“It was an intentional murder, I intended to shoot them, and I did.”
Tim Sweetman is an 19-year-old journalist, blogger, and student who lives near our nation's capital,
Washington D.C. He is much more widely known by his "code-name," Agent Tim. This name also serves as
the name of his popular blog, which has received over 750,000 visits since its debut three years ago. Contact Tim here.The Blogroll
Stellar
- Albert Mohler
- Between Two Worlds
- Boundless Line
- Tim Challies
- Together for the Gospel
- Worship Matters
- Girl Talk
- Solo Femininity
- New Attitude
- Josh Harris
- World Magazine Blog
- The Dawn Patrol
- Spunky Homeschool
- The Rebelution
- The Blazing Center
- C.J. Mahaney
Fantastic
- David Ketter
- Beauty from the Heart
- Fearlessly Feminine
- Funny Class Notes
- In Rejection of Mediocrity
- Jamie Kiley
- Oneway Purpose
- Politically Incorrect
- Quicksilver Commentary
- Rhetorical Response
- Spunky Jr.
- Emily Ask
- Unconformed
- Forthright Fixation
Enjoyable
- Advancing His Kingdom
- Catch Word
- Extreme Calling
- From Valinor to Petersburg
- Hannah’s Blog
- Jenifer’s Musings
- Legal Redux
- Mission Amare
- Smarthomeschool
- Eric Novak
- Young Calvinist
Organizations
Design and Coding by David Boskovic.
Featured Archive
I had trouble closing my dresser drawers this afternoon. I pushed harder on the thick padding of shirts and pants. No movement. It was full – really, really full. I tossed the remaining pieces of clothing from the neatly folded laundry pile back onto my bed.
Now I must interject, it’s not that this dresser [...]
November 22nd, 2005 at 12:44 pm
Wow. That’s awful. I can’t believe it! You’re very right about our sinful natures, though. I just did a post on that- man’s total depravity, the first point of Calvinism.
“Nothing—not even homeschooling—will solve the problems of our society. Only one man can—and His name is Jesus Christ.” Amen!!
November 22nd, 2005 at 2:24 pm
I had read your post earlier in a feed, and was going to come back and comment on it. I was going to disagree with your statement to a certain extent when I realized you had concluded your post with the very fact I wanted to use.
It is so very true, we — our sinful flesh — are capable of doing anything, regardless of how evil. But we as saved individuals — saved from sin thru faith — could not, because “He is faithful to keep that which is commited to him.” It is so easy to think that our homeschooling, moral beliefs, even religion, makes us somehow immune to such evil sins. Sometimes we’re tempted to trust in ourselves, and our ‘moral upbringing’.
You’re post led to a great conclusion, even though the body of itself is entirely sad, and makes me sick almost every time I read it. :/
November 22nd, 2005 at 3:03 pm
This is terribly sad. I think I’m beginning to see why my parents won’t let me date for the next century. But I really don’t think I would date behind their backs either. And if anyone shot my parents, they wouldn’t live to regret it. This story makes me want to gag.
November 23rd, 2005 at 3:17 am
Teens In The News: David Ludwig and Kara Borden
Being homeschooled did not prevent this tragedy; growing up in a Christian environment did not prevent this tragedy; bearing many signs of true faith and an understanding of the Gospel did not prevent this tragedy; these are harsh, but necessary trut…
November 23rd, 2005 at 5:40 pm
[...] As I was reading the Rebelution today, I was thinking about their latest post. And as I sat their, I realized that no one can see the blog they were talking about. But actually, you can. Well, at least the front page. When you click on the links, you will understand my meaning. [...]
November 24th, 2005 at 5:12 pm
Nothing—not even homeschooling—will solve the problems of our society. Only one man can—and His name is Jesus Christ.
I thoroughly agree 100% with this statement.
However, according to the Rebelution article, it seems the two teenagers were essentially “on fire for Jesus”.
I honestly can’t understand how a Christian can murder another Christian – for that seems to be what has happened.
What really needs to be examined is this: To what extent was Ludwig’s “Christian Faith” fatally insufficient? Was his understanding of how God works and guides us somehow skewed? Did he take on board the cultural values of the world as though it were Christian? Was he reading the Bible in an objective manner, or a subjective “experience-based” manner?
All these are important questions – and one in which we all have to ask ourselves
November 24th, 2005 at 9:19 pm
Well, you know, here’s what I’m thinking. I know a lot of kids who on the outside can be great. They don’t do wrong things (at least in the world’s standard) and are generally good kids. They can outwardly be “on fire” for Jesus. It all comes down to the heart, and what is really there.
We can have fakes everywhere. It’s funny, our church youth group has been talking about fakes–and I think it’s making a lot of people uncomfortable. But it’s good. It exposes the fakes, and it really pushes teens to make the choice and not sit on the fence anymore, or hide. They either need to hand their whole lives over to God, or none of it at all.
I see a cleansing of the church coming on–not in the form of physical persecution, but in the form of us being able to really see the fakes from the genuine believers by thier beliefs.
