Did God call him home??

Did God call him home?

Michael Smith, I mean.

Every time any one dies--whether by cancer or by mass murder--we blame it on God.

"God called her home" or "God called him home."

In President Obama's speech in Dallas on July 12, he made a personal comment on each of the five police officers who died.  In regard to Michael Smith, he said:

Michael Smith answered that call. In the Army, and over almost 30 years working for the Dallas Police Association, which gave him the appropriately named Cop’s Cop Award. A man of deep faith; when he was off duty, he could be found at church or playing softball with his two girls.

Today, his girls have lost their dad, for God has called Michael home.

Did God look down on Dallas before the shooting and select five people to "call home"?

No.

Did God look with grief on the shooter and his actions and those hit by bullets?

Yes.

After they were dead or dying, did God call them into God's fuller presence, embrace them, and welcome them?

Yes.

But to say simply that "God called them home" takes the killer off the hook.  It places the decision to end their lives in the hands of God.  

I refuse to believe in a God who "takes people home" when they are in the fullness of life--who wants their earthly lives to end.  

God doesn't cause cancer.  God doesn't cause bullets to fly.  

God allows a lot of crime and illness to occur, but we abuse God's name and honor when we blame God for these events.