Just A Few Comments about your comments
Submitted by Mavrick on 2003-03-5 01:28:13, Wednesday
In reply to Re: Just A Few Points submitted by Drifter on 2003-03-4 18:49:50, Tuesday
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Drifter, It is clear that you have a very strong opinion about this matter. I think we all do. This kind of crime is difficult to forgive, at best. I think you may have misunderstood some of the comments that Andy was making and the points behind them. You stated: “This person appears to be a Christian who let his relationship with God falter and decided to come back to God way too late.” Andy’s reply was: “Why do you maintain that this person decided to come back to God way too late? It is never too late to come to God, unless of course you are already dead. “ Your statement, in its context, did not mention the child or the scares the he must now carry for the rest of his life. The comment was regarding Mr. Snooks and his relationship with God. Andy’s response is, in my opinion, is correct, based on your statement. You stated: “We only think we are not capable of doing things like this because God is within us, but what happens when you neglect your relationship with God and the Holy Spirit no longer dwells within you?” Andy replied: “Once we receive God's Holy Spirit into our lives, it never leaves.” Ah, one of the great debates of the Christian church. And I agree, this is not the place to discuss it. However, for those who believe in the Permanent indwelling of the Spirit, I think it would be best if you avoided calling it a MYTH, unless you really do want the debate to get going. Once again, Your statement: “My sympathy is for his fall from grace, not for the weight of the sentence he got. According to the article Snooks admitted that he filmed a sexually explicit encounter between himself and a male child. He caused great harm to a child through his actions. Not only through his abuse of power and use of coercion to get sex, but by then victimizing the child a second time by distributing the images of his abuse. As you know, once something hits the Internet, you cannot take it back. The images of that child's abuse will exist forever and may haunt him for the rest of his life. Snooks got what he deserved. I feel sorry he fell so low, I do not feel sorry for the penalty he will have to face for what he did.” And, once again, Andy’s reply: “Drifter, what would happen if we all got what we deserve? Have you forgotten why Christ died? Read Romans 3.” I think, having taken the time to consider Andy’s questions, that what he is saying here is that God sees sin as sin, not as different levels of sinfulness. As an example, in our eyes, someone who is a shoplifter is LESS sinful than someone who is a murder. In God’s eyes they are the same. Sin is sin, period. And forgiveness is absolute. Andy is not stating that the crime should go unpunished. In fact, having talked to him about this, he agrees that, I believes, that Mr. Snooks should be punished for his crimes. We did not talk about the term given him and if it was too sever or not. That is, in my opinion, up to each person to deal with. In my opinion the terms is just right, execpt that I believe that he should be given a chance for parole at some point. A side note: Although I did talk to Andy about this, these comments and opinions are my own. I took the time, although it was limited, to read some of the posts in this string. I took the time to think about each point of view beforw I made my post. Andy knows me well enough that if I did not agree with him that I would say so. And there would be no harm to our friendship. That is one of the joys of a true friendship. You can disagree about something and still have the Love of the friendship. ___________________________________________________________________________ This is something that has rocked us all to the core, causing us to consider and reevaluate our beliefs. Although it may be hard to understand, or for that matter see, God’s reason for this being allowed, I would also submit that we MUST rely on God’s ability to provide the healing that both the child and Mr. Snooks need. And that in our personal dealings with the struggles of anger and hatred that are raging inside us that we must rely on God to help us deal with and handle the uprising of emotions. But there are the forgotten victims in the postings that I have read, and I will admit that I have not read them all. Why is it that the parents of the child are not mentioned in any of the posts? I can imagine the problems that they are having dealing with this situation. They are in need of prayer as much as the child and Mr. Snooks. I have a statement concerning JR that some of you may not agree with. That is fine, you are entitled to your disagreement and disapproval of this statement: “Say what you want about me, do what you want to me, I don’t care. God will provide. BUT, if you say anything against my son, if you lay on hand on one hair on his head in a harmful manner, you had better pray to God that the police get to you before I do.” Mav. |
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