Jobar

His last word was 'heaven'.

I've heard of better deaths- personally, I think I'd prefer to break my neck jumping out of a window, trying to escape a jealous husband, at age 97.

But you've gotta admit, most Christians would think this was a good way to go.

TomboyMom

Isn't it obvious that the Invisible Pink Unicorn struck him down for preaching heresy? Doh.

MonCapitan2002

Exactly. No one should speak heresy against the great IPU for she is a jealous goddess.

post tenebras lux

If god did lend a hand in this preacher's death then it would have been only to teach him a lesson for his presumption.

Preacher: And when I go to heaven ...
ZAPP!!
God (to self) except you're not going there so there's no need to even finish that particular sentence. (picks up phone) Um Satan? Hi, I'm sending a certain Jack Arnold down to see you. He appears to be a tad bigheaded so why not rip him a new one?

I wonder why they don't try and claim his age (69) at death as being significant?

Luxie

Xulfer Cirtsag

Good that God is using his death to bring the good news of the gospel to more heathen atheists.

I think that's the point of it.

BadBadBad

Death in the pulpit. What does it mean to the Christians? I know I'm probably not getting any answers from you Jobar, but I'll ask them rhetorically anyway. I wonder what message this sent with respect to God to the Christians in the audience? Was this a sign from God? As a Christian, they can't rule out the possibility when the preacher dies on God's altar referring to heaven.

So, when can they rule out the possibility that it's a sign from God when someone dies or perhaps survives miraculously? What about Deanna Laney who chased her sons down in the yard and bashed their brains in with a rock because God told her to do it? Sure, what a nutcase. Of course God didn't have anything to do with that, or did he? Was that his voice in her head? Was she crazy and as a result heard God's voice, or did the reality of God's voice in her head asking her to kill her children make her go clinically crazy? Was it God's voice in her head? Was it Satan's? Should we praise God for saving the toddler son when she botched the job of bashing in his head? Was this a sign from God? Maybe someone was saying a nice bedtime prayer for the boy right at that precise moment. Who can tell for sure?

I think I recall another news story in Texas where a group of Christian teenagers had stopped on the side of the road to pray for some silly reason. One or more was struck dead by a passing car. I wonder what the Christian families made of that?

If you all can tolerate one more re-iteration of my tales from Rwanda, I wonder what Christians in this church would have thought if instead of the preacher dying on the pulpit, a mob of their neighbors showed up to butcher them all on God's altar and in God's beautiful church? In Rwanda 1994, the Hutu's butchered about 3000 people in and around a church in Nyarubuye, not to mention tens of thousands of others at Christian churches all across the country. Here's two links where in one, a killer tells his story of hacking and butchering in God's church as if he were possessed by Satan Killer taken over by Satan himself. On the receiving end of the sword, here's a story of a woman who miraculously survived the slaughter. She claims that God personally laid hands on her to save her through this ordeal Survivor at the hand of God. With respect to God's involvement in these life and death situations, I wonder if any Christians would like to take a stab at explaining any of this?

Stew

I hardly think one would need to jump out of a window to escape a 97 year old jealous husband...

mirage

One would hope the husband is in the prime of life, since spouses tend to have similar ages and you're screwing his wife!

Jobar

When I saw that story, I decided almost instantly that the churchgoers who saw that probably interpreted it as being 'called home' to heaven. I'd bet that some of them got a big thrill out of it.

But as I recall from my Southern Baptist youth, coming out and saying you're saved that way is sinful. So I'd also bet that some of the witnesses worry, deep down, that it was a punishment for hubris. (And a third bet- that not one of 'em actually said anything to that effect, 'speaking not ill of the dead'.)

Still and all, that's one for the books- and however wrongheaded we may think the guy was, no doubt that the man himself would've been glad to pick that death, if he had a say in the matter...

Yaaaas. :devil3: