Guard the Children

I've been sick this past week, so I got a chance to watch some shows. My favorite to watch are either slow moving dramas or documentaries. I don't know why. Maybe because they affect more calm or maybe because they tend to be more thoughtfully put together. In any case, I sat down this time to watch a documentary entitled, "Deliver Us from Evil." It was about a specific sexual abuse scandal within the Roman Catholic Church that centered on a priest in California. It was on Netflix, so if you have it (and are an adult--it's not for children), I definitely recommend seeing it (although I had to fastfoward certain parts when they interviewed the "priest," as I felt it was unnecessary to include the details that they had him include).

I have to say, I don't think I've ever cried so much at a documentary before. By the time it was over I was extremely upset and disturbed by it. The amount of betrayal perpetrated by this "priest" against the children, but also the families of those children, was unbelievable. The guy was clearly a sociopath. The lives he ruined were legion, and the lack of concern on the part of the Roman Catholic Church officials was appalling. It went straight up the line even to the current pope. If anything makes me want to identify the RCC with the whore in John's Apocalypse, other than its teachings concerning salvation, it is this. Perhaps, because I also know that this is not a new issue for that entity, but stems back for centuries when certain popes engaged in just such behavior.

But this post isn't about the RCC. It's about the crime of pedophilia. The pedophile is nothing more than a murderer. He rapes his victim, and robs him or her of who they would have been had they not been so violated. I've heard many a pedophile convince themselves that their victims were willing partners, and of course, a child might appear that way to them, since the child has no clue what to do in that situation. But have no doubt. This is rape, as one of the fathers of the victims cried out in the documentary again and again. This is more than rape though. This is murder.

You see, I know I always go back to the creation ethic, but it is extremely important to have this base in order to know what sin is to be categorized correctly. This sin is an anticreational sin. Such a sex act does not produce family, but death instead. It distorts sexuality to the unproductive toward life. It often distorts the sexuality of the victims. It often takes away their desire to have children even in a normal relationship later on. It just plain destroys. Because of this, it is equal to the sins of homosexuality, incest, murder, etc. (i.e., the sins of Lev 18 that speak of sexual distortions that work toward the destruction of children and family).

Hence, there is no doubt in my mind that our current laws are unjust in this regard. This offense deserves nothing more than execution. It is an abominable crime against God and man, because it is an abominable crime against the weakest and most vulnerable of our society, the ones who have no choice but to place their whole hope and trust in us as adults, and yet, some of those adults choose to become their destroyers instead. There can be no other answer to such a crime than the termination of the life of the perpetrator, and because our government has failed in this regard, I believe this crime is becoming more rampant, especially as our culture becomes more and more sexually depraved as it sinks into its own idolatry of narcissism. Indeed, our culture is slowly moving toward becoming a factory of sociopaths, who cannot identify with their victims so as to be appalled by their actions before they do them.

But even if pedophiles escape the judgment of this life. The Lord Jesus Christ tells us that they will not escape the next. His words in Luke 17:1-2 are applicable here.

And He said to His disciples, "It is inevitable that stumbling blocks should come, but woe to him through whom they come! "It would be better for him if a  millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.


This is repeated in all three Synoptic gospels in various ways. It first and foremost speaks to ruining the faith of a child. Thus, the one who causes a child to stop following Christ, or hurts the child's faith, is better off committing suicide in the most violent manner. The point is simply that the judgment to come for destroying a child is a greater terror than immediately cutting off your own life short and dying in such a violent manner.

The person who destroys a child is a murderer, and John tells us that no murderer will enter the Kingdom of God. Indeed, we might say that it would be better for the pedophile that he had not been born at all.

Now, you may say, "But the pedophile can be saved too." And I would reply, "Not as a pedophile, he can't." If he wants to be saved, let him immediately cease from this sin for the rest of his life, and spend his days making restitution. Then, and only then, perhaps, with some sliver of hope, God may grant him true repentance and forgiveness, since Christ is so valuable, and hence His sacrifice is so valuable, that it can even pay for the sins of this worthless wretch and make him a lifegiver instead. But if he continues another act of it, thinking he can be forgiven in the end anyway, let him know that God will likely not grant him repentance, and if that is the case, he will surely perish, and enter that terror that is greater than a horrible suicide.

