Although no charges have been laid yet, at least 52 parents from Christian churches throughout America are being questioned.
Known as the "Child salvation" movement, it is based on the understanding that children are without sin, and are automatically granted entry into heaven when they die.
Dr. Brian Miller, professor of ethical theology at the Southwestern Presbyterian Seminary in Clifton, Arizona, stated "The problem is that when children grow up to be adults, they pass what is known as 'the age of accountability', which means that they become responsible for their own acts of sin."
"Once they get to this point, their sin cuts them off from God and they are condemned to hell. Many parents are now seeing infanticide as a means to ensure that their children enter heaven."
Although the FBI has refused to give details about the case, they did state that many of the parents had travelled with their families overseas, and then returned without their children.
Sheila Reid, one of movement's leaders, argued that they never taught anyone to murder their children. "All we do is teach them what God says in the Bible. We teach them that their kids are Christians and are perfect in God's eyes. We then teach them that children who die before reaching the age of accountability go to heaven. That's it."
"We do not teach anyone to murder their children. Murder is wrong, but it is a sin that God can forgive if you have been saved."
The response from within the church has been swift. Every major evangelical leader has condemned the ideas that Reid and her followers espouse.
One of these leaders is Simon Nash, the pastor of the 10,000 strong Akeldama Christian Fellowship in Crandon, Wisconsin, and author of Elect God!
"By killing these children, the parents take away the child's freedom to choose to repent. By not allowing anyone to make the choice to go to heaven or hell, these parents commit the worst possible sin."
"God did not make us robots. He made us to have choice."
Nash attacked the leaders of the Child Salvation movement for emphasizing the wrong thing.
"There is no doubt that going to heaven is an important thing - but it's not the most important thing."
"It is far better for a child to grow up, reject Christ and be sent to hell than it is for that child to be murdered and go to heaven. The issue is not where you end up, but the fact that you have a choice."
"Jesus died so that we could have a choice"
The FBI investigation is continuing.
From the Department of Attempted Humour
© 2005 Neil McKenzie Cameron, http://one-salient-oversight.blogspot.com/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
2 comments:
Wow. That article is wrong on so many levels.
This is very good! You've picked a pet peeve topic of mine. You had me going for a minute or two. I started to think of a great comeback line involving parents of teens, but there's no way to write that without sounding just awful! ;)
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