.
I know that I'm subject to be asked how I would feel if it were my daughter and honestly, I would try my best to put away hate. I might not succede but I would try.
there is a HUGE difference between BEING angry, and LIVING in anger, so that it keeps you focused on revenge. Of COURSE any normal human being (as I am) would love to see these two men suffer WORSE than the poor little girl did. I also (and i may get stoned on FR for this) would like to see the MOTHER strung up, for the blatant disregard for her daughter that led to this event. You cannot tell me she should have known NOT to bring in a “child groom” into the life of her precious little girl, with being a grown woman (the age of HIS PARENTS) herself. Something just isn’t right about her knowledge of and involvement and choices about leaving her 24 yr old fat slobby boyfriend/husband with her little 9 year old. She HAD to have known he was a drunken pig at some level. SHE opened the door for this. She is no victim herself.
I’m angry, but I would never stoop to sacrifice my own freedom to seek revenge. As much as i have discovered since being a mother of four precious adopted children myself about what I could be capable of doing to someone who hurt any of them, at the end of the day, I know i would never sacrifice my own freedom just to put some scumbag out of his misery, who would hurt my child.
I don't see him suggesting that their lives should be spared.
I think the good Pastor is full of sh!t.
You don’t understand what this dude is saying,,,Shhhh,,listen,,,,you hear that..?I hope so,,..
Now bitterness is another issue, the kind that causes one to be angry at the wrong people and take it out on them instead.
The Pastor hasn't said otherwise.
You are right. I stand corrected. I hope he is not in tune with the anti-death penalty people.
I didn’t say he hadn’t.
I agree with your post #20.
As you’ve noticed, we’re experiencing keyword glitches. I have no idea why the keyword “rowanford” never appears (which I verified for myself). It’s not a matter of too many characters, the limit being twenty.
He is when he counsels people to give up hating. Nowhere does he say that these evil men should be allowed to go on living.
thank you.
Solomon said to everything there is a season. Even for hate.
“Hating” these killers at this time is a correct and even Christian emotion—otherwise many of the Psalms would not even be there. A little girl’s funeral...before her killers have met justice...is not the time to try to remind people to trust God for ultimate justice and yes, revenge. As that’s what Christian forgiveness when crime is involved is all about....trusting God—and His agent, the government in this case, to mete out proper judgment for terrible crimes like this.
This is a fundamental world-view issue. God NEVER merely passes over sin. Either because of someone’s trust in Christ, He bears the punishment on the cross, or, without such faith, the individual (eventually) bears it themselves. To say such vapid things in the face of such horror...like “if we hate only Satan gets the glory” is a neutered Christianity, not found in the bible.
Forgiveness is required...but so are justice and judgment. The latter two trump the former. Punishment by death can still occur even if the creeps are forgiven.
There are bad times to trust in God? Nonsense. Utter nonsense.
In a situation like this I think all the love should go to the dead girl if for no other reason than to protect other little girls. I don’t really like the word hate and I guess it would depend on the definition. I think it is right to hate evil and I would include evil people in that. A Christian must never judge a person’s soul by keeping knowledge of the gospel from them for whatever time they have remaining on earth. But I think the love of justice sometimes requires civilized society to end the physical life of monsters who rape and kill little girls. Certainly execution is not an act of love. But even an executioner will say, “May God have mercy on your soul.” I see no need for anything more than the truth about their soon to be coming meeting with their Maker. That’s it. Oh, and civil treatment and a just trial. Now THAT is it.
A murder is different then what justice calls for in this case.
I could be wrong here:::
If someone breaks into our house and threatens us,do I have to hate the Perp to kill it..I can hate what the Perp is doing ,,don’t have to hate the Perp..And yes There is a Time for Everything..
ping~~
OH MY GOD!! I remember reading about this on FR last week.
What happened???
It’s in there now....
I forgot about the space between first and last name. It’s not allowed for some reason.
Yeah, right after the people swallow their "hate", and replace their "anger" with righteous indignation, while dispassionately get the gallows built.
I'm pretty certain that the sooner God sees them, and has a little discussion at them, the happier He'll be.
I guess I have to agree with you there.
I understand what you are trying to say. No one should live in hate. No one should allow their lives to be controlled by it.
But this is one of those times when I think religious teaching fails us as humans. In this circumstance, we must be outraged as a society. We MUST condemn this evil. We must feel the hate for awhile in order to accomplish these things.
In this circumstance, for someone who loved that child, hate is unavoidable for a time. We are humans full of sin. While we should not revel in our sin, I don't think we ought to be made to feel "less than", or guilty or wrong for being human and having these emotions. Denying them, or insisting that it cannot exist if we are Christians is harmful.
"... officials at the elementary school that Rowan attended said someone there had called a state child abuse hot line about the girl. Additional details, including when or why the call was made, were not available. ..."
Am wondering what that was all about.
He's practicing Christianity.
He is also practicing PC 'BS'......
How could one not be pissed off about this?
If this was my baby, I would certainly 'turn the other cheek'....'forgive my brother'.....etc.
Anything......to get a better shot........
Sort of, thou shall not kill, however the Govt is given the sword and act as the Lord’s Ministers in dealing out justice.
In the US “we the people” have merely delegated our Authority to Govt, as Sovereigns we retain the ability to pick that Authority back up.
It is my view that one of the reasons “Why” this sort of heinous actions occur is that Justice or Righteous punishment (or mercy) is no longer practiced, the criminals feel that temporary lust is worth the future cost to them.
Melas, good word.
Media reports indicate someone with the East Newton School District made at least one hotline call before the 9-year-old was reported missing on Nov. 2. Ford was a fourth grader at Triway Elementary in Stella.
In a telephone interview this afternoon, Watson said he was investigating whether hot line calls were made and if the DFS made the appropriate response.
“I want to know if hot line calls were made, and if appropriate responses were taken,” he said. “I don’t have any indication that a) they were made, and b) if appropriate action was taken.
“This system is supposed to be improved. I just want to make sure.”
I THINK we’re agreeing.....
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