This horrible tragedy brought forth dozens of opinions. People called for more gun control. Others called for stricter immigration laws. Some people denied Mateen's allegiance to ISIS even though he made a 911 call to do just that. His own father insisted that this act was not about his Islamic religion, but that he was angry about seeing gays kissing on the street (even though he had been seen at gay clubs before, and people he knew wondered if he might be gay). Before the dust had even settled after this horrible event, nearly everyone had made it about their personal political agenda.
The whole event sickens me and saddens me deeply. I know the families and friends of the victims are going through hell and the people who survived will be haunted forever by this horrific night. I hope all of my Christian brothers and sisters are praying constantly.
There are many things wrong with talking about politics after a tragedy like this, but its important that we all make informed opinions regarding this incident. If our politicians are going to throw out their opinions, we should at least know whether or not we disagree with them.
Here are my thoughts regarding the Orlando shooting:
1. More gun control would not have prevented this
(x) Mateen had a license to own a Florida Class G firearm, which is extremely hard to get. He passed numerous background checks, a medical examination, hours of mandatory training, and had been investigated and cleared by the FBI twice. These hurdles are what gun control advocates say they will prevent bad people from getting their hands on firearms. Obviously they were wrong.
So maybe you're thinking to yourself, well maybe if the government just took away all guns, then obviously he wouldn't have been able to get a gun and he wouldn't have killed all of those people.
Maybe he wouldn't have been able to get a gun, although I am very skeptical that the government would be able to get every one of the estimated Three-hundred-and-forty-seven million guns in the country while simultaneously stopping the black market from selling guns to people illegally. But this man obviously had an agenda, given to him by ISIS who takes credit for the shooting, and he was set on doing his duty to Islam. He would have found a way to destroy those people. Be assured, the gun was not what committed this crime- Omar Mateen did this. And he paid for it with his life.
We cannot punish law-abiding American citizens because this psychotic, radical Islamic terrorist went on a rampage with his legally-acquired guns.
2. Islam is not a religion of peace
I wish this went without saying, but unfortunately liberals do not seem to grasp this concept: ISLAM IS NOT A RELIGION OF PEACE. Now I'm not so ignorant to suggest that every one of the millions of Muslims in the world are extreme jihadist terrorists. I know a family from my church who were missionaries to Afghanistan for a few years and one of the things they wanted to make very clear when they came back was that the majority of muslims they met were kind, happy, normal people who just wanted to live their life and not be bothered by the radicals that were terrorizing their country.
I will say, however, that from my limited knowledge of the Quaran it is definitely not a peaceful religion. ISIS does not have to exist for us to be able to look inside the holy book of Islam and see that the fundamentals of this religion are violent in nature. They are told by their prophet Muhammed that Christians and Jews are pigs that need to be destroyed, that gays should be punished with death, that women are worthless and can be treated like animals by their husbands. Dont be mistaken- Islam is not a religion of peace... it is a religion of violence.
3. God loves EVERYONE
God created every human being that has ever lived. He knows each one of us by name and He LOVES us. He is love, and so his love for us is perfect and complete and unconditional. He loves the people bound by the chains of homosexuality. He loves the Muslims, radical or not. He loves the members of ISIS. He loves President Obama. He loves the police officers who fought against this terrorist. He loves the family members and friends who are hurting right now. And yes, He loves Omar Mateen. We cannot forget that even those we disagree with or are angry with or dont understand are LOVED by God. And they all have a chance to love Him back. Until the moment our heart stops beating, He is calling us to Him. Until we face judgement at the end of our lives, He is begging us to come Home.
4. God is JUST
He is a loving God, but he is also a just God. He is holiness and unholiness cannot be near him in Heaven. That means every human being on earth deserves hell. We do not deserve to be rewarded for our unholiness when we leave this world. That is why he sent Jesus, who was perfect and blameless and without sin. Because he loves us and he does not want us to be apart from Him for all eternity. But we have to believe in Him. We have to accept Jesus' gift of salvation and go and sin no more. When we do, we are washed clean and we are blameless. He stepped in on our behalf and took the punishment we deserved.
Its important to remember that we do not know what the future holds. We dont know the day of our death or when Jesus will return. And we have to live our short lives to the fullest. The only way to have a place with God in eternity is to accept the Holy Spirit.
I am not the judge of humanity. I do not know the hearts of the people who died. I just trust that God's judgement is good and fair. That is all I can say on the subject. My heart hopes that every soul went to be with Jesus after this tragedy, although my brain knows that is most likely not true. And that breaks my heart. I know it breaks God's heart even more
It is obvious that this was such a huge tragedy. The biggest in US history since 9/11. We must all pray for the people involved and try to remember that our rights were given to us by God and cannot be taken away. Don't let fear make you forget that.
Blessings,
Political mom
Blessings,
Political mom
