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July 19th, 2012
07:55 AM ET
Zimmerman: Shooting 'God's plan'By Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor (CNN) - It was "God's plan" that brought together George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin in a fatal confrontation in February, Zimmerman told Fox News host Sean Hannity Wednesday in his first television interview. Zimmerman, 28, has been charged with second-degree murder for shooting Martin in what he says was self-defense. Martin was unarmed when he was killed while walking back to his father's girlfriend's house in a gated residential area of Sanford, Florida. Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty and has been free on $1 million bail since early July. Zimmerman, who said he routinely carried a gun except when he was at work, told Hannity he didn't regret deciding to follow Martin that night, after deciding the teen was acting suspiciously, and he didn't regret having a gun. "Do you feel you wouldn't be here for this interview if you didn't have that gun?" Hannity asked. "No, sir," Zimmerman responded. "You feel you would not be here?" Hannity pressed. "I feel it was all God's plan and for me to second guess it or judge it..." Zimmerman said, pursing his lips and shaking his head. The 17-year-old victim's father didn't agree with Zimmerman's claim. "We must worship a different God because there is no way that my God would have wanted George Zimmerman to kill my teenage son," Tracy Martin said in a statement after Zimmerman's interview was broadcast. CNN's Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the big stories There's an old joke about a Christian who falls down a flight of stairs and then says, "Thank God that's over." For some Christians, there is a belief that God is in control of everything in their lives, good and bad, from finding a parking space close to the grocery store to the death of a loved one.
“What's particularly striking to me in this instance,” Carr told CNN, was that “George Zimmerman is attributing something he did to God’s plan.” “It's one thing to attribute a natural disaster to God’s plan to try and make sense of the world,” he said. “It’s another thing to justify something you did as God’s plan. That’s taking it to another level.” “That lets you off the hook, but I think it can look to other people as a pretty transparent attempt at self-justification,” Carr added. Carr is an expert on the Hebrew Bible, which Christians call the Old Testament. “One thing that strikes me about many of the narratives in the Old Testament is there are so many places where characters think they know what God is up to, but we know because of the narrator in the story, they’re wrong.” “So the Bible speaks to the human misperception of what God is doing.” Zimmerman and his family were longtime members at the All Saints Catholic Church in Manassas, Virginia. "George grew up in Manassas and was active in the church during his youth as an altar server and evening receptionist in the office," Pastor Bob Cilinski of All Saints told CNN in March. "The Zimmerman family were known and respected in the community for their dedication and service." Despite his Catholic upbringing, some say that that on this point of theology, Zimmerman may be out of step with Catholic teaching. “God didn’t make us robots, he didn’t make us puppets,” said Father Tom Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. “A key part of God’s plan is giving us freedom to make decisions. Sometimes those decisions are good and sometimes those decisions are bad," Reese said, explaining the Catholic teaching on the concept of free will. "Obviously, not everything we do is part of God’s plan. Because sometimes we sin and that certainly is not part of God’s plan. It’s contrary to what God wants." Reese said Zimmerman's sentiment is not an uncommon one among Christians. But the idea of a God who controls everything down to the last detail strikes Reese as an idea closer to Greek mythology than the God described in the Bible. "It’s based on this idea of an absolute powerful God who always gets what he wants. When we read the Scriptures, we find out God doesn’t always get what he wants. He’s disappointed and upset when things go wrong,” he said. Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter “I think there’s an important insight that these people have, that is when things do go bad, when they go contrary to God’s plan, he can still make good things happen as a result," Reese said. “When these terrible things happen, God can inspire people to respond to them with courage and compassion so that something positive can come out of something very negative," he added. "But it wasn’t part of God’s plan that this guy got killed. We can’t excuse what we do by saying that’s God’s plan.” Both Carr and Reese were careful to say they were not commenting on the legal aspects of the case and noted that Zimmerman's guilt or innocence should be left up to the courts. One thing Reese said Zimmerman did get right in the interview was apologizing and praying for the Martin family. "I'm sorry they had to bury their child," Zimmerman told Hannity. "I pray for them daily." soundoff (1,528 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Next »
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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When things go horribly awry, it's not uncommon for people to look to God as the one who drew up the plan, says David M. Carr, professor of Old Testament at Union Theological Seminary.
