Christian Woman Stops Robbery With Faith

Originally posted by Titen-Sxull
I don't think there's anything miraculous going on here, just simple psychology.

Well, I don't know what psychology class you took, but there's nothing "simple" about Human psychology.

Again, this story isn't about some manager at a cellphone store cleverly applying psychological warfare to defeat a would-be robber. And it's not about this schmuck being so dazed and confused that an impromptu speech sent him lurching away with newfound clarity.

It's about a woman who didn't know why she started the Jesus talk at a moment of profound threat to her. She said it herself... She didn't know why those words came out of her.

I mean, if she really wanted to scare the bastard away, she could have tried to sell him a Palm. Instead, she started talking calmly about Jesus, without knowing why.

— Doc Velocity




[edit on 7/31/2010 by Doc Velocity]

OK Chuck, you win. This story is amazing. This story is miraculous. This story is, like many of your stories just simply beyond belief in fact.

So do you really believe some magical thing happened here? Is there a follow up? Did that man enroll in vetrinary school the next day?

[edit on 31-7-2010 by Adevoc Satanae]

LMAO. i have a feeling this is a desperate attempt by the local church to gather more people to their congregation.

either that or the robber was a coward who didn't have the nerve to see it through.

I would've walked away too. Actually, I'd give her money to shut up.

Originally posted by alien
God gets roped in to a whole bunch of killing...regardless of whose fingers on the trigger

Well, just for the sake of discussion, there is nothing in the Bible or anywhere else that says God is averse to killing. I mean, God created the whole blinking Universe, if you believe what the Bible says — which naturally implies that God created the Law of the Jungle, the first law of Nature: "Kill or be killed, eat or be eaten."

When the Old Testament (the Torah-Lite) says "Thou Shalt Not Kill," it's not some existential Hindu admonition to avoid extinguishing Life at all costs. It means, "Ye shall not murder" another human being — which is an admonition against killing for petty reasons.

There are plenty of justifiable reasons for putting down another human being. Putting down a human being is not to be taken lightly. You don't murder somebody for $6.32 in change, okay? You don't murder somebody for screwing your wife or husband (mainly because your wife or husband is equally responsible). You don't murder somebody for stealing your stupid BMW.

But, when another human being deliberately threatens your life at gunpoint or knifepoint or with a baseball bat, or threatens your family, then katie bar the door. You tear that person apart with your bare hands, if that's all you've got. You murder that person, you obliterate that threat to your life and the lives of your family.

THAT is what humans do in combat, in spite of all the Thou Shalt Not Kill social programming.

You go and ask a person who's been in combat what was going through his mind when he was pulling the trigger... He will not answer, "I was doing it for my God and my Country and for Freedom."

Hell no.

He will answer, "I pulled that trigger to SAVE MY ASS, and to save the asses of my brothers there on the front line."

THAT is the first natural instinct of Humankind, to protect their own, and there is no God or Jesus or Holy Spirit that can suppress that instinct.

Only FAITH can suppress that instinct, and Faith isn't something bestowed on you by God... It's a self-discipline, it's something that YOU DO on your own.

It was FAITH that this woman used, facing down a gunman on her own. When you use your own FAITH, then you open a channel to God, and God (aka Jesus Christ, aka Holy Spirit) can work through you in ways that, frankly, defy your own reasoning.

And THAT is what this story is about.

— Doc Velocity






[edit on 7/31/2010 by Doc Velocity]

...umm...pretty sure thats what plenty of Americans do prior to killing people perceived as terrorists...

...indeed what many soldiers for many countries Armed Force do before putting a bullet, bayonet or bomb through someone...

[edit on 31-7-2010 by alien]

Well, I wouldn't use the word "plenty" unless it is pointed as a personal opinion only.

I believe when soldiers are in battle, most of their reactions need to be really fast and probably "survive" is the only thing crossing their minds.

But you are right to say that mixing violence and God is a disease spreaded all over the world and there is no religion or nation immune to that.

[edit on 31-7-2010 by Trueman]

Hi Doc,

Its interesting you say that Faith is something you do on your own.
I'd really like to chip in on that - but first let me lay a few card on the table to further display my reasoning I guess:

I've made no secret here on ATS that I hold a firm faith in God.
People can consider it an irrational, illogical thing to have...but holding a faith in Him is something that yes, has been my choice on many level, but I also consider it to have been one that to me would have been irrational to actually have NOT made given my life, events in it, experiences I've had etc.

I guess ultimately we all make choices based upon the options and interactions/events we encounter. No arguments there from me.

For me the *choice* to have *faith* has been a 'collective effort'...not solely one made purely by myself, without influence or input of Him.
Rather the *choice* has been inclusive of Him rather than a purely exclusive one made by myself.
I'm likely not explaining myself well here...so my apologies.


I firmly believe that God permeates through my life and my *decisions* like a calm warming breeze. Never forceful like a blustering storm or a howling gale...its His gentle ever-so-subtle involvement on a daily basis that speaks more to me.

I'll be the first to put my hand up and admit I fail Him at times. I know I can do better, I know I have turned my ears from His voice at times...but I also know my faith is in essence one that is in some ways symbiotic. He has faith in me, I have faith in Him. Again...probably not explaining it well.


To bring it further back on-topic:
People can see this event as being many things - it could just be a woman who on some deeper level acted out of fear, was motivated to 'fall back on her belief' at a time of crisis/imminent threat. Not uncommon for people to do that.
People could say she is just incredibly lucky- and might even be a bit crazy - to have fronted up to an armed robber. People may see it as quite reckless a thing to have done.

