Laments and dirges are becoming more common in our society. We see more and more articles in the media like this:
A 6-month-old shaken and hit in the head so hard he could not see any more.When faced with the scourge of horrific infanticide at the hands of ostensible care-givers, the nation collectively wrings its hands and says, "Something must be done", by which it means, the government must legislate and spend the problem away. Some of the things the government has done are just plain naive and stupid--and entirely misdirected. The anti-smacking law is an example. A lot of febrile heat, but definitely no light.
A 2-year-old struck so hard in his tiny tummy that one of his major organs split in half.
A 5-month-old with a liver injury so severe the organ later ruptured and killed him.
All three dead. All three in the care of people that were supposed to protect, love and nurture them. And all three are part of the very tip of the iceberg that is child abuse in New Zealand. For a small country, New Zealand has a shocking record of child abuse. And the numbers are looking worse than ever. But why are our babies dying? Why are our toddlers bashed and bruised? Why are our children, society's most vulnerable members, being subjected to these sickening acts day after day?
We will see more of this guilt-driven, knee-jerk stupidity.
Hopefully, over time, the truth will emerge and will be widely accepted. Not likely. But possibly.
The truth is that there is no answer, no solution to family violence within the reach of mortal man. All the aid programmes, all the educational programmes, all the government interventions and agencies of state imaginable are not going to solve this problem. In desperation, the populace might turn to more and more strident measures, to various forms of oppression that will create much bigger problems than any solution offers. The "end justifies the means" is an easy seduction when faced with attempting to combat the horror of child abuse and infanticide.
Most well meaning people look for a cause. But their world-view prevents them from seeing the cause. But it is as plain as a pikestaff. Society has become certain that marriage is nothing more than a relationship of convenience, subject to the desires and inclinations of the moment. The rights of individuals have been elevated over the sanctity of the marriage covenant and of family, so that marriage has become easy come, easy go arrangement. It is on a par with "partners", folk that live together out of personal convenience.
Naturally, over time the cohabitants have children. But as the "partnerships" break up and new partnerships form, children are pulled from pillar to post, into constantly changing, blended families where the adults in the house neither cherish them, nor are particularly interested in caring for them. Moreover, the adults--having gone through several or more relationships--are emotionally, morally, and volitionally incapable of loyalty and commitment to other human beings. Consequently they are incapable of loving and cherishing children--whether they are of their own blood or someone else's.
But to focus upon this as the root problem is to strike at the very foundation of Unbelief's culture--its religion. It is to animadvert against the "rights of the individual man". And that is blasphemous. Modern Unbelieving society cannot deny itself, its very being, its foundations--without crumbling from the inside.
Consider a recent case, profiled in the media this past week:
Baby Cezar died in his loving father's arms after being violently shaken and dropped on his head by his mother's boyfriend. The boyfriend, James Hemana, showed little reaction today as an Auckland High Court jury found him guilty of murdering Cezar. Hemana had earlier pleaded guilty to failing to provide the necessities of life. . . .The vast majority of infanticide at the hands of adult "care-givers" occurs in this kind of "blended family". But it is the big, big elephant in the room that no-one wants to talk about, because two sentences later the very foundations of our pagan society will be exposed for all their rottenness.
During the trial, the court heard how Victoria Taylor, at the age of 20, had three children, baby Cezar being her youngest. She broke up with Mr Clarke before meeting Hemana and renting a home in Mangere. Mr Clarke looked after the baby until Cezar was five months old. Ms Taylor had been looking after her one-year-old daughter Wikitoria but in June she and Mr Clarke swapped children and Cezar moved into the Mangere home.
Ms Taylor said everything was fine for the first week but Hemana began getting violent. She said Hemana would hit her in the arms and legs and on the body. He would also get angry when baby Cezar cried for his bottle. "He would tell him: 'Shut the f*** up', take him into the lounge, put him in his walkie and stand there and smack his head into the walkie because he was crying."
Ms Taylor said she tried to intervene. "I said: 'What are you hitting my son for? He's only crying because he's hungry'. [He replied:] 'I don't give a f***, he woke me up'."
The Crown said Hemana violently shook Cezar on two occasions in July last year but it was the second occasion which led to the baby's fatal injuries. Ms Taylor said Hemana picked up the child by one leg. "He lifted him up, shook him, dropped him, picked him up, shake, shake, shake and dropped him." On the third occasion, the baby's head collided with a cabinet before hitting the bed.
She said Cezar had been an alert, talkative baby but his condition changed after the attacks. "Come Tuesday, he wasn't moving much, just sitting around ... As the week went on, he couldn't look and couldn't see. He looked like a zombie." Ms Taylor said Hemana stopped her from taking baby Cezar to the hospital and she had to stay home and "watch my baby look dead for a week".
Her brother, Russell, said Hemana referred to the baby as "Zombie Boy" in the last days of his life. He said he also heard Hemana call baby Cezar "lazy, that he was always tired and flickered his eyes ... things like that." (Emphasis, ours)
Mark it well. All these horrors are but the beginnings of a society coming under the curses of the Covenant of Grace. When a people turns away from the Living God--as our nation has done--the consequences of sin are allowed to run freely. Everything goes wrong. Nothing works any more. Even the good we intend ends up exacerbating the problems and evils.
Our only hope is to return to the God of our fathers, in humility and repentance. We fear that we have miles and miles to go before that day, for the arrogance of our culture is prodigiously monstrous. In the meantime, as the vultures gather around the carrion of modern society, the response of God's people must be faithful to Him and steadfast in the way.
To the remaining detritus of our culture, we say this: "Choose you this day whom you will serve. But as for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord." We Christians will pick up the pieces as best we can--but the only genuine solution we can offer to the horror of your Unbelieving culture is Jesus Christ, God's only begotten son, our Lord. For the moment, His gracious invitation still stands: "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am gentle and humble of heart."
Historically, when a people come face to face with the horrors of Unbelief they can be prepared to listen to His voice. His yoke can suddenly seem by far the better way, for it has become patently obvious that it is either His way or destruction.
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