Couple things
Thing 1) I remember a couple of case about 6 – 8 years ago Case A – was a woman that killed her children I think 3, she said that God told her to do it. The jury found her insane. Sentenced to a mental inst.itution. Case B was a woman that killed her children I think 3 she said that the Devil told her to do it. The jury found her guilty of murder. Sentanced to like 40 years no parol in the State Pen.
Thing 2 ) Mr Zimmerman says that is was God's Plan. ... Hmm seems to me that Gods REAL plan was to stick Mr Zimmerman's happy a.ss in jail!! Cuz that's where he is going to go .
I wonder if he will be so philosophical about "god's plan" while he's doing 15 years for murder?
And Hannity just sat there like a brainless hairpiece. God's plan must include appearing on a propaganda network to beg for money from idiots. Wait, that's TV evangelism to a tee.
God exists in people's minds only. That's why your personal God always agrees with whatever you choose. Religion is for the emotionally weak.
Everything is percieved through "the Mind". Unfortunely the mind would not know TRUTH if it fell in it. Faith and belief in the unseen can only come from the mind because that is the only place that it really exists.
Actualy God's plan for the Z was to stick the gun in his bum and blow his brains out. It's so difficult to make sense of all the god voices in his bum.
Well god has killed children before, see Egypt and the Jews.
The article states – One thing Reese said Zimmerman did get right in the interview was apologizing and praying for the Martin family.
"I'm sorry they had to bury their child," Zimmerman told Hannity. "I pray for them daily."
Um, yeah, that's not a real apology to me. He's sorry they buried him or he's sorry he took the kid's life? In that statement, he's not really taking responsibility, just like saying this was all part of "Gods' plan," again, side-stepping responsibility.
Of course he did not accept responsibility for it, the intention was to say basically I'm sorry your son is dead it's not my fault he got killed??????????????????? What on earth? Why couldn't that clown at least say I'm sorry things happened the way they did, I wished I would have never followed him and I could take it back.
But then again, who on earth follows people with a gun through neighborhoods?????????????? Guns are supposed to be a last line of defense not to chase people around and start altercations so you can shoot them
"Who on earth" has a press interview about your own pending trial? This guys is not very bright.
If some NlGGER was smashing my head against the ground I'd defend myself too
And he had his lawyer with him! There is more to this than we know, or it is a case of "Dumb & Dumber."
He will probably eventually claim he didn't get a fair trial.
"But it wasn’t part of God’s plan that this guy got killed. We can’t excuse what we do by saying that’s God’s plan"
Wait a second, why not?
I think Zimmerman has a closer perspective on reality or even god according to science. Most of all neura
science now suggests that there is a pre determined order to all action and that free will, is a paradox. When you are being yourself you do have free will, but precisely because you do, you will be yourself. So if you in fact have free will you have the will to go against yourself, but this onl erodes free will, as actions that are against your I am presence just takes awa free will in the form of arbitrary agents in the I am not, like the state. In other words, the only way you can go against yourself is illusion and that requires a sacrificing of your self for an outside ideal, it is the I am not, I am this but not this, it is judgment, and because the state is the largest monopoly that oversees all others, it functions as a mathematical holder of this judgment for it inevitably falls to the state to arbitrate it. The ego, in other words.
So the moment you admit free will, you bring in the paradox that free will erodes free will because there is no choice, it becomes a choice between being yourself or going against yourself, and the latter is an illusion for it only functions to diminish the very free will that presented the paradox in the first place (by a state or ideological, secular or non secular-communism vs any radical religious sect– taking away free will and arbitrating it in your behalf). Everyone has their own "morality" and should pursue that.
It then becomes a question of what is utilitarian. George Zimmerman may do what he does because of "gods plan" he is being himself (he has free will but he chooses to be himself) as any individual I am resonates to the greater, but he is still accountable to his actions, as limiting crime is utilitarian.