But whatever comes of him is of no concern to me. I'm concerned with the victims, not the criminal. He has his route laid out above: repent completely and have a chance of life or end yourself before you harm another child.

The victim needs to know that he or she will have justice, even if there is none here. I assure you, no one is angrier than God about it. In fact, he doesn't actually say what He does above about anything else. He comes close to saying it about Judas betraying the Son of God, so if anything, the situation of the pedophile is the situation of Judas, whose soul was reserved for hell.

But God will give you justice, either through the wrath poured out upon His Son or through His wrath poured out upon the pedophile (most often the latter). In fact, there may have been pedophiles who were saved, but we don't actually have any record of them. Again, it may simply be that God does not grant them repentance so as to allow salvation to be an option for them. It's not for me to say either way. The point is that this crime should never be performed, EVER! And the casual manner in which our culture has taken sex truly disturbs me into thinking that one day we will become like ancient Greece and not see this as bad as a crime as it really is. But God will not allow this evil to go unpunished. Children are the apple of His eye. They surround Him in heaven. Their prayers are ever before Him, and He will bring those who harm them to a bitter end.

Unfortunately, most of those who are abused by so-called "christians" lose their faith. And so many in the video lost theirs in one way or another. They became distorted in their relationships and sexuality themselves, and thus have been made to fall to the ground by these stumbling blocks. As Christ says, It is necessary that they come, but woe to those through whom they come.

A word to the wise: I don't think most people realize how widespread this is. It's turning into an epidemic. A professor at Wheaton was just arrested for surfing child pornography sites (which is nice that they at least observe that now). Pedophiles are often your best friends, next door neighbors, coaches, teachers, Sunday School teachers, etc. In other words, you can't tell who they are. You would never know it or believe it if you were told, just like these families never believed it until the evidence was so overwhelming that they had to. But that evidence isn't always going to come. If anything, you need to see what adults want to hang around your kids a lot. They like to work around children or to be around families with children a lot. It's sad, because some people just love kids and want to see them nurtured, and so they enjoy working with them, but in this day and age, you cannot afford to not be skeptical and watch your kids like a hawk. Guard your children. You are their only defense against the pedophile. If you do not protect them, and you may not always be able to do so, then they are without defense.

The only other thing you can do is teach your kids that their bodies are for their spouses when they grow up, and that if anyone else tries to touch them, they should tell you right away. Also comfort them that no one can hurt you or them if they secretly tell you. For one, pedophiles almost always threaten the child or the parents, and for another, you don't want the child announcing to the pedophile that he or she is going to tell on them. A sociopath is likely to really harm your child then. It's a shame that we have to teach our children these things today, but this evil has gotten out of hand, and we need to take appropriate actions against it.

Whatever way you decide to deal with it, deal with it. Don't brush it under the carpet because you don't want to think of such things. Your child has to live such things. How much less is it for you to have to go there. Deal with it and save your child. Be skeptical. Limit your child from hanging out with adults or in places where they are not under your supervision. Yeah, you can give the old irresponsible line, "Well, I don't think we should live in fear," and that's really nice for you; but you're child may be living in terror because you don't want to live in fear and put up some ground rules to provide a defense for them. We don't live in Mayberry anymore. We never really did. So go ahead and be that overprotective Mom or Dad when it comes to this, so that if such a predator victimizes your child it will be despite of what you did rather than because of what you didn't do.

And let's not argue the "trust in God" routine. God has given you responsibilities as a parent. We put all things in God's hands while we are working all things for good with our own. It's not a false dichotomy we need to make.

And to the pedophile: Let the words of Ecclesiastes forever ring in your ears:

The conclusion, when all has been heard, [is:] fear God and keep His commandments, because this [applies to] every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. (12:13-14)