What a great posting. I knew they were home schooled but didn't know that they had an explicit Christian faith.

And of course you nailed it on the head when you remind yourself and your readers that you, too, are capable of evil. It reminds me that I, too, can be evil, and it is only by the Grace of God that I am who he has made me to be.

A humble, thoughtful and challenging article.
One Salient Oversight | Homepage | 11.23.05 - 1:10 am | #

Thank you for your insight. Incredibly thought provoking.
Cathy | Homepage | 11.23.05 - 3:57 am | #

Great job Alex. Thanks for expanding, and posting a lot about their Christian faith. On CBS, they were actually talking about how the families faith was holding them together at this time. Amazing story.
Agent Tim | Homepage | 11.23.05 - 4:32 am | #

I have been following this story and have penned a plethora of thoughts. Leery to post them, I appreaciate your post.
Miss Kelly | Homepage | 11.23.05 - 6:32 am | #

I came to exactly this same conclusion a few years ago when Andrea Yates murdered her five children about three blocks down the street from where I live. To be clear, I've never even considered murdering my children, but depravity is depravity, and I am certainly capable of much worse than than I have actually acted out, by the grace of God.
Sherry | Homepage | 11.23.05 - 7:49 am | #

Awesome. One thing that I think most teens need to realize too, is that just growing up in a Christian home with a Christian environment, isn't going to keep you from sin. I think you said that in your post. However, another, just as important thing that I think the readers need to realize is that you can't hold your parents faith forever. At some point it has to become your own.

All the same, very insightful post. Great job Alex.
Marshall | Homepage | 11.23.05 - 8:11 am | #

How very true that only God knows the condition of the heart.
Gracie | Homepage | 11.23.05 - 8:12 am | #

Wow!! I had no idea that they were professing Christians or homeschooled!! I agree with Gracie-- only God knows their hearts. It is such a sad situation...

~Nella
Nella | 11.23.05 - 8:19 am | #

provoking. thnaks for posting this--a poignant reminder of our sinfulness, and of the grace that changes us!
hannah | Homepage | 11.23.05 - 9:13 am | #

Someone once said, "There is no limit to the depth of depravity to which we can sink when our eyes are not on Christ."

Wow, what a reminder. I will pray for both them and their families in this heartbreaking time.
Elizabeth | 11.23.05 - 9:47 am | #

It always comes down to God's grace, doesn't it? Which means our response to God should be one of total faith and total humility. Thank you for the reminder.
Karen Kovaka | Homepage | 11.23.05 - 2:43 pm | #

Wow.

Just... wow.

I'd heard a little bit about this before, but didn't thoroughly understand the situation.

It's very interesting and heartbreaking.

*sigh*

The post makes some good points. In combat, when soldiers relax and think they're in the clear, they get killed.

That's pretty much how it is in every aspect of life, I suppose.
John Robert Moore | Homepage | 11.23.05 - 2:59 pm | #

"The most dangerous thing happening in the church today is not commitment, (although that is important) the problem is not our understanding of theology (although that is also important), the most dangerous aspect of the church, is how easy it is to talk the talk and walk the walk; to have that appearance of righteousness, self-righteousness." Steve Brown

I was able to hear Mr. Brown speak at a conference and what He said filled me with the fear of God. How easy it is to give the right answer, have the right attitude, and do what is "right". I am guilty of this, because it is so much easier to seem "nice" and "good" then show myself and others what truly is in my heart and let the truth of God be shed in my life.

I wonder what would happen, if parents, siblings, and those of the church, would desire to see the truth of their hearts and the hearts of others, even when the sight isn't pretty. Are we so concerned about being right that the truth of our hearts are not exposed? Shall we ignore the danger of our deceit? Will I take off one more mask so you can see who I am? Or will I continue to brush my sin under a rug and hope it goes away?

Thank you Alex for writing this post and being honest while doing it.

What do you think could have been done to prevent what David and Kara did?
Anonymous | 11.23.05 - 3:53 pm | #

excellent point, witht the parallel of the speech.
wow.
hannah | Homepage | 11.23.05 - 4:01 pm | #

Yeah. What if everybody knew our thoughts all the time. Would that change our actions? Would that change our thought process?


