British delegates at the 58th business session of the Seventh-day Adventist church in St Louis have this morning been speaking with the local media about their shock and concern for relatives following today's London bombings.
British delegates at the 58th business session of the Seventh-day Adventist church in St Louis have this morning been speaking with the local media about their shock and concern for relatives following today’s London bombings. So far interviews have been given to, among others, Fox, the NBC affiliate KSDK, and the St. Louis station WB11.
Dan Gray from the Fox television channel (KTV1 Channel 2) interviewed three Brits in depth: Susanne Kirlew, who lives in central London, Alan Hodges, whose son David missed a bomb by minutes this morning, and Don McFarlane, leader of the Adventist Church in South England.
Speaking to Suzanne, Gray asked, “How did you hear about the bombings and how unsettling has it been for you?”
“I was woken at 3 a.m. by a text message coming in,” Susanne replied, showing the actual message to the cameraman. “It was the first I had heard of it and I contacted my sister straight away. It was very unsettling, well, in a way. We have the threat of this kind of thing in London, but I’m not afraid for myself or my family because of my belief in God. What can you do? This could happen anywhere. All I can do is trust in God’s name.”
Asked if she had anything else she would like to say, Susanne gave a message for all the viewers. “If you don’t believe in God, now is a good time to start.”
Gray also spoke with Alan Hodges. He too had heard the news through a text message, which read, “Bombs on trains and busses. David OK. Phone you later.”
Asked about his reaction to the news Hodges replied, “I was surprised and shocked, even though we have lived in Ireland and are used to such things. I’ve been trying to phone all morning but only got through about half an hour ago. David [my son] travels through London every day and apparently he only missed on of the bombs by ten minutes…. It has been said that a bomb attack on London was inevitable, and that’s true, but it’s sad that it has happened now, especially with the G8 meetings going on.”
In his interview with Don McFarlane Gray asked about the reaction of the church and its leadership to the attacks. “I heard the news from my secretary about 6 am and for a while I was in a daze,” he replied. My heart is with the people back in England at this time and I wish I was there. However I have written to all of our pastors and church elders and asked them all to pray for the victims at this time. We are also offering practical help. Some of our churches are open and we are able to offer words of comfort as well as practical help. Our community services people are standing by ready to react when they hear from the local authorities what is needed from them.”
Gray pressed McFarlane further on the issue of terrorism, how the church felt about those committing the atrocities, and whether governments physically strike back at terrorists. “It is right that there should be outrage and shock,” McFarlane replied. “We should do all we can to protect society but I don’t believe in retaliation. The sad thing is that when we retaliate we often hit the wrong people, we should be going after the terrorists, but not retaliating. How do we feel about terrorists? Seventh-day Adventists believe that terrorists can be saved by Jesus Christ. We should work for their salvation as we would for anyone else.”