So guilty or not, if he did in fact shoot trayvon not in self defense he should be put in prison. However, because this law is based on intention, and intention is hard to verify in many cases (like this one), then it becomes pretty hard to know what happened, if not impossible. And simply becomes like a bias by whoever is in the jury because of what they think, and so on.
So due to that uncertainty, I guess from that perspective it really is "gods plan"
It's time for the human race to be saved from religion. Religion breeds crackpots!
A relationship with god should be a personal thing and kept to yourself "for all have fallen short of the glory of god"
Religion doesn't so much breed crackpots as crackpots breed bizarre twists on religion. Removing religion from society is no guarantee of making anything more sane. I'd argue that without questions being conveniently answered by religion, more people would be losing their minds, and society as a whole would be more prone to falling apart.
So if this is God's plan, than it's up to God to get him out of this.
unfortunately God won't. what will is the ignorance of the Floriduh court system.
You don't shoot somebody and say it was God's plan! Either you shot him because you were attacked, or you shot him because it was your plan. Don't try to involve God.
Zimmerman is just the most recent in a string of sociopaths that attempt to profit from a political group in society off their criminal acts. COMPLETE WACKO
It might be "God's plan" that you spend the rest of your natural life in prison, or it might be "God's Plan" that you end up on death row!
I am very tired of this story- can the media please move on to something else. Zimmerman needs to go to the slammer and we can all forget about him.
says the judge, jury and executioner.....
GREAT....wow what a relief...who knew you were there and know exactly what happened!!! Let me caution you about being so quick to judge a situation instead of letting the legal system work its course....Someday IT COULD be YOU that is accused and without the protection of the legal system YOU could be sent away based on emotion instead of evidence
Just by this fool saying it was God's plan; that is enough to lock his ass up. God doesn't have a plan for an idot to go out an murder children.
It was clearly his plan to murder someone that day; if not Treyvon it would have been someone. This so called apology; in my book is not remorseful at all; especially if he blames it on God. Hi attorney should have warned him that this was a stupid thing to say. It just puts him in deeper crap.
Zimmerman, some advice to you....keep your mouth closed. Nothing comes out; just stupid, stupid, stupid.....
Zimemrman needs to shut up or he is going to get hung by his own petard. The one apology was enough for now. His lawyer (a smart guy) should reign him in. Passions aside there is not proof under the FL statutes at issue to prove this guy is guilty of 2d degree murder. Zimmerman should wiave his right to a jury and have the judge decide this case. This has been an effective strategy in NY where police have been charged with supposed raced based killings of suspects and have opted to avoid getting tried by an enflamed jury and sticking with a hopefully more objective judge. The cops were aquitted.
Gary, I can promise you that will not happen in this case. He will not be aquitted of murder; he will be sentenced to death or he will spend the rest of his life in prison. He has to much stacked against him. He keeps opening his mouth. Keep it closed; don't say anything. His attorney should just tape his face up; because he does not know when to shut up.
Zimmerman will walk FREE !!!! PURE self defense !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It may be an effective strategy in some cases however where judges are elected, that strategy may well backfire. Guilt or innocence is often determined not by black and white evidence but by the believability of witnesses...if there is one thing we've learned about Mr Zimmerman since the shooting, it's that his own credibility is suspect.
Gary, Zimmerman pursued and murdered Trayvon. You cannot claim sefdefense over an altercation you initiated! Trayvon is the only person who had the right to defend himself and I would hope the you would instruct your child, if you have any, to do the same if an stranger follows him and then approach him. TOTALLY 2DEGREE MURDER!
ahhahahaha i don't even haft to try any more Yahweh your followers are doing it for you,... hahahahaha
Witness 11 Please come forward and tell the truth. You're caught, you sir lied. Hmmm, maybe this is why Serino said that they got an anonymous call saying that "GZ tried to detain TM." That caller was telling the truth. !http://youtu.be/tP2UC0aCUnE
George Zimmerman – someone else was out there!
