With the seemingly-ceaseless falling of white, frozen water molecules from the clouds, I decided to post some of my thoughts on this vast winter-wonderland we so affectionately call snow. 

Following is a recent article I wrote about snow...and other things!

Andrew


Wearing Out Your Welcome

Sunday morning, a great tragedy happened when Matthew Murrary opened fire at two Denver locations, first at the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) facility and then at the New Life Community Church.  As many of you may have heard by now, Matthew Murrary was homeschooled as a student using Bill Gothard's curriculum.  He often ranted on different websites on his strict upbring, a factor that the media has attributed to the reason he took out revenge on Christians.

Over the past few days, the Institute and Mr. Gothard has been getting a lot of bad publicity in the news, specifically in one online article in the Denver Post.  I wrote the following response to the article and posted it as a comment.  So far, this one article has been the most commented on today.  If you wish to read the whole article, go to http://www.denverpost.com/ci_7697827.  Following are my thoughts...

Andrew


"I know many people skip over long posted comments, but I sincerely hope that you take the time to read the following.  I want to begin by telling everyone two facts:

1.    I am 23 and was raised in Bill Gothard’s homeschooling program, the same program as the Murray family.
2.    I am a Christian. 

Having stated this, I am not writing to defend Christianity or homeschooling.  I’m not even writing to defend Bill Gothard or the Institute in Basic Life Principles.  I am here to tell you from a first-hand perspective my view on Matthew Murray, the choices that he made, and our similar upbringing.

First of all, what happened was a tragedy – there is no denying that.  My heart goes out to the families of the victims and the many other lives these shootings have affected.  Our culture has lost the concept of personal responsibility.  Everyone is seeking to pass blame, make excuses, and rationalize when a random act of wickedness is performed.  In this case, people are looking to Matthew’s parents, his upbringing, his homeschooling, YWAM, in an effort to pass the blame.  But what Matthew Murray did, Matthew Murray did.  No one forced him to pull a gun in the church parking lot and shoot two sisters.  That was a choice that he himself made – and he himself paid the consequence for his evil deeds.  We need to stop trying to pass the blame to other sources.

Having been raised in Bill Gothard’s homeschooling curriculum, I know personally many of the attacks that have come against Mr. Gothard, including rock music, issues of dress standards, and as mentioned in the above article, Cabbage Patch dolls.  Let me quote for you a portion from another article on the Denver Post, which includes quotes from Murray himself:

He wrote that he found a "secret drug addiction," which "can completely alter blood pressure, heart rate, brainwave patterns and other bodily functions," revealing at the end of a page-long post that the "addiction" was rock music, and the person who had helped make it a powerful force in his life was Marilyn Manson.

Many people attack Bill Gothard because he is quoted to have said that rock music is evil, or that Cabbage Patch dolls can produce “strange, destructive behavior.”  People argue that it’s just music, or it’s just a doll.  Yet we have here a killer, a first-degree murderer, saying that a major influence in his life was rock music.  Matthew quoted numerous lyrics to rock songs on his blogs.  Please understand that I’m not here to judge and say that rock music is evil.  My personal convictions are not the issue.  I just want for you to consider all the facts before coming to a conclusion.

Many of the comments dealt with the issue of homeschooling and socialization.   Many people believe that because a student is homeschooled, he is separated from the rest of society.  However nothing could be further from the truth.  Many homeschoolers are involved in support groups, most school districts allow homeschoolers to be involved in their after-school programs.  I was homeschooled from preschool until I graduated from high school, and I never suffered in my social skills.  Recently I have traveled to New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia as a representative for the organization I work for.  Obviously, there are homeschoolers who are socially unprepared when they graduate from high school.  There are also students who graduate from public school still illiterate.  We would all agree, though, that these are the exceptions.  Let us stop focusing on these exceptions when we debate the reasons for Matthew Murrary’s actions.

I am sorry that I have gone on so long.  I simply want people to realize that it’s not all about how Matthew was raised, or that his parents claim to be Christians, or that Bill Gothard supplied the curriculum that he was homeschooled with.  I won’t deny that those factors may have affected Matthew, but we need to start holding people responsible for their own actions.  Hardly anything has been said about Matthew’s brother, Christopher, who is pursuing further education at a local college.  Christopher had the same parents, received the same schooling, was under the same house rules, so why isn’t he a murderer?  It’s because of a choice that Matthew made.  The same question can be asked of all of us.  Within the next few hours, someone in this country will draw a gun, pull the trigger, and instantly become a murderer.  Why?  It’s because they chose to do it.  By the grace of God that person won’t be me, and I pray that it won’t be you either.

P.S. – I don’t plan on posting any more comments on this issue, because my goal is not to get involved in an argument or heated debate.  I only wished to express the humble opinions of one who has experienced first-hand being homeschooled in Mr. Gothard’s curriculum."