Suffer the Children

[Paul62]

When we enter the border of California we were stopped and asked if we had any produce on board…What a blessing. and what heart ach we feel about our borders today.

I hear CA is tougher than ever on undocumented produce, especially from Wisconsin Soon you may have to choose from 3, maybe more, CA states. What a labyrinth!

[sam (Sam Geli)]

I agree wholeheartedly with this conclusion stated by Barry Casey in the article “Suffer The Children”.
"People of faith who look to the Bible to understand the function of principles in shaping our ethics and actions see that caring for children is pretty high up on the hierarchy of values for Jesus."

And yet, many persons may find it enlightening to discover the bible’s strange conception of parental love when they read that Job is wonderfully content to have his first set of children replaced by a second brood of seven sons and three daughters, after the original siblings were all crushed by God to test Job’s loyalty. They may become alarmed at the words of Jesus which promise rewards for all who abandon their families.
“There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, but he shall receive an hundredfold . . . ” Mark 10:29-30
Anyone who is not yet convinced of the inhumanity of the bible towards children should turn to the threats which are a great part of the 28th to 32nd chapters of Deuteronomy, which for their fierceness are not matched in any other literary biblical story, from Deuteronomy and Jeremiah alone, one will be treated to such unfeeling intentions of God concerning the young as: “The sword without and the terror within, shall destroy … the suckling.” Deut. 32:25
And “Their sons and daughters shall die by the famine.” ]er. 11:2
And “I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together.” Jer. 13:14 And “I will bereave them of children.” ]er. 15:7
And “I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters.” ]er. 19:9
And “Her daughters shall be burned with fire.” ]er. 49:2 And “Thou art my battle ax and my weapons of war, for with thee will I break in pieces old and young.” ]er.15:20
And “Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes.” Is. 13:16
These children whom God is going to dash to pieces include infants:
“Their infants shall be dashed to pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.” Hosea 13:16 And no illegitimate child has any hope of salvation, according to this same prophet, whose God told him that “I will not have mercy upon her children, for they are the children of whoredoms.” Hosea 2:4
There is much more.
My point is that a text without it’s context is a pretext. Brother Sessions may not be the only Christian who needs to look for more divine guidance on this subject of how to treat our children. One can only wonder how some religious persons under the auspices of protecting their children can cite selected scripture out of context.

[bearcee (Barry Casey)]

Sam, good insights here on a horrific subject. I am more and more convinced that Jesus spoke often with irony and even sarcasm, directed at the slowness of people—especially the disciples—to grasp what he was saying and living out in front of them. I think especially he employed hyperbole to break through their complacency and their mindset. That helps to explain his statements that you cite about hating one’s family and so forth. To take some of these statements literally runs against everything else we know about Jesus’ character and love toward others. As for the Old Testament stories . . . God works with the conditions of the times, not to be facetious about it. I don’t claim to be able to reconcile all that happens in the OT with what we see in NT. Some critics think the happily-ever-after ending of Job, so fantastic (as in fantasy) as to be ludicrous, was later appended to the story to ease the deep mystery of Job and his relation to God.

[sam (Sam Geli)]

Barry, Excellent perspective. Your statement “God works with the conditions of the time…” gives me a lot to think about. Thank you for understanding.

[Harry_Allen]

Thanks, @ajshep.

You said:

@ajshep

You should go over and help becaus it it the right thing to do.

In response:

O.K.

“You should go over and help becaus it it the right thing to do” is an answer, and one with which I can work.

You said:

@ajshep

And if it is as I state about all the parent caused accidents, then the parents should be held responsible and prosecuted.

In response:

Let’s agree to ignore the parents, momentarily, as an issue.

You said:

@ajshep

There is a differnce between a single individual doing what is right and a government dong what is right.

In response:

Really?

A difference of what kind?

You said:

@ajshep

And a single individual standing and opposing government action to stem the tide of accidents would be Immoral behavior. As bad as standing with the loaded ambulance and not helping.

In response:

Please explain what you mean, and its relevance to your thought experiment.

HA

[GeorgeTichy]

we also had John age 8 Steve age 5,and Carol age 2. they let us keep them

WOW Tom, that was a successful smuggling operation! Where did you have them, in the trunk?
Good job!!!

When I came to the US, my contraband included a wife and three children! Man, that was something else because they could see them all at the Customs. The airplane didn’t have a trunk!!!