I live in Florida, as many of you know, and so when there's a murder in a movie theater in a pretty decent area of town I have to tell you, I'm appalled. I don't personally frequent the theaters namely because they are expensive and generally the movies are full of subject matter and/or language I'm not interested in exposing myself or my family to. That said, I have many friends that do enjoy a Sunday afternoon flick. Thusly, a murder over texting and popcorn throwing has me a little bit alarmed for the sake of those I hold dear.
If you aren't familiar with the headline, the Bradenton Post put it this way: "
Retired Tampa police captain accused in Wesley Chapel movie theater shooting." Please note that the
person accused of the fatal shooting is a retired cop! Let me recap the incident for you: Seventy-one year old Curtis Reeves is accused of shooting 43 year old, Chad Oulson. Reeves told Oulson to stop texting (I guess the glare from the phone was bothersome). Oulson informed Reeves that he was texting with his three year old daughter! Words were exchanged. Reeves got up and walked out, everybody assumed he went to complain to the management. After all, silence is golden in a movie theater. But, you know what's more golden? LIFE!
When Reeves came back, Oulson confronted him from across the theater wanting to know if Reeves
had told on him. At that point an eyewitness says popcorn was thrown, though he wasn't sure who threw it first. Then, according to that same witness, Reeves pulled out a gun. Oulson's wife put a hand on her husband's chest and WHAMO Reeves shot through her hand and into Oulson. He died in the hospital and her wounds aren't life threatening. So, let's consider this shall we? This 71 year old man, who was also at the theater with his wife, will now serve jail time. I assume his wife is probably in the same age bracket. He didn't consider what his action would do to her at her age. On top of that, he allowed a minor irritant to enrage him to the point he became supremely selfish.
Murder, my friends, is supremely selfish! It dictates that someone else's life is of no value. It screams: My happiness is worth more than everyone else's heart. I mean seriously, Oulson's wife and daughter are now without him, and over a cell phone and popcorn argument? What is wrong with people? Well, I can tell you: the world is a desperately wicked place, one in which it's dog eat dog, look out for number one, if I'm not happy no one else is. This is such a me oriented planet that we have lost all respect for one another, for life itself and not just for each individual person but for the expanse of people in which each individual's life comes in contact. Oulson's death is more than just his own, it's a loss to many people and Reeves, an ex-cop, should have at least had some concept of the severity of his actions. With cops like that, who needs bad guys?
We have been warned about the condition of the world and the degree in which it will morally decay. We are told: "But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,"
2 Timothy 3:1-4 (ESV)- emphasis mine. Friends, these are true words, this is a real warning and all you have to do is watch a little of the five o'clock news to know that Paul was right. I hate to tell you to stay out of the theaters, and the schools and the airplanes and well, pretty much anyplace anyone else might actually be. So since that kind of paranoia is not useful, just be warned that the end is near and if you don't know Christ you'll be spending eternity with all the other bad guys who chose to reject Him too!
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