Posted on 11/27/2017 6:43:21 AM PST by PeteePie
Zoar Lutheran Church on Lake Superior’s North Shore received its first threatening note Oct. 3. The second came soon after. The third note was posted to the church sign a few weeks ago.
According to Chief Deputy Will Sandstrom, the case is still under investigation.
“We have taken some of our items and are having them analyzed by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension,” he said.
Sandstrom said one note was handwritten and two were typed. All of the notes were left on the property at some point. Neither the Rev. Daren Blanck nor the sheriff’s office would elaborate on what the notes said.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
Yes, and No.
A church is analogous to a hospital. A place to heal the sick. Even saved can get ‘sick’ again.
Church is for all saved or not.
Ask the congregation to carry if they have the license until further notice. Sponsor carry license classes at the church.
I understand your point, but it’s just somewhat of a pet peeve of mine if a church is dependent on non-believers filling the pews to fulfill the “Great Commission”. Evangelizing is pretty much “outside” work in my view.
My thinking is that all are welcome, but meetings of a church are specifically designed for teaching and group singing, worship & prayer of the members as opposed to being an evangelistic outreach.
Meetings for the church are:
- Teaching - Sunday School and Wednesday night service
- Singing - worshiping through song - make a joyful noise unto the Lord.
- Worship & Preaching the Gospel through sermons - All services
- Prayer - during all services and Wednesday evening prayer service.
Lost can be and are saved during preaching. At church. More so than any other time, any other place. The trick can be to get the lost to church without compromising it in worldly ways to make it more attractive.
I don’t see the ‘dependency’ on the lost to fill the pews.
One of the issues that raises is when everyone with a gun doesn’t know who’s on who’s side in all the chaos. What’s needed are coordinated response plans
They cannot, but the one set of doors that we lock has a crash bar. People can leave, but they cannot come back in. We need crash bars on all of our doors.
I recall that scene in The Patriot. Actually totally inaccurate. The British were bad, but never THAT bad.
The movie had a German director—and the SS DID actually burn some villagers alive in their church in France during the war. That’s where that scene came from...
That was a nice, thoughtful response by your pastor to the tragedy in TX and to reassure the flock that someone is thinking about such things. Thanks!
Saved, yes. But we remain humans, sinful and in need of Jesus’ deliverance and provision. Perhaps the people inside the four walls of the church are those most aware of their need ...
It has stuck with me. Thank goodness it didn’t happen.
Tofte! Oh the humanity.
Why?
It is not a closed meeting.
Having someone watch the door is wise but locking the door would not keep attackers out. It is not a bank vault.
Our church has started locking doors and the bossy person who is against it in our case is my wife and she knows better. She says it is just not very welcoming. I told her men are seated in positions to view anyone wanting in and lets them in. I carry, my Dad carries, a couple of the deacons and several other members carry as well. The doors have stayed locked. As I told her, get over it.
Times have changed, being wide open and inviting is not the same as it was 30 yrs. ago for churches, you have to be prepared and face reality.
Why? Cause it makes sense. How does an attacker get through a locked door w/o alerting a security team who then respond to any threat for which they’ve been trained, active shooter scenario included. It’s not an open meeting, it’s a meeting on private property where all are welcome and a well trained security team size up unfamiliar people, or those who’ve been asked not to attend in the past (that happens) for strange behavior. Are you new to this topic?
With an SUV.
It’s not an open meeting, it’s a meeting on private property where all are welcome
Contradiction.
It can not be a closed meeting where all are welcome.
Are you new to this topic?
No. I have worshiped in churches where you could see the sky though the bullet holes in the roof. The doors were not only not locked they were kept open through out the service.
Churches that lock their doors and "size up unfamiliar people" is not the kind of church I would be happy attending.
It is also a church that would soon be dead in spirit. We have enough of those already.
“Saved, yes. But we remain humans, sinful and in need of Jesus’ deliverance and provision.”
—
I think you and I just have different approaches to the role of the local church, though the approaches are not mutually exclusive.
I’d be more of a mind that a person’s sins are better addressed before he gets to into a building and waits for a meeting.
I suspect that’s partly the reasoning behind Pauls’ words “everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup”. I don’t believe he meant as a last-second thought in the meetings, but more “get right before you gather together.”
That would also dovetail nicely in Jesus’ teaching that if a person has an issue with a brother to hold off going to the temple to make a sin offering and make peace with the brother first, instead.
“The trick can be to get the lost to church without compromising it in worldly ways to make it more attractive.
I don’t see the ‘dependency’ on the lost to fill the pews.”
—
I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a biblical basis for the concept of herding non-believers into church for “in-church evangelizing”. The Great Commission was to go out into the world to “go fishing”. Even if a person disagrees with groups like Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons, they certainly can’t fault their proselytizing methodology and zeal.
But I do agree it’s become a common problem in some people trying to make their churches “attractive” and becoming little more than Christian Entertainment Centers.
Ted,your argument is not cogent whatsoever. An SUV? Seriously. If I go there then what’ll you counter with, a tank?
That you wouldn’t worship at a church that maintains vigilance for the safety of its members shows you have no mindset for church security in the reality of the world we live in today. Fact is that if the church in TX had simply locked their doors, the mortality rate would not have been as high. Hoping for the best and planning for the worst is part of the sense God gave us. That bit where Jesus says to be gentle as doves and wise as serpents is something you should look into, guy. Or you can continue to be Harmless and be harmed.
Seen all the truck / SUV attacks going on? A SUV is easy to get and would go through locked church door easily. As I said, it is not a bank vault.
Fact is that if the church in TX had simply locked their doors, the mortality rate would not have been as high.
Nonsense.
Break a window and throw in a fire bomb. Shoot everyone who tries to get out.
You can cringe behind locked doors keeping the "bad guys" out if you wish. I choose another path.
Try this verse on for size.
The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion. Proverbs 28:1
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