John Allen Chau: A Lesson in Mourning and Partiality.

An unarmed man was killed because his killers felt threatened by his presence and misunderstood his intentions. They feared for their lives and they shot him until he died.

Sound familiar?

As I have been scrolling facebook today I have come upon some discourse and debate about whether John Allen Chau “deserved” what he got. And there has been understandable outrage about the insensitivity and the audacity of the question.

Some folks in the church are responding by heralding him as a martyr of the faith and in some ways, sensationalizing his tragic and untimely death. Others are saying he shouldn’t have done what he did and his actions were foolish. He could’ve caused the extinction of the Sentinelese people he was allegedly trying to reach that he was reckless and that he deliberately broke the laws.

I have no doubt the young man was sincere and well intentioned. He seemed quite adventurous and kind. If he was in fact a missionary, I have no doubts he is with Jesus in glory and paradise a…