Well, God sees every last one of our thoughts, and we must take our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ, because God knoweth the heart, and will judge accordingly.
John Robert Moore | Homepage | 11.23.05 - 5:00 pm | #

Thank you for the thoughts...let us examine our hearts.
Bryce | Homepage | 11.24.05 - 5:08 am | #

Thank you for this amazing post. Referencing the quote of, "There, but for the grace of God, go I" is so incredibly true. It really opened my eyes, and I saw the parallel, not just between the two things that you posted, but also due to some situations in my life.

I know some folks who are struggling with different things, some of them things that make you say, "I never would have thought so-and-so would do such a thing," or "I never thought that that could happen to such-and-such," and it just wasn't making sense to me, that people I thought I knew, that I had trusted, were part of such things. This post really helped me, not to open my eyes, because I knew what happened, but to -see- with them when they are open, and to at least comprehend situations that beforehand left me spinning.

Thank you for following God, and putting The Rebelution out there.
Hannah (CountryGoalie) | Homepage | 11.24.05 - 6:27 am | #

Great thoughts as always....God have mercy on us all.
David Ketter | Homepage | 11.24.05 - 6:44 am | #

Well done. Thank you for posting this tremendous entry.
JenIG | Homepage | 11.24.05 - 10:47 am | #

Once this thing has concluded I'm going to write something on it. I honestly must say that first reactions are to say, 'criminals' and put them in that class of below-normal-humans. However, as details unfolded, I began to unpeal myself from that view. I guess it's honestly really hard to say, oh, we're all that bad. WE want to hold onto some scrap of our own righteousness and convince ourselves that we are 'better'. Although I fully understood the aspect of our own depravity, I never though of applying it to something so grossly sinful. I mean it's easier to say, ok, we are capable of doing something less drastic, but murder, that's a real reality check. Yet it's there staring point blank in the face. We *cannot* be relied on to keep ourselves from evil. We've experienced on the small scale. It doesn't really make too much of a difference on the large scale. Small sins grow. Apparently the whole thing resulted from an allowing of, 1) lusts 2) feelings 3) anger to gain control of himself. (all things we've experienced battle with at one time or another) Satan likes to use building blocks in sin, it's so much more fun to watch a tall tower fall than a small tower.

Thanks for your article. It's filled with excellent insight. :)
David Boskovic | Homepage | 11.24.05 - 2:45 pm | #

Satan likes to use building blocks in sin, it's so much more fun to watch a tall tower fall than a small tower.

Wow...that just goes to show that we are all human and just because we are Christians doesn't mean we can't do something horrible.
It makes me think....I guess I'm capable of doing something like that, I just pray I never do. But, I make mistakes and in God's eyes it might as well be murder...so who am I to judge?
Kelsa | Homepage | 11.24.05 - 5:29 pm | #

Excellent post, Alex. I had heard about this briefly on the news, but I had no clue that these two were Christians and homeschoolers. You always think people "like that" would never do anything "like that".

It is shocking, but also so true that deep inside, all of us -myself - are capable, and naturally bent, to be "like that". It's scary, but drives me to the Lord, knowing I should never relax and think I'm safe, but keep striving to lay hold of God and fight the sins in my life.
Hannah L. | Homepage | 11.25.05 - 6:53 am | #

I feel rather dense asking this question, but how do I get a trackback URL to work? I tried to use it to link to this article from my post (http://journals.aol.com/tehfifthfeather/affected/ entries/1722) but it didn't lead to a valid page, so I changed it back to linking to the entry's page instead.

I would appreciate any help you could offer - even if it's just pointing me to another website that can explain it to me.

Thanks muchly.
Hannah (CountryGoalie) | Homepage | 11.25.05 - 7:38 am | #

Can you do trackback with an AOL Journal?

Tim, you had one didn't you? Do you know?
Alex Jordan Harris | Homepage | 11.25.05 - 2:13 pm | #

wow, an excellent post Alex.

