Michael Stone writes ...
========================




"Christian terror: A Christian zealot in Washington state is under arrest after confessing to beheading his girlfriend because she refused to repent.

Timothy Paul Hernandez, 32, of Mount Vernon, Washington, has been charged with first-degree murder for killing his girlfriend, Vanessa Cons.

Cons, 27, was found beheaded in a Mount Vernon bedroom with multiple stab wounds to her back and head, court documents state.

Hernandez told police that he “had spoken with God,” and God told him to “strike down” his girlfriend because she refused to repent..

Police investigators wrote the following in the official charging documents:

Timothy advised that he had spoken with God, who told him to strike down his girlfriend … because she did not repent. Timothy stated that he struck her down, and caused for her head to be removed from her body.


Each of the verses that were quoted had passages in them that spoke about women who did not follow God’s word, so God stuck them down.

Police investigator said Hernandez quoted two Bible verses to them, including a passage from the Book of Revelations, according to the charging documents obtained by KIRO 7.
Making the episode even more tragic, investigators report the couple’s 3-year-old daughter witnessed the brutal death of her mother.

Police report Cons was found beheaded in a Mount Vernon bedroom belonging to the parents of Hernandez. Seattle PI reports:

When 32-year-old Timothy Hernandez’s parents arrived at their Mount Vernon home after church Sunday afternoon, they found his girlfriend on the ground, with her head removed from her body and placed on the back of her torso, according to Mount Vernon police reports.

Police report that after confessing to his crime Hernandez told investigators he was not crazy, and stated that a crazy person would not tell the truth.

Hernandez is currently in jail, and his bail is set at $1 million. He is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 6."

Too bad he couldn’t be like the guy I read about a few years back. He showed up in the ER after plucking out his eye with a spoon and cutting off his foot with an axe.

I feel so sorry for everyone but the accused.

Worst kind of stupid going on here.

Could be a bit of mental illness involved, too...

Ya think? My first thoughts were....in principle, why is the reaction to a man that beheads his girlfriend, based on biblical passages and god speaking to him like..."Oh my stars, he's a crazy murderer that thinks god is speaking to him! Lock him up forever!"

Yet when a man uses biblical passages and gets a talk from god, then tells people they need to give him money, time, talents, and all that they posses (more extreme in some religions, like when kids die) and the reaction is..."Ok, sure thing, he speaks with god!" Even when following that godly advise can ruin finances, relationships and even cause death.

So bizarre to me.

Everything is easier if you have God's justification!

Religion is the perfect environment for mentally unstable people looking for a justification or reason to act out.


If God says to kill Laban and people take it seriously, how can they say, "God didn't mean YOU- just the guy like you in the story!"


Beware of people trying to make everyone do what they think God wants.

Dave the Atheist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hernandez told police that he “had spoken with
> God,” and God told him to “strike down” his
> girlfriend because she refused to repent..

"God" sure seems to like beheadings.
Laban, girlfriends, whatever.
Off with their heads!

The mishies could have had a golden convert.

babyloncansuckit Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The mishies could have had a golden convert.

Hey, it's not too late...

Mishie: "See, god ordered Nephi to do just what you did! It's a sign from the Lord!"

Criminal: "Wow, amazing. I'm in! When can I get baptized?"

Mishie: "As soon as you get out of prison..."

Why is it so many Bible zealots have such trouble finding the verse "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone?"

I guess loving your neighbor is not as much fun as stoning him to death--literally, or, with stoning with words and deeds and Courts of Love and stuff.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6142245/Brazils-far-right-presidential-candidate-survives-life-saving-surgery-stabbed.htm

An "UN-Democratic Socialist," I suppose. Darn near killed the guy, got his organs and intestines.

WTF is a "socialist"? Please enlighten us.

This sounds more like a problem of mental illness than of religion. In this case it took a religious turn but without religion he still would have been ill and might even have done something worse.

Agree, the title of this thread is mis-leading.

Agreed

Aren’t they calling this white rage now?

If you read the article, it states that the man who committed the crime said he was NOT mentally ill, and knew what he was doing. He was calm during the interview with police and stated that he was doing the work of god. There is no evidence of mental illness in this one.

HH =)

Sounds like this guy now has to repent. You know, for that whole "Thou Shalt Not Kill" thingy.

Reminds me of a distant family relation. The mother was hearing voices to kill her son, so she thru him off a 2 story balcony. He was only 13 months.

