Child Abuse and Hell

Mark 9:41-48

And whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it were better for him if a great millstone were hung about his neck, and he were thrown into the sea. If thy hand is an occasion of sin to thee cut it off! It is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than, having two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire. Where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot is an occasion of sin to thee, cut it off! It is better for thee to enter into life everlasting lame, than, having two feet be cast into the hell of unquenchable fire, 'Where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.' And, if they eye is an occasion of sin to thee, pluck it out! It is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hellfire, 'Where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.' For everyone shall be salted with fire, and every victim shall be salted.

I continue to be infuriated by child physical and sexual abuse in the world today. I do not know how clearer Jesus Christ could be than in the above passage. And yes, of course, this applies to priests too. Abuse is abuse regardless of who is doing the abusing and what their "excuse" may be. When I was a young girl walking home from school, a child predator attempted to get me into his car, but I did not and hid in a neighbor's house while we watched him prowl the streets looking for me. I got his license number and my mother went to the police (small town) and they said they could not do anything about it. We knew they were lying and covering up for someone. And he was not a priest. I wondered, even as a child, how many others would be hurt because of covering up, and this was covering up by secular authority in a small town where supposedly "everyone knew everyone and looked out for each other."

When the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to the children in Lourdes, she confirmed the existence of an everlasting and terrible hell by showing the children a very brief view. She warned that very many people would go to hell because of sins of lust.

When Jesus is speaking in physical terms, such as the removal of hand, foot, and eye, that causes sin, he is making two very important points. One is that hell is a reality, one that is by definition unbearable, yet must be borne for eternity by those who are cast into it. It's not just a fairy story to make people behave. The Blessed Virgin Mary practically pleaded for people to not succumb to crimes of lust and therefore go to hell. She was not talking about sex outside of marriage, or wearing a short skirt. She foresaw the terrible perversion toward even the youngest and most innocent of children that would overcome people like the sewage that it is. And remember, those who were oppressed in the times of Christ were terribly tortured and abused, not just the Christian martyrs, but anywhere where depravity reigned. But today it is terribly different because depravity has become commercialized, institutionalized, and enabled by the general society. Anyone who thinks priests are the worst offenders or are the only ones need only to read the daily news. So Jesus Christ makes his second point, which is whatever is causing you to sin against children, cut it off. Remove it. Stop it. No matter how painful, get rid of it.

So how many people who are righteously angry about a case of child abuse, then go home and watch a TV program that has depravity in it? How many people know a case where it might be happening, and do not go to the police, no matter how painful the confrontation may be? How many people enable the use of the Internet for sexual slavery by thinking it's not their problem? (And for every image of pornography, there is a victim on the other side of that camera lens.)

I do not understand people who do not go after child predators like the hounds of hell were after them (because they are, eventually, but let's not wait for God to fix the problem, while a trail of victims results.) If the church does not respond, then go to the police. If the school does not respond, then go to the police. If your drug using relative abuses your children, then go to the police. And if you are in the media, yes, report the news and report the abuse, and if you feel you need to do exposes on the Church, then that's your job. But might you not also spend time going after the abusers and the ways and means of the abuse in the here and now? There are millions of children being sexually exploited in this world RIGHT NOW. Everyone needs to "cut off" the hand, the foot, and the eye that is enabling this. There is a big spot in hell for enablers too.

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This just in, an actual story headline from AP:

"Professors Puzzled By Level Of Violence In Students' Essays
Teachers Say It's Tough To Discern Art, Pathology"

How stupid have people become? How long are people going to deny that children brought up in a violence saturated society and media are becoming warped in their sensibilities and robbed of any security and joy, becoming obsessed in turn with violence? No, really, how stupid and in denial has everyone become? This has got to change.