All too often I think we can feel "safe" because we're Christians, we're homeschooled, but all of us have hearts that are deceitful and desperately wicked.

Keep up the good work :)
Jenna | Homepage | 11.25.05 - 10:58 pm | #

This is indeed a tragic situation. Reading further in the 2 message boards these young people were active in, you can read where they once had their eyes upon Christ. Then, less and less. In a conversation with her friend, Kara showed a decidedly different persona than the excerpts shared in your blog. Very sad. And very true that each one of us is capable of sin that results in grave consequences...especially when we get our eyes off Jesus. Kara and David, I'm sure - I pray, are viewing their situation with different eyes/heart at this point. I'm praying for them...and for their families.
MiddleAgedMomma | 11.26.05 - 7:13 am | #

Excellent article. I posted some similar thoughts on my blog a couple days ago based on when I met David Ludwig 3 years ago at a Bible quiz we both competed in.
manthano | Homepage | 11.26.05 - 12:24 pm | #

Hey Alex,

Absolutely terrific post! I was thinking many of the exact same things when I first heard of this story and went and read the kid's blogs and those of their friends. But for the grace of God there go I indeed. Excellent take on the whole story.

Were you following the discussion that took place on David's Xanga last week? It was very interesting seeing the wide variety of comments, varying from obscene epithets to expressions of genuine Christian love for David and Kara on the part of their friends and other Christians that came upon the site. If you're interested in reading my take on the whole thing, I posted an entry on my blog about it as well: www.xanga.com/darklordofdebate . God bless!

~Patrick McKay
Patrick McKay | Homepage | 11.26.05 - 2:03 pm | #

I was thinking about David. Not the present David but the David who committed adultery with Bathsheba and then murdered her husband. It is said in the Bible that he was a man after God's own heart. But he sinned miserably. However, God forgave him. There were consequenses to his actions, but God brought him to repentance and forgave him. I hope the present David will follow this example.
Kirk | Homepage | 11.28.05 - 6:59 pm | #

This is my first comment on this blog, although I have been a silent lurker for many weeks. I appreciate the good perspective on this news story that has captured the attention of many. I, like many others, wondered how to put the pieces together, yet this entry has shed some excellent light on the matter.

We, as Christians, can't think for a moment that we are safe or infallible. We are in the most danger when we become complacent in our Christian lives and stop constantly evaluating where we are in line with God's Word. Satan has had thousands of years to perfect his methods of deception...why should we think that we are safe? We can't keep ourselves from evil on our own strength...it is only by the grace of God.

Romans 12:2 "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God."

The story of David and Kara, while horrific and tragic, has similarities that are sadly in Christian teens...adolescent secret relationships, anger towards authorities, misplaced loyalties.... of course, most don't end in murder, but this should serve as a wake-up call to America's Christian teens. It is when we forget what separates us from the world, we are most susceptible to the hijacking of our minds by the enemy.

This whole story is heartbreaking. It has caused so much grief and shock to many, and many prayers are being sent on behalf of David and Kara and their families. Yet, it is startling because it hits SO close to home.

I probably haven't said anything new, but those are a few thoughts.... for whatever it's worth. I look forward to reading more. God bless!
Beth | 11.29.05 - 11:46 am | #

Beth: Thank you so much for commenting! Your comment was very thoughtful and much appreciated. It is when we forget what separates us from the world that we are most susceptible to the enemy. Well said!
Brett Harris | Homepage | 11.29.05 - 8:59 pm | #

This is a good post, and I agree that we all need to look to ourselves and not be coplacent. But I think it's interesting how different people can read the same thing and come away with different ideas about it. I also read David's blog (and their friends' blogs) and I was struck by his view of God as a vending machine on high. I wasn't favorably impressed by either Kara or David's expressions of faith- they were not much different than expressions of delight over a rock band or a new and very cool shirt, IMO.
In reading those blogs I was also disturbed to see that for most of those kids murder and premarital sex were 'making bad choices' and nobody should judge those who indulged in those bad choices. But letting somebody's parents know what was going on was worse than a bad choice- that would have been a very, very *bad* thing for them to do. These kids have, at best, a very twisted sense of values, right, wrong, sin, and good and evil.

