Thoughts

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7

It’s only a thought. What harm can it do, and anyway, no one knows what I’m thinking! That’s how it usually goes, but how wrong. There is no doubt that thoughts are linked to our actions. After all, before we do something, we had the thought first. It stands to reason.

I was shocked and surprised to learn of the case of a young man who is in court charged as being a paedophile with shameful images on his computer. He hid this at the start so well, that many of his classmates didn’t know what he was like under the surface. This makes my heart cry out to the young folks of our generation. Don’t let your thoughts stray into dangerous places, imagining that no one will know or ever find out. The actions of this teen started out as a thought, and grew from there into horrifying action.

Please, guard your heart and mind and stay healthy inside your head. Don’t become trapped with the lie of the devil that it’s only a thought, and no one will ever know. Thoughts become a lifestyle, and your lifestyle becomes known to all. It may even land you in prison. The devil didn’t warn you about that, did he?

The heart is the most deceitful thing there is and desperately wicked. No one can really know how bad it is! Jeremiah 17:9

Paedophilia

The archbishop of Durban, South Africa, Wilfrid Fox Napier, has stated that there are some cases of child abuse which should not be punished, because it was not necessarily their fault, since they may have been abused as children themselves. In such cases it should be treated as a “psychological illness, and not a criminal condition”.

I have to be honest here, and say this statement does not sit well with me. That does not mean to say that I have no sympathy with anyone who has suffered at the evil hands of an abuser, at a young age. God is able to forgive, but to find a reason, or make an excuse for their behaviour, leaves me cold. Everything in life has a consequence. Every action we make or decision we take, has a consequence, either a good one, or a bad one. If we do this for paedophiles, then it can be argued that the same principle could apply to other heinous and grievous sins?

The Roman Catholic church has been rocked by many cases of paedophilia and other sexual abuses recently in the UK and the USA, and it struck me that it is no coincidence that the Cardinal spoke this way, and at this particular time. Is he leaving the door open to suggest that these sinning priests were not fully responsible for their actions against minors? Maybe the best people to ask are those who suffered at their hands many years before, and have lived with the scars ever since. The evil of this sin is not an exclusive possession of the Roman Catholic church. Other churches have suffered similar unwanted publicity, although I have to admit not on the same scale. Cardinal Napier was one of those who had been mentioned as a possibility for the new Pope. Let me put it this way, I am glad the new pontiff is Pope Francis I. The apostle Luke was a medical doctor in his day, and perhaps was familiar with the suffering caused by this kind of sin, so his words are all the more significant when he records:

Jesus said to his disciples: Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied round their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So watch yourselves. Luke 17:1-3 NIV