November 30th, 2005 at 11:28 am
I think the kids at Rebelution were right about the big picture, but mistaken in the details about David and Kara. I also read their blogs and the blogs of their friends, and I would not have characterized them as ‘on fire for Christ.’ I would have characterized them as emotion based, God as a vending machine in the sky, Jesus is my home-boy, it’s all about how God just wants me, me, me to be happy, happy, happy.
I posted some thoughts about that and some links to stories with some of the disturbing indications that David, in particular, used religious talk to attract girls, over at the Rebelution.
November 30th, 2005 at 12:15 pm
Exactly.
November 30th, 2005 at 4:00 pm
LOL, Tim, I didn’t see your comment about having fakes everywhere until just now- but yes, exactly what you said- there are a lot of fakes, some of whom are very good at using God-talk as the lingua franca of the day.
Very astute observation there.
December 2nd, 2005 at 7:50 am
[...] That’s your weekly dose of good news (finally!). I’m somewhat tired of blogging on depressing, annoying, and just plain sad stories. But today is your day to run the blog…what’s on your mind? [...]
December 22nd, 2005 at 2:06 pm
[...] In the past months, many discussions about the total depravity of man have come about from some of the shootings in the news. Homeschoolers such as David Ludwig and Kara Borden, and more recently, Patrick Armstrong remind us that we are all sinners, and that we must all depend on Christ to save us. [...]
January 17th, 2006 at 8:57 pm
[...] David Ludwig killed his girlfriend’s parents. Patrick Armstrong killed his “friend,” who was a girl. And now, this 15-year-old gets himself killed because he’s depressed about a fight over a girl. That’s really warning number one when it comes to teens–watch out for the boy/girl relationship that can easily end up on the front page of Agent Tim Online. You really don’t want that to happen. [...]
June 15th, 2006 at 11:44 pm
[...] David Ludwig has now recieved that very sentence for killing his “girlfriend’s” father in mother in cold blood a few months ago. I covered this story closely. I pray that the report that Kara (the girlfriend), is now living with her siblings in another state and will be able to be given the chance to “ecapture her teenage years.” My heart goes out to all involved in this horrible event. Judge David Ashworth, at the close of the proceeding, told Ludwig that his “selfish” acts that day had destroyed not only two lives, but Ludwig’s own and those of the victims’ families, “and nothing you can do or say will ever change that.” [...]
July 8th, 2006 at 10:08 pm
I am very surprised that you say that we are all bad and are all capable of grabbing a gun and shooting anyone. I don’t think that is true at all. While there are some people who are clearly evil and others who are deranged, most people are good.
I don’t think that home schooling can be blamed for such events but I also don’t think that those who are home schooled are any less likely to do such things than those who are not. It depends alot on who is doing the home schooling. There are those who are very much involved in the home schooling of their kids and others who are just not capable of it.
July 8th, 2006 at 10:15 pm
One salient oversight said, “I don’t see how a Christian can murder another Christian.” This left me wondering, do you think that a Christian could murder a Jew or a Moslem or a Hindu or an atheist and still be a Christian? Do you really value Christian lives more than others.
Maybe I read you wrong, but if that’s what you meant you make me sick.
July 9th, 2006 at 1:36 pm
According to God’s Word, there is no one good. All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. But enough Bible verses…just take a look at God’s Ten Commandments and tell me that you haven’t broken at least one of them. According to God, we are all liars, theives, adulterers, and even murderers.
But how can we all be murderers? Pretty simple. In the New Testament, Jesus tells us that if you hate your brother, you have committed murder in your heart – heavy stuff. It’s the same thing with lust – you don’t have to physically commit adultery, you just have to look with lust and you have sinned before a perfect, holy, and righteous God who is just and must punish sin. According to God, we all deserve hell – eternal punishment. But that’s not the end of the story.
Now, for the answer to your question.
1. No, if done physically. But again, God calls us to a higher standard. He knows all of our thoughts…
2. No, I do not value Christian lives any more than another life. They are all precious.
September 12th, 2006 at 7:13 am
[...] Last night I had the wildest thought and feeling – I felt sorry for a killer. I felt a need to pray for him, his family, those he affected, and most importantly for his soul. This killer was David Ludwig, my ever-popular example for teens gone bad. His actions, killing his 14-year-old girlfriend’s parents in cold blood, should have been punished by death, yet I believe he probably received a sentence far worse – a life sentence thinking about his crime and surviving prison life. [...]
October 2nd, 2006 at 10:51 pm
Part of the scenario you are all missing is that Ludwig had killed many times before…..as a hunter he was familiar with killing and was raised in a household full of guns. David first slew the lion and the bear before killing the man Goliath in the old testament. Was this a sick, twisted acting out of Ludwig’s killing behavior- magnified to now include people? Having become accustomed to taking the life of a lesser creature, he now acted out on a larger stage. Just saying oh sure, we’re all sinners, we can all kill, is a poor response to this issue. In these New Testament times we must value the sanctity of all life. Of course I as a Christian value human beings above all, but teaching our children to kill those weaker than ourselves for sport is not a responsible thing for Christian parents to do. Life is a gift given by God, it is not to be treated lightly…………