Being absolutely in love with Jesus (I probably would have been all up under Jesus as he gave his sermons. He probably would have said to me "Can I breathe, Ebony? Is that ok with you?" LOL) but a human with FEAR, I would probably run if someone came into the church with a gun. I don't care what they say. The Lord knows this about me. And if I was wrong, may the Lord forgive me.
Jesus' own disciples turned their backs on him during Jesus' darkest hour. Peter, the rock upon whom Jesus built his church, denied him three times! I can only imagine the pain Jesus felt to have his closest friends turn away. Can you imagine how Peter had to have felt realizing that he denied the son of God and the most amazing man that has ever and will ever walk this Earth? Thank the Lord all mighty that Peter didn't committ suicide like Judas did.
But this is what I love about Jesus...He FORGAVE them! He knew they would run because they were scared. And he also knew that despite this mistake they made, they would eventually become amazing soldiers for Christ which they did!
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I don't think running away at the sight of a gun makes you a hypocrite.
Piggy backing on what someone else said, out of those 20 people who stayed, 9 of them may have stayed because they were in such shock that they couldn't move!!
And those two men who came in the church and did that were not doing God's work. What they did was wrong and cruel.
After talking with my boyfriend about it, I'm starting to wonder if those 1,980 people who ran were even wrong to begin with for running. It's not like the men told the congregation to denounce their faith in Christ!!!! I told my bf the story and I'm paraphrasing his response: "This story does not prove that those 20 people who stayed were Christians and those 1,980 people who fled were hypocrites. If a man told you, 'If you believe in Jesus and that he will save you, jump off this building' would you do it? Besides, God does not test your faith the way these men were."
I really don't like this story.
Let us remember that God gave Christians a beautiful gift and it is called COMMON SENSE! Just because there is a Psalm that says "Though I may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me" doesn't mean that I should purposefully walk down a dark alley BY MYSELF in order to prove my faith in God. I'm not saying that the 20 people who stayed were stupid but please keep in mind that common sense is a gift from God.
-Ebony
