In the aftermath of the mass murder at UCC in Oregon something that has not been reported on with much vigor (which I will address in a subsequent post) is that at least some of those killed were targeted because they were Christians. In the limited reports I have seen it appears that they were asked if they were Christian and if they said, "Yes," they were shot in the head.
Your friendly author is not a deeply religious man; I would go so far as to say I am agnostic. Yet I cannot help but be touched and awed by the courage these young people displayed as they proclaimed their faith literally looking down the barrel of a gun. What strength! What conviction! I am not a biblical scholar in any way, but this strikes me of the tests that the great people of faith faced throughout the Bible and they stood firm. I am humbled. May they Rest In Peace and be rewarded for their courage and conviction. Was it a test of Biblical proportions? Who knows? But it looks like it from where I am sitting.