Guess the real truth of it rests with her and God.

Personally: I have no doubt that God can and does influence and assists us throughout our day. I see this is an example of that.

...at the very least I see this lady as brave - not irrational, not crazy or anything like that.

Good on her.




Peace.


[edit on 31-7-2010 by alien]

reply to post by alien


You didn't make clear which is your religion, but you expressed very well how much you love God and what He means for you. Any religion got to be agree with your words. Thanks for sharing that with us.

The acquisition of Faith, as I see it, is a very personal struggle — and, yes, I see it as a struggle.

Faith, as I've said on many occasions, here on ATS and elsewhere, is NOT the same as "belief" or "religion"...

Belief is a very transient thing, it changes weekly, even daily. Our foremost politicians, for example, very frequently preface their absurd declarations with "I believe" — a week later, their "belief" has turned 180° to a diametrically-opposed position. Belief is a fleeting thing, the very word itself implies doubt.

Faith, on the other hand, is a transcendental knowledge WITHOUT even a glimmer of doubt.

Religion is nothing more than the repetition of esoteric passages and rituals intended to bring many people into a collective circle of thinking. Religion can assist us in focusing our thoughts in one direction, but religion is NOT Faith.

I've pondered Faith for many years, trying to crystalize it with an appropriate metaphor. I haven't been terribly successful, because describing Faith is an attempt to wrap my human reasoning around something that is, for the great majority of people, including Christians, a wholly alien concept.

Faith is a one-way circuit that only some people successfully forge in the midst of their otherwise chaotic neural networks. While the human brain is an astonishing organ — capable of rerouting neural pathways and adapting and even reversing itself on a moment's notice — the Faith Circuit is something that just defies the typical neural processes.

Faith only travels in one direction. It does not even acknowledge the possibility that it is incorrect or in error. Faith is knowledge without the typical substantiation we employ for other neural processes.

Is Faith a kind of intuition? Not really, because we almost immediately doubt our flashes of intuition.

Faith is beyond doubt. It does not acknowledge doubt. Faith cannot be assailed and need not be defended.

We know that Faith is a real neural function. There have been several studies conducted, using the most modern scanning technology, that amply demonstrate a real neural center in the brain that seems exclusively associated with Faith. Yeah, they ran MRIs and other electro-encephalographic tests on people of profound Faith of many different religions and discovered that there's a real center of spirituality and Faith in the human brain.

So we know it's not a mental illness or a defect. It has been called the "God Circuit" and other euphemisms.

But it's not something that just spontaneously appears in the brains of those who read the Bible or the Torah or the Koran or any other religious tome. Indeed, most people who profess to be "religious" DO NOT seem to possess this God Circuit. Only those who exhibit a profound Faith, which often transcends religion, seem to have a functional God Circuit, a one-way circuit of Faith.

In other words, most of those who profess to be Godly don't actually have Faith. But, hell, I could have told you that. And I have.

I think (know) that a person must go through a lot of trial and self-discipline to acquire Faith. I think (know) that it's a very real process of forging this circuit in your brain, and the process of forging and acquiring Faith can last for years... Or it can come through an extremely traumatic and life-changing experience, in no time at all. A "revelation," if you will.

But, just because one person in a congregation attains Faith doesn't mean that the whole class is going to graduate. Indeed, in my experience and observation, the truly Faithful are as rare as rockinghorse dung. Most churches don't have a single person of true Faith among them...including the pastor.

More often than not, in my experience and observation, a person of true Faith does not fit into a typical congregation — he or she becomes an oddity, a scary kind of anomaly, a phenomenon who frightens the others.

The same way Jesus Christ literally scared the hell out of people. Which is what got him killed, although he knew perfectly well that they were going to kill him, and in the most brutal fashion possible.

Some of his disciples, the Apostles, met the same fate, for the same reason.

As far as I can tell, everyone who has attained Faith throughout history has become a pariah, a threat to the status quo, and he or she had to be eliminated.

So, no, the forging and acquisition of Faith is NOT a group activity. It's a very, very personal achievement, but it's only the beginning of a path of struggle.

— Doc Velocity

Christian Woman Stops Robbery With Faith

Christian Robber Stops Robbery because of his Faith .

Oh but I

Need some time off from that emotion
Time to pick my heart up off the floor
And when that love comes down
Without devotion
Well it takes a strong man baby
But I'm showing you the door

'Cause I gotta have faith...

George Michael - Faith





[edit on 31-7-2010 by UmbraSumus]

reply to post by Doc Velocity


OP:

Reminds me of a testimony I heard a few years back where this man jumped into the passenger side of a little old lady's car at a parking lot and was demanding her cash. She refused, witnesses to him about Jesus Christ and led the man to the Lord. Both of them were interviewed.

Christ will turn any person's "mess" into a "message" if you let Him.

While at first inspirational, there are many facets here...

1. First time robber
2. Not a real firearm (not lethal)
3. Obviously he mentioned something about being a Christian (or she wouldn't have said what she did about her Jesus)
4. He learned she could easily identify him

The guy's still going to be arrested for armed robbery, and still will get evicted...regardless of HIS faith...

Unfortunately, it's a sign of the times, when a guy like this (who obviously didn't really want to do crime) feels forced into it...

[edit on 2-8-2010 by Gazrok]