It is hard for me to because I know a pedophile. Not super close obviously, but he just pled not guilty yesterday. Several of his family members knew and did nothing. And he has been around my child, and I had no clue until he got arrested. We are staying away, but it made me wonder, what the hell to do
Oof, that's a tough one to find out I too, have been shocked in the same way. As far as what to do, idk, that's up to you. Let the justice system do it's thing (that's a big gamble most of the time I know) and move on and live a happy life and give your child a better life than you had. I think that's' what we're supposed to do kek
Sorry for the shocking news fren. God bless and let the Lord handle the vengeance.
If you want the actually correct Christian perspective, pray for the pedophiles to find Christ. Yes, they can be saved.
The verses about penalties for sins/crimes such as stoning those who commit certain crimes are in the old testament and they relate to how the nation of Israel was to arbitrate their laws, it should not be taken as a mandate for Christians living today. We do not live under these regulations, that is to say we do not live in a theocracy. The Torah is not the law of the land.
If you want to be able to kill pedophiles, get legislation passed that decriminalizes killing pedophiles. Otherwise, leave them to the legal system.
But if you do happen to kill a pedophile, God will forgive you, too...
Like, if someone is in the middle of attacking my child, they are being shot dead. Put a random guy walking the street, I wasn't sure if that was even okay. Like, I don't think you can just premeditate, but I don't know. I'd pray for justice for the victims. There's someone that i'm related to, that just pled not guilty, that we all know for a fact that he is guilty. His wife helped cover it up for 5 years. But I don't feel like I can just go up to him and deliver justice.
Pray for justice for the victims, but also pray for the offenders to change their hearts and turn to Jesus. Remember that repentance does not mean there are no consequences, if they were to truly repent they must also confess and accept the punishment for their crimes.
There are pedos who have those urges but have had enough self-restraint to not act on them. If they confess to having those and ask for help, and there are no hints that they have ever acted on them, what would you do with them?
Keeping their mouths shut in fear of being judged harshly for something they presumably can't help - having those desires and urges - even if they have not acted on those desires can presumably expose them to things they find hard to deal with, like maybe friends etc leaving them alone with their children or even trying to get them do something like act as a babysitter, so it would be better if they could confess and then be helped at least to keep their distance from children, the same way you might help an alcoholic to not be exposed to alcohol.
And then there are those who have acted on them. With them I'd probably kept the sentence depending on how badly. One who never talked or confessed and kept on doing it, harsh sentences seem quite appropriate, but milder ones if he confessed, had managed to stop doing anything worse than maybe watching that type of porn, and started looking for help when he could not stop in spite of trying.
Because to some extent giving them nothing but harsh judgement can make them worse as a group and a problem when they feel they dare never talk about it to anybody, which can cause them to hide something they maybe can't really fight alone and they escalate to where they start harming children in real life instead of "just" imagining doing it.
It's worse than alcoholism or other substance abuse problems, but a recovering alcoholic or somebody who has those tendencies but has managed to stay away from even starting can be an otherwise mostly normal and useful member of society, but a habitual drunk is likely to destroy not only his own life but often several lives around him, or potentially even kill people because of his problem, so it makes sense to help those alcoholics who can be helped, and the first step in that IS that they are willing to confess and admit they have that problem.
So I think it would make sense if we allowed enough leeway to pedos that they'd dare do the same thing, at least if they haven't acted on it yet. Help them to live a life in which they do not get constantly tempted to act on it because they could do things like stay away from children without that destroying the rest of their lives.
At least when we are talking about those pedos who actually have those urges. Seems to nowhere near all people who sexually abuse children even are specifically and mainly attracted to children. Many are simply bad people who will sexually use a child if a child is what they can get at, but are equally likely to abuse the elderly, a drunk, well, anything available when they get the chance and the urge to have sex.
Those latter types need no mercy because even if they have a problem with their obsession with sex they should be able to satisfy that need by doing it only with other adults who are willing participants.
u/#pepedetective
You beat me.
"Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord."
It's a tough one to reconcile in my head.
