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Today’s morning service in First Baptist Church in Maryville, Illinois turned into a tragedy when an unknown gunman came in during the service, shooting and killing pastor Fred Winters. To the 150 congregants there, it was a huge blow to their community and many even thought it was a skit. Fred Winters deflected one of the bullets with his Bible, which caused pieces of the pages to fly in the air. Many thought it was confetti, but soon realized that this was no longer a joyous occasion.
It surprises me that somebody would walk into a church service with a gun, let alone shot pastor multiple times. I understand that there are people whole feel that God doesn’t exist, religion is stupid, etc., but to do something like this is inappropriate and wrong. When somebody can just kill another human, there is seriously something wrong with their morals and character, but reading an article like this puts a lot into perspective. If a church and a man of God won’t stop a killer, what will? Well, there are always two sides and although there are bad people, there are still good people too. Good people like the congregants at the mass who then tackled the gunman to the floor, two of them even being wounded by a knife the gunman pulled out. By sacrificing themselves and being courageous, this community has shown that there are those with good morals and those with bad. At times we may not see it, but it is there and although it is shocking that somebody would do something like this, maybe we will all strive to be good. It may sound corny or cheesy, but in the words of Ghandi, we must be the change we wish to see in the world. If it is good, then we must portray goodness as well.
