Preacher’s Wife Commits Murder
I don’t know which is more depressing — this story or these comments about the story. It should be obvious that we don’t know enough yet to make any kind of judgement about what larger implications, if any, to draw from these events:
A community shocked by the slaying of a charismatic, popular Christian minister awaited the return of his wife Saturday, who authorities said confessed to shooting him in their home.
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Mary and Matthew Winkler were married in 1996. They met at Freed Hardeman University, a Church of Christ-affiliated school in Henderson where Matthew’s father was an adjunct professor. Mary took education classes, and Matthew took Bible classes. Neither graduated.
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March 25th, 2006 at 10:36 am
No matter what the outcomes, this is a no-win situation for those children. They have lost a father and now will loose a mother. We can only imagine the suffering they will endure over the years.
March 25th, 2006 at 1:48 pm
Hey I glanced at a few of those comments you linked to. Wow! How easy it is to be a third party arm-chair quaterback.
March 29th, 2006 at 8:24 am
For more really disturbing press, the following exchange from her Mar 27th show. The preceding discussion has been with Mrs. Winkler’s attorney about legal issues, but then she turns the discussion to what the churches of Christ are: PASTOR TOM RUKALA, BAPTIST PASTOR: Well, the Church of Christ is a relatively new church. It was started about 150 years ago by Alexander Campbell (ph). And it`s, unfortunately, a very legalistic sect, and they tend to use methods of intimidation and pressure tactics. They claim that they are the only ones going to heaven, and all other people are condemned to hell. So in case…
GRACE: Uh-oh, I`m in trouble. But I already knew that.
(LAUGHTER)
GRACE: Now, wait a minute. What more can you tell me?
RUKALA: Well, they claim that if you
re not baptized by one of their ministers, that youre doomed to hell, even if youre a believer in Jesus Christ, which, of course, breaks completely from the traditional Christian view that all those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved because were saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose again. For the Church of Christ folks, thats not enough. You have to be a member of their narrow sect. Its a very exclusive group. And if youre not a member of their sect, youre condemned.GRACE: You know, Pastor, you keep saying “sect.” “Sect.” You make it sound like a cult.
RUKALA: It kind of is a borderline cult, unfortunately. I don`t want to make it out to be some kind of Hare Krishna group, but it has cult-like characteristics and…
GRACE: In what sense?
RUKALA: Well, in the sense of the exclusivism, the attitude that they are the only ones who know the truth. The tactics that they use are sometimes just — not only un-biblical but unethical, and they can be very ungracious, unfortunately.
GRACE: I want to go now to Nancy Harding Burgess, a minister
s wife, the founder of Heart and Soul Connection. Nancy, Im at a loss on this. I don`t know that much about the Church of Christ. What can you tell me about this situation, regarding the Winklers?While I don’t always agree with Nancy Grace, I do admire her focus on crime victims, but here she really hit a low. Clearly the person she chose as her “expert” on the Church of Christ is not an expert. I agree with what Rex said above, that this is a difficult situation for the entire family.
March 29th, 2006 at 8:26 am
By the way, for a full reading of the above transcript of the show, go to http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0603/27/ng.01.html.
April 4th, 2006 at 6:20 pm
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