It is hard for me to because I know a pedophile. Not super close obviously, but he just pled not guilty yesterday. Several of his family members knew and did nothing. And he has been around my child, and I had no clue until he got arrested. We are staying away, but it made me wonder, what the hell to do
Oof, that's a tough one to find out I too, have been shocked in the same way. As far as what to do, idk, that's up to you. Let the justice system do it's thing (that's a big gamble most of the time I know) and move on and live a happy life and give your child a better life than you had. I think that's' what we're supposed to do kek
Sorry for the shocking news fren. God bless and let the Lord handle the vengeance.
Technically, it says they need to drown themselves. But if they refuse i suppose forceful intervention would be acceptable
True that; but by tying a millstone to them. . .I'm all out of millstones!
Maybe we could substitute. I hear chippers are the popular replacement
If you want the actually correct Christian perspective, pray for the pedophiles to find Christ. Yes, they can be saved.
The verses about penalties for sins/crimes such as stoning those who commit certain crimes are in the old testament and they relate to how the nation of Israel was to arbitrate their laws, it should not be taken as a mandate for Christians living today. We do not live under these regulations, that is to say we do not live in a theocracy. The Torah is not the law of the land.
If you want to be able to kill pedophiles, get legislation passed that decriminalizes killing pedophiles. Otherwise, leave them to the legal system.
But if you do happen to kill a pedophile, God will forgive you, too...
Like, if someone is in the middle of attacking my child, they are being shot dead. Put a random guy walking the street, I wasn't sure if that was even okay. Like, I don't think you can just premeditate, but I don't know. I'd pray for justice for the victims. There's someone that i'm related to, that just pled not guilty, that we all know for a fact that he is guilty. His wife helped cover it up for 5 years. But I don't feel like I can just go up to him and deliver justice.
Pray for justice for the victims, but also pray for the offenders to change their hearts and turn to Jesus. Remember that repentance does not mean there are no consequences, if they were to truly repent they must also confess and accept the punishment for their crimes.
There are pedos who have those urges but have had enough self-restraint to not act on them. If they confess to having those and ask for help, and there are no hints that they have ever acted on them, what would you do with them?
Keeping their mouths shut in fear of being judged harshly for something they presumably can't help - having those desires and urges - even if they have not acted on those desires can presumably expose them to things they find hard to deal with, like maybe friends etc leaving them alone with their children or even trying to get them do something like act as a babysitter, so it would be better if they could confess and then be helped at least to keep their distance from children, the same way you might help an alcoholic to not be exposed to alcohol.
And then there are those who have acted on them. With them I'd probably kept the sentence depending on how badly. One who never talked or confessed and kept on doing it, harsh sentences seem quite appropriate, but milder ones if he confessed, had managed to stop doing anything worse than maybe watching that type of porn, and started looking for help when he could not stop in spite of trying.
Because to some extent giving them nothing but harsh judgement can make them worse as a group and a problem when they feel they dare never talk about it to anybody, which can cause them to hide something they maybe can't really fight alone and they escalate to where they start harming children in real life instead of "just" imagining doing it.
It's worse than alcoholism or other substance abuse problems, but a recovering alcoholic or somebody who has those tendencies but has managed to stay away from even starting can be an otherwise mostly normal and useful member of society, but a habitual drunk is likely to destroy not only his own life but often several lives around him, or potentially even kill people because of his problem, so it makes sense to help those alcoholics who can be helped, and the first step in that IS that they are willing to confess and admit they have that problem.
So I think it would make sense if we allowed enough leeway to pedos that they'd dare do the same thing, at least if they haven't acted on it yet. Help them to live a life in which they do not get constantly tempted to act on it because they could do things like stay away from children without that destroying the rest of their lives.
At least when we are talking about those pedos who actually have those urges. Seems to nowhere near all people who sexually abuse children even are specifically and mainly attracted to children. Many are simply bad people who will sexually use a child if a child is what they can get at, but are equally likely to abuse the elderly, a drunk, well, anything available when they get the chance and the urge to have sex.
Those latter types need no mercy because even if they have a problem with their obsession with sex they should be able to satisfy that need by doing it only with other adults who are willing participants.