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Do Not Sin Against the Children
Wayne Jackson
“Did I not tell you, ‘Do not sin against the child’; and you would not listen?” The foregoing question of accusation was framed by Reuben, the oldest of Jacob’s sons, when the disguised Joseph, then a ruler in Pharaoh’s court, demanded that their younger brother, Benjamin, be brought into the land of Egypt (Genesis 42:22). The question reflected the fear that perhaps the hand of Providence finally had caught up with those Israelite men on account of their harsh treatment of Joseph in his tender years.
Sin always is wrong—at any time, at any place, and when perpetrated upon 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.
More than a million babies are slaughtered each year in America before they ever see the light of day. Since Roe vs. Wade (1973), nearly fifty 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. Rather, it is but an expendable appendage of the female’s body. Such a position is indefensible, either biblically or 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.
From the earliest days of their intellectual perception, the youth of this nation are bombarded with evolutionary propaganda which argues the following premises: (1) Humanity has evolved from inanimate sources, hence, there is no need to believe in the idea of a supernatural creation (i.e., the existence of a Creator). (2) Since God does not exist, appropriate human conduct is not regulated by some supreme Being. Rather, man, as his own “god,” operates by a moral code that is both autonomous and situational. This means he does what he wants, when he wants, accountable to no one but himself.
The effect of evolutionary philosophy upon belief in a Moral Governor 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.
No divine guidance! Then who will provide the guidance? Every person will do that which is right in his own judgment, and moral chaos will result—and has.
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 as an all-seeing watcher over human behavior above.
Grim consequences have resulted. Pitirim A. Sorokin, a sociologist at Harvard University, has noted: “Our sex freedom is beginning to expand beyond the limits of safety.” If such was true forty years ago, what shall be said of today’s environment of moral debauchery? Is such anarchy really a surprise when philosophers like Bertrand Russell have taught 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 philosopher contended: “Outside human desires there is no moral standard.”
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.