The whole Christian zealot thing is clearly bogus. Mental illness going on, in a very big way

Thank you. Mentally healthy people do not kill their girlfriend in such a way whether they are religious or not.

bona dea Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you. Mentally healthy people do not kill
> their girlfriend in such a way whether they are
> religious or not.


"In such a way"?! In what "such way" is it acceptable to kill someone "whether religious or not"?

If he'd killed her with sleeping pills or some other nonviolent manner, is that okay?

Of course not, but beheading someone is not the MO of a normal criminal. It sounds like something a crazy person would do.Shooting, stabbing or choking are the usual ways.people murder.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2018 06:39PM by bona dea.

It seems like beheading in holy writs and among zealots were not viewed as mental illness (John the Baptist, David decapitating Goliath, violent beheading of infidels in Islam as seen on TV, Laban).

You'd think normal people do not cut off heads, period. We learn about it being justified by religion, revolution, war, execution and murderers (mentally ill or not).

But there it is, in scripture stories people tell their children every day. I think religions contain violence because that is part of the human condition.

In this case, I also suspect the main issue was mental illness. However, adding religion to mental illness can be toxic. It's hard to know when and if "the voices" called God can influence a person to act out.

That was the way executions took place in many societies from ancient times through the French Revolution up to today in some areas.. Herod was not the religious one, BTW. That would be John. Herod was a disgruntled ruler who executed a man he saw as a threat. Beheading was considered a humane form of execution. Would you prefer to be crucified, burned at the stake or hanged, drawn and quartered?.In Medieval England only nobles would be beheaded. Everyone else was hanged until almost unconscius, cut down, revived carefully and disemboweled and castrated-all while conscious-and then cut into four pieces. If you committed a religious crime, you were burned. In the west, beheading had little to do with religion. It was the most humane form of the death penalty and used for civil crimes. The quillotine was invented by a doctor to insure a quick and relatively painless death.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2018 06:56PM by bona dea.

True.

If the purpose was to be humane, that could be in conflict with your statement above that it is something a crazy person would do.

I'm not in disagreement with you though.

I was trying to show that it is woven into our human experience, for good or bad, Herod or David. I only intended to bring up the imagery provided in holy writs and history. I'm not so sure these kinds of stories are good for kids, but then, I'm not a fan of violence in games or movies either.

I remember as a kid hearing that my grandfather chopped off the head of a chicken he raised. I understood why, but it was disturbing. It's hard to know how people internalize things.

It isnt considered humane today. Times change. It is bloody and gruesome but if done correctly by an experienced executioner, it is quick as opposed the other means I mentioned. Who knows where he got the idea. It could be the Bible or Dungeons and Dragons. Could be beheadings in shows such as Game of Thrones which I havent seen.Just assuming it all about religion as Dave did is a bit simplistic. It probably isnt good for many kids,.but it is part of history and even our entertainment.

“The quillotine was invented by a doctor to insure a quick and relatively painless death.”

Science comes through again.

Would you prefer being hanged drawn and quartered ,burned at the stake or hacked with an ax ,which often happened before the guillotine? lol

Hope NONE of these ppl are from PNW...

at least not born here!

Sounds like just a little misunderstanding to me. Never should have offered to give him head. :)

I will give you mad props for actually going 'there'...

Guess he forgot the “thought shall not kill commandment. Oops.

"I don't know that we teach that"


sign in office window @ Seattle Mennonite:

"Jesus said 'Love Your Enemies'; I guess that means Don't Kill them"

GNPE Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "I don't know that we teach that"
>
>
> sign in office window @ Seattle Mennonite:
>
> "Jesus said 'Love Your Enemies'; I guess that
> means Don't Kill them"

Right. It means let jesus and god take care of that, tossing them into a burning pit of never-ending fire for eternity. But don't kill them! Unless, of course, they're an exception. Lots of those in the bible.

I am going to go out on a limb and guess that this isn't the first episode of violence in this family.

No, but it is the first time she lost her head.

It would seeem only fair that the same fate should await the zealot !!

So suppose this goes to trial; and suppose his defense is that
God really told him to cut his girlfriend's head off. Suppose
further that the trial is held in Utah. Then the whole courtroom
and Jury box will be filled with people who firmly believe that
God told Nephi to cut Laban's head off while he slept.

So why won't they consider that maybe, just maybe, God really DID
tell this guy to decapitate his gf?

Sometimes the best thing about Mormonism is that the believers
tend to not really believe it.

Did the cops find the Sword of Laban?