I found your comment here to be profound and also heart-wrenching. I understand why so many of our pedes find the entire child-trafficking and child abuse issue so upsetting and enraging, for good reason.

But I personally think that too few understand that the Father's heart is also (very often) broken and shredded by internecine conflicts between believers, between those who claim love for or faith in Jesus, but whose conflicts are based on human doctrinal differences and differences in perspectives regarding 'truth'.

Those who profess to love or believe in God but who are unable to manifest that love or faith in terms of loving others beyond their own interpretations of truth, and who use doctrinal interpretations developed and generated by a human perspective to justify or defend their stance, how much does that grieve the heart of Jesus?

Who brings you more grief? The stranger who acts in a destructive way, or the child of yours who acts in a destructive way? The ones you love are always in a position to cause you greater grief.

In any case, your discussion of the verse and the import of it is, imo, enlightened and illuminating, and very well articulated as well.

The lesson is such a critical one that it warrants a lot more emphasis and highlighting. Warnings from Christ such as these are issued from His heart, and our hearts require a constant circumcision if we are to fulfill the true purpose of our faith, which is to ever draw closer and to ever more closely resemble him.

I found your comment here to be profound and also heart-wrenching. I understand why so many of our pedes find the entire child-trafficking and child abuse issue so upsetting and enraging, for good reason.

But I personally think that the Father's heart is also very often broken and shredded by the internecine conflicts between believers, between those who claim love for or faith in Jesus, but whose conflicts are based on human doctrinal differences and differences in perspectives.

Those who profess to love or believe in God but who are unable to manifest that love or faith in terms of loving others beyond their own interpretations of truth, using doctrinal viewpoints that are developed and generated by a human perspective to justify or defend their stance, how much does that grieve the heart of Jesus?

Who brings you more grief? The stranger who acts in a destructive way, or the child of yours who acts in a destructive way? The ones you love are always in a position to cause you greater grief.

In any case, your discussion of the verse and the import of it is, imo, enlightened and illuminating, and very well articulated as well.

The lesson is such a critical one that it warrants a lot more emphasis and highlighting. Warnings from Christ such as these are issued from the heart, and our hearts require a constant circumcision that we might fulfill the true purpose of our faith, which is to ever draw closer and to ever more closely resemble him.