"Am I therefore become your enemy,because I TELL YOU THE TRUTH...?"
(Galatians 4:16)

Church killer's parents tell of their grief

A young man who killed four people at a Colorado Springs church and an Arvada missionary training center had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and harbored bitterness for being an outcast,his parents said in their first extended comments. Matthew Murray(picture left) gave no indication that he was about to explode in violence, though, they said in an interview to be broadcast today and Friday on James Dobson's Focus on the Family radio program.Although Ronald and Loretta Murray have issued statements to the media, the devoutly Christian couple gave Dobson their first public impressions of what led their 24-year-old son to go on his rampage in December. Focus on the Family provided an advance copy of the broadcast to The AP.On the program, the Murrays met the parents of two sisters whom their son had killed. The sisters' parents forgave the Murrays for their son's actions.Murray family spokeswoman Casey Nikoloric told The Denver Post that the couple's decision to accept Dobson's invitation to appear on his show was based on their faith."Faith informs every single decision that the Murray family makes," she said."They prayed about it, and an interview in a faith-based setting together with David and Marie Works felt most comfortable to Ron and Loretta."The Murrays hope listeners will be moved by the power of Christian love and forgiveness and by the remarkable way the families came together, she said.According to interviews and his Internet postings, Matthew Murray was a disturbed young man in search of belonging.He dabbled in the occult, briefly joined the Mormon church and turned against charismatic Christianity.The Murrays said their son had problems communicating and writing because of his ADHD, was brilliant at computers, and felt rejected and marginalized, unable to forgive his perceived tormentors."The lesson is that unforgiveness leads to this bitterness and then opens you up to the spirit of Satan, to the spirit of whatever, and when that occurs, it becomes a power that people cannot control," said Ronald Murray, a neurologist."It will begin to control you...and I think that's what happened with Matthew," he said.Murray said that his son "had never expressed a desire for violence toward anybody" and that neither he nor Matthew's mother knew he owned weapons."We were not clued in to the depth of his bitterness,"Ronald Murray said."He was told he was loved every day," Ronald Murray said. "...There were people reaching out to him, and he didn't reach back."..."Without forgiveness," Ronald Murray said, "I don't think we could have moved on."
To read more go to:
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_8385953?source=rss
As in the days of Noah....