Yesterday as Sunday School began I ran to take care of a few small things while the others started. I got back, sat down, and Steve said "we're discussing laws that people don't mind ignoring."
Ever quick with the tongue I said "well, speeding of course." And Steve said, "yeah, we got that one" and right on the heels of that I said "...and murder when it comes to child predators." At that moments, all eyes were on me.
Someone said "wow, that's random." Another said "oh, I see it, speeding...murder. Very similar." And then they laughed and laughed at me.
Okay, I get that speeding and murder aren't the same but I'm sure many, many feel as I do--no mercy for those who prey on children and take away their innocence. I'm pretty sure scripture deals with it harshly too. As a matter of fact, even among criminals, child predators are seen as the bottom of the heap and frequently meet their demise at the hands of other prisoners. That really should tell us something. Rehabilitation? Not likely.
Really, all randomness of the comment aside, am I alone?
2 comments:
Julie,
While I do believe in gradations of sin, with predators being in deep sin versus perhaps a lie... all sin has been atoned for, even predators, if they have come to know the Lord as Savior in their life.
I have two specific men in my life who have been brought to that saving faith through Jesus' compassion and love, shown through two local churches. One of those men was a neighbor of mine, and I went through the concern of any parent that this might have happened to my child, and in fact had to ask them those hard questions regarding this neighbor.
So, yes, there are different opinions about the subject, but I agree that it is most definitely a very hard subject to deal with.
Sharon - thanks for your comment and for probing thoughts. I respectfully disagree with the degrees of sin though. I believe that if I lived a perfect life other than 1 small lie, that one sin would send me to hell if I didn't have Christ as Savior. In that sense, every person must receive Christ as Savior to atone for that sin. As humans we want to feel better about our sin so we say murder is far worse. It is not. To God, sin is sin. He forgives child predators just as He forgave me--if only they repent and accept His gift of salvation. And he is perfectly capable of rehabilitating all sinners.
I do, however, think that there will be varying degrees of hell for those who die without Christ as Savior. For example, Hitler would have a far worse hell than the average guy who lived a "good" life but died without Christ.
It makes total sense in my head although I am not sure I am adquately stating it.
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