Monday, November 20, 2017

The value of a child .......... Parables 669

April 4, 2000

Anne Geddes, baby photographer, says she takes those beautiful pictures because she wants the whole world to take notice that our children are wonderful. Who would argue with her? Yet violence continues to target children. As politicians battle over who is responsible and what should be done about it, a 1993 statistic says in the U.S. a child died every 92 minutes from gunfire.

Things are not much different today. If our newspapers put each event in a headline, we would face 15 - 16 dead children stories every day of the year. No doubt the fainthearted would protest yet, as morbid as it sounds, maybe full coverage of each shooting would produce more than political bickering.

We claim to value children, but not much is said about these 6000 shooting deaths unless they happen to be spectacular or politically hot. For instance, a grown man was murdered because of his sexual orientation and the whole world heard about it but when a child was murdered by those of that orientation, who made a fuss?

Each year, even each day, thousands of children are aborted, abandoned, and abused without much attention drawn to their plight. What does this say about our value system? We North Americans claim to be moral, even religious, adhering to ethical codes based on our convictions. Perhaps it is time to review those ethics, even to take another look at what God says about the value of our kids.

In the Old Testament, God warned His people not to disobey Him. If they did, they could expect horrible calamities upon themselves and their children. These disasters included disease, crop failure and famine, with an emphasis on the suffering brought to the next generation.

God also warned His people that invading armies would come if they did not obey Him. These enemies would ruin their homes and take their children. Risking disobedience put at risk those most precious to them.

Before we think that God values a child only by its potential rather than an actual value, consider this incident from the New Testament. The chief priests and the teachers of the law saw Jesus doing wonderful things. When children shouted in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were not happy and took their complaint to Jesus.

He replied, “Have you never read, ‘From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise’?” He rebuked them for thinking children could not be a blessing to God.

Remember also when the disciples considered children an intrusion? Jesus responded with, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

God holds precious the life of a child. We say we do and, as people created in His image, we are capable of His same protective attitude. Yet actions speak louder than sentiment. Statistics and tiny graves mock our so-called values.

Governments want to confiscate guns, pass more laws, take more control of families. They raise objections at every slaying, just as we do. Yet until the value we place on all human life matches the value placed on them by the One who gave life, it is unlikely anything will change.

What gives us the right to say a child matters only after it is born or born without flaw, or only after it does everything it is told, or only after it fits our plans?

Thank God He is not like that. If He was, none of us would have seen the light of day.

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