You might read this (and other news reports on the same site):
http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/18786

Did David Ludwig use his Christian faith to manipulate and get close to girls?
...John Powers, of Long Island, N.Y., has written about the case on his “Action Report” Web site.

In an interview today, he said that an anonymous source gave him access to Ludwig’s e-mail account and that Ludwig’s e-mails show Ludwig had another relationship with a girl he met while on a trip to Hawaii last summer.

Ludwig had contact with several other girls around the same time, Powers said.

In the e-mails, Powers said, “He starts off preaching the word. It’s a level of communication they all could understand, something they all have in common.”

The girls responded in the same vein, and the relationship developed, Powers said.

Ludwig had gotten into trouble locally and, it appears, in Hawaii, for his actions in the past year, according to news accounts and the Web sites.

The pastor of Ludwig’s church told a reporter last week that Ludwig took a girl to Ludwig’s family’s cabin in Juniata County without her parents’ permission last spring, but that the girl’s parents did not contact authorities about it.

In a story posted on Court TV’s “Crime Library” Web site, writer Steve Huff said, “David Ludwig, at least, seemed to use his ‘faith’ in the same way other men use sports cars — as a ‘hook.’ ”

I would also note that looking at a timeline of events, the 'spirit led' initiative to fix up The Barn as a place where the kids could go to 'seek God's face' (because, naturally, David adn his pals could not seek God's face at home or in their churches or with adult supervision) only took place after the family cabin was off limits to David because he took at least one girl there without her family's permission.

None of this negates your broader points, I would just be careful about taking those public confessions of faith as expressed by Luttig and people like him at face value.
DeputyHeadmistress | Homepage | 11.30.05 - 8:14 am | #

As you remember even Satan quoted scripture to Jesus and he acknowledge the assistance of God and Jesus...in other words those two things are not enough to change the evil in our hearts...you must surrender you heart to the Lord and admit that you need him and him alone in order to be saved.
Kathrynne | 11.30.05 - 9:58 pm | #

DeputyHeadmistress: To begin, let me thank you for your input. Even from reading your (relatively) brief comment on our blog in response to my post on the subject, I appreciated the fact that you have diligently researched the issue. I too had been to Lancaster Online, reading the articles, and many of the lengthy comment sections. I had also frequented Crime Library and the Action Report, and read the released excerpts from the emails allegedly written by David and his various female acquaintances. All this to say, I was aware of the information you cite, before I wrote my post.

With that understanding, I would respectfully defend my position on a few of the points over which we disagree, but primarily, just clarify several areas of misunderstanding:

As you recognized, the message of my article was simply, "There, but for the grace of God, go I." You see, regardless of the differences between David Ludwig, Kara Borden and myself, the only thing that separates me from them is the grace of God. Remove His grace, and I would be no better. In fact, I would be worse.

To continue, you will notice that I never claimed that either David or Kara were saved. My first reference to Christianity was to say, "David and Kara, you understand, are churchgoers, youth group attendees, from Christian families, with Christian friends." Later, I referred to them as "homeschooled teens from Christian families." However, I did not claim that they themselves were born again.

Our reason for disagreement, even if it is ever so slight, I would assume, stems from a different statement: my claim that David and Kara, quote: "bore many signs of true faith and an understanding of the Gospel." In retrospect, perhaps I could have clarified this statement more explicitly by saying something more to the effect of: "bearing the outward appearance of faith and seeming to have an understanding of the Gospel." However, the purpose of the statement was only to recognize that — for a majority of their lives, and to most people around them — David and Kara appeared to be saved.

Now, bear in mind that when I say this, I do not necessarily refer to the several days, weeks, and months immediately prior to the murder of Michael and Cathryn Borden, but rather to the broader picture of Kara and David's lives. I think it would incredibly assumptive for us to say that — had we met David Ludwig or Kara Borden three to six months in the past — we would not have thought them to be pretty normal Christian kids. David we are told was involved in Bible Quizzing and probably had the entire book of 1 Peter memorized (and most likely, had other books memorized as well, since that was just one competition). As one of our readers aptly noted, David had memorized more Scripture than most of us have. Furthermore, a fellow employee and college student who was interviewed in the aftermath of the murder said, "I considered [David] to be a good Christian — he brought his Bible and read it during breaks."