TM was begging witness 11 for help and he did nothing. 911- call @ 2:14 GZ car door slams. 14 seconds later he agrees not to follow TM. :14; had he listen 14 seconds later he would be back at his car, but he didn't 2:42 you hear a click and the back patio door opens three seconds later you hear a first set of "knocks" on the door you hear GZ open witness 11 back patio door a few seconds later you hear the a person open that door. Then the back door opens George speaks with the resident back porch. GZ is telling them that he thinks he spotted a bugler. He called 911 40 seconds before anyone else did. In the meanwhile TM came walking down retreat view circle thinking he lost this creep. All of the sudden you hear the two men yelling at him. Which is why witness 11 was able to capture the yells so clearly and see TM fighting for his life. While he stood there and did nothing! Witness 11 you should be ashamed of yourself. Martin was screaming to witness 11. Wit 11 called 911 40 seconds before anyone else did... I hope to God the prosecution knows this... His testimony alone would slam GZ The man below makes the best videos!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP2UC0aCUnE&feature=player_embedded
And whose fingerprints were on the bugle? That's the number one question.
George Zimmerman – someone else was out there!
TM was begging witness 11 for help and he did nothing. 911- call @ 2:14 GZ car door slams. 14 seconds later he agrees not to follow TM. :14; had he listen 14 seconds later he would be back at his car, but he didn't 2:42 you hear a click and the back patio door opens three seconds later you hear a first set of "knocks" on the door you hear GZ open witness 11 back patio door a few seconds later you hear the a person open that door. Then the back door opens George speaks with the resident back porch. GZ is telling them that he thinks he spotted a bugler. He called 911 40 seconds before anyone else did. In the meanwhile TM came walking down retreat view circle thinking he lost this creep. All of the sudden you hear the two men yelling at him. Which is why witness 11 was able to capture the yells so clearly and see TM fighting for his life. While he stood there and did nothing! Witness 11 you should be ashamed of yourself. Martin was screaming to witness 11. Wit 11 called 911 40 seconds before anyone else did... I hope to God the prosecution knows this... His testimony alone would slam GZ The man below makes the best videos!!!
ARREST O'MARA FOR PERJURY. IMMEDIATELY. (HE KNEW ABOUT THE MONEY ((((BEFORE)))) GZ BOND HEARING... BRING WITNESS 11 JEREMY BACK IN FOR SPECIFIC QUESTIONING. HE WAS OUT SIDE AND SAY TRAYVON STANDING HIS GROUND.. I NEVER WRITE IN CAPS BUT, KNOWING THAT GEORGE IS LYING IS SO MUCH DEEPER THAN HAS APPEARED BEFORE.AGAIN ARREST O:MARA AND BRING WITNESS 11 BACK IN FOR SPECIFIC QUESTIONING ABOUT HIM GEORGE BEING ON HIS PORCH AND TALKING WITH HIM BEFORE HE WENT AFTER TM. THIS PROVES TRAYVON DID NOT ATTACK GZ.
Get a life... George Zimmerman is going to walk FREE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
, kneel before Zod.
I'm not even going to jump in with there's no such thing as god... But this guy is a nut. How much did he get paid for the interview? And if he did have a chance to go back and do something differnetly he better go back and just stay in his damned car! What a total loon!
Check ou the fact he wanted ABC to pay for an entire month of hotel accomedations for him and his wife so that Babara Walters would interview him.. He's a con-artist and manipulator. He already used the money he got for "defense funds" to pay off all his credit debt. The financial expert testified to that in court in the 2nd bond hearing. Waking up people. He's pimping everyone he can
If this is the best plan your god has, it might be time to find a new god.
As a securiy worker-don't you learn self defense as Karate? An if it was "God's plan" the same God plan you to lie? You are not a good person. You are a lier. Plus measure your weeight against the other person weight. That make me laugh and I feel ashamed at all the media showing your face. You kill a young person just face to face-that is not self defense. Only a criminal or racist person do that.