Do Not Sin Against the Children

Jacob’s eldest son, Reuben, scolded his younger brothers: “Did I not tell you, ‘Do not sin against the child’; and you would not listen?”

The preceding question of accusation was framed when the disguised Joseph, then a ruler in Pharaoh’s court, demanded that their younger brother, Benjamin, be brought into the land of Egypt (Gen. 42:22).

Reuben’s question reflected the fear that perhaps Providence’s hand had finally caught up with those Israelite men because of their harsh treatment of Joseph in his tender years.

Sin is always wrong—at any time, place, and when perpetrated on anyone. Somehow, though, we are especially incensed when innocent children are assaulted.

There is a great cry these days against child abuse. And yet society sins against youngsters in so many ways in today’s cruel world, and much of it is calculated and headstrong.

Abortion

More than a million babies are slaughtered each year in America before they ever see the light of day. Since Roe vs. Wade (1973), more than sixty million children have been murdered in the womb.

That is more loss of life than combined U.S. deaths in all of the wars in the previous two centuries of our country’s existence. Adolf Hitler’s death camps were tame compared to our abortion chambers.

The infanticide problem has been rationalized by the allegation that the fetus is not a human. Instead, it is but an expendable appendage of the female’s body.

This position is indefensible, both biblically and scientifically. A pamphlet issued several years ago by Planned Parenthood stated: “An abortion requires an operation. It kills the life of the baby after it has begun” (1963).

It could not have been stated better—and from such an unlikely source.

Evolution

From the earliest days of their intellectual perception, the youth of this nation are bombarded with evolutionary propaganda which argues the following premises:

Number one, Since humanity has evolved from inanimate sources, there is no need to believe in the idea of a supernatural creation (i.e., the existence of a Creator).

Number two, since God does not exist, appropriate human conduct is not regulated by a supreme Being. Instead, every man, as his own “god,” operates by an autonomous and situational moral code (see Kurtz and Wilson).

This means every person can do what he wants, when he wants, accountable to no one but himself.

The effect of evolutionary philosophy is demonstrated clearly by a statement from Sir Gavin De Beer, former director of the British Museum of Natural History:

Darwin did two things: he showed that evolution was a fact contradicting scriptural legends of creation and that its cause, natural selection, was automatic, with no room for divine guidance or design (1984, 23).

No divine guidance! Then, who will provide the guidance? Every person will do that which is right in their judgment, and moral chaos will result—and has.

Moral Relativism

The so-called intellectuals in America have given our nation a legacy of amoral irresponsibility, and such invades our homes regularly. We have taught our youth that there is no ultimate moral responsibility. In his book, The Sexual Wilderness, Vance Packard wrote:

The discoveries of astronomers, geologists, and space explorers have undermined the faith of all but the most devout that there is a physical Heaven or Hell. And among believers, God is more likely to be seen as a force or spirit than an all-seeing watcher over human behavior above (1968, 27).

Grim consequences have resulted. Pitirim A. Sorokin, a sociologist at Harvard University, noted: “Our sex freedom is beginning to expand beyond the limits of safety” (Packard 16-17).

If such was true in 1968 when Vance Packard published his book, what shall be said of today’s environment of moral debauchery?

Is such anarchy really a surprise when philosophers, professors, and therapists under the influence of individuals like Bertrand Russell have taught for several generations now that young people should be free to engage in sexual intimacy whenever there is a mutual contact. This is the modus operandi of animals!

The rogue Russell contended: “Outside human desires there is no moral standard” (1957, 62).

Editor’s note: What more could we say about the proliferation of child abuse, pornography, sex trafficking children, slavery, and the most recent developments of gender confusion and drag-queen story hour?

Conclusion

It is time that we recognize the value of our children. They are the future of this world. We must care for them, teach them, and fortify their precious souls against the evils that would assault them.

May each of us resolve to dedicate ourselves to this end.