Suffice to say that — during a significant portion of his life — David Ludwig showed more signs of being a Christian than many people who will never commit a crime. His familiarity with Scripture means he probably had a much better understanding of the Gospel than your typical youth group-attending, faith-professing Christian. 'The Barn Project' was described as the fulfillment of his father's vision for their barn to be used as a church ("7 years ago Greg Ludwig had a vision that this place would be used for "church." now 7 years later, God is beginning a work that is going to produce greater fruit than we can ever imagine; 30, 40, 50, a hundred fold! Our prayer is that The Barn may be a place of worship, where God is glorified, brothers and sisters in Christ are fed the meat of the Word, Jesus is worshipped, and God's will is advanced in His time.").

To be frank, based upon the evidence that is currently available, I would reject the theory that David used his "faith" as a hook to manipulate girls. At the very least, I would issue a strong word of caution. The truth is that, in many ways, the effort to label David as a "sexual predator" is distinctly Darwinian in nature; attempting to label criminals as sub-human or somehow less developed (or 'further depraved') than we are ourselves.

The quote by G.K. Chesterton, which I included in my original post, is appropriate again here: "No man’s really any good till he knows how bad he is, or might be; till he’s realized exactly how [little] right he has to all this snobbery, and sneering, and talking about ‘criminals,’ as if they were apes in a forest ten thousand miles away; till he’s got rid of all the dirty self-deception of talking about low types and deficient skulls; till he’s squeezed out of his soul the last drop of the oil of the Pharisees…”

Without expounding further at this time, and without claiming that David was nothing more than "starry-eyed and bushy-tailed," I would caution all of us to guard our hearts from the tendency of our secular culture to preoccupy itself with coming up with some sensational explanation for sin, when the real answer is given clearly in Scripture, and applies to each and every one of us: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)

As Kathrynne said, the "Christian"-like actions performed by David and Kara are not enough, by themselves, to change anyone's heart. What this means is that we cannot be complacent or lacksadaisical about the state of our souls. If all we do is go to church, read the Bible, memorize Scripture, and say 'God bless you' in our personal correspondence, it's not enough. And let's face it, we don't even do all of those things consistently.

In conclusion, it all comes back to grace. We all are born with sinful and wicked hearts, and no matter how vast the distance between us and any given criminal... That difference is God's mercy, and not our merit.
Alex Jordan Harris | Homepage | 12.01.05 - 5:47 am | #

Alex, I responded to your comment on my blog. I wont' repost it here because, even though I am regrettably unable to take the time to respond to every one of your points, my reply was still too long. =)
DeputyHeadmistress | Homepage | 12.01.05 - 10:15 am | #

Kara and David's blogs, as well as the new information brought to light, certainly does go to show the rampant misuse of Christianity and "Christianese" for selfish purposes. One lesson I believe we can learn from this is that each time we use a "Christianese" word or talk God, we should carefully examine our hearts to see if there is some hidden motive. I think we will be surprised at the percentage of our "holy urges" that are really very self-centered in nature when stripped away.
Perplexion | 12.01.05 - 5:58 pm | #

I have told my sons often - a man doesn't go straight to the gutter - he takes small steps along the way and then all of sudden looks back and asks "How did I get here?". One small compromise is all it takes to get on Satan's path to destruction. I would challenge all here to realize that the relationship these two shared was outside of God's plan for youth in arriving at the wedding alter. We are to "Flee youthful lust". How can we say we are when we insist on intimate (from simply sharing our thoughts to sharing much more) recreational relationships with the oposite sex before we are ready for marriage? Let us follow the example of Genesis with Adam in the Garden - sleep until God wakes you up and presents you with His choice for your life. All of us should be wary that all it takes is one step in the wrong direction to start us down a path that could very well end us in a situation as bad or worse. May we never forget the fact that truly “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”
Wayne | 12.28.05 - 11:01 am | #