There is nothing more intolerable. Oh, perhaps there is one exception: mugging old ladies. With that in mind we can readily accept that brutality or negligence involving a child makes the most peaceable of us bristle with rage. Sometimes we may feel helpless when children are dragged into adult disputes. War brings collateral damage but harm done to children is in a category of its own.
With that in mind we can remind ourselves of Jesus’ attitude to children. He has severe words for anyone who offends..: ‘would be better for him anyone who offends to be thrown into the sea with a millstone round his neck’(Mark 9.13-48) Nowadays in place of millstone we might say car-battery. Children are foremost in this saying of Jesus but we adults too are taken to task about our responsibilities.
When we hear this kind of thing, we realise that we have instincts in common not only with our neighbours but with our Maker. The offence is egregious. It eclipses theft, violence between adults and ill-treatment of prisoners.
Christianity overlaps with common humanitarian instincts. This is scarcely surprising. Just as very few people are capable of inventing a new religion, so very few people can throw off humanitarian obligations like an old coat. This choice is about the way we are made, however we believe that came about.
We are all flawed people. We can’t repair the flaws without assistance. But our Maker can do that. That is, if we let him. It may be a lifelong project but Jesus’ mission was to make this possible. See 2 Corinthians 5.17.
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