I agree entirely with the rising chorus against violence against children now with the recent problems with baby Nia etc. It is time for NZ to get its act together. We need to see children as precious, to be loved and nurtured, treated with gentleness and not harshly. We need to educate people to know how to raise children. We need to promote programs which give parents training. We need greater support for families and parents.
But again the outcry raises questions for me in terms of consistency. In May I blogged about abortion and again I find myself getting annoyed that people want to rise up and stop the beating of children yet we kill 17,000 children a year in the womb! People cry out against this on the basis that children are defenceless and need our protection and love; it is a child's inalienable right to be raised with love and never the victim of violence. Yet, we continue to kill them when they are at their most defenseless in the womb of their mother.
The justifications are appalling, the child is not yet human and it is a woman's right to do so. This is bizzare, we place the rights of the child without choice and any chance of caring for itself below the rights of a volitional adult with options. So when is a baby human? At what point? One can argue that before a child can walk or talk it is not fully human, perhaps we should be prepared to kill them at this point. Common sense tells us that at the meeting of sperm and ovary the child begins life. It is growing and developing and unless something intervenes, will grow to maturity.
I want to see us cherish children from conception. The child in the woman's womb deserves to be loved, raised in safety, protected, provided for with good nutrition etc (no smoking, no drinking of alcohol etc). The child after birth too should be raised with good nutrition, gentle yet firm love and discipline, ideally two parents, a male and female or at least a single parent who loves the child unconditionally, a good education and the opportunity to make something of their life.
So let's get consistent. Let's love children as Jesus loved children! They are fully human, made in the image of God, to be loved, nurtured and cherished!
But again the outcry raises questions for me in terms of consistency. In May I blogged about abortion and again I find myself getting annoyed that people want to rise up and stop the beating of children yet we kill 17,000 children a year in the womb! People cry out against this on the basis that children are defenceless and need our protection and love; it is a child's inalienable right to be raised with love and never the victim of violence. Yet, we continue to kill them when they are at their most defenseless in the womb of their mother.
The justifications are appalling, the child is not yet human and it is a woman's right to do so. This is bizzare, we place the rights of the child without choice and any chance of caring for itself below the rights of a volitional adult with options. So when is a baby human? At what point? One can argue that before a child can walk or talk it is not fully human, perhaps we should be prepared to kill them at this point. Common sense tells us that at the meeting of sperm and ovary the child begins life. It is growing and developing and unless something intervenes, will grow to maturity.
I want to see us cherish children from conception. The child in the woman's womb deserves to be loved, raised in safety, protected, provided for with good nutrition etc (no smoking, no drinking of alcohol etc). The child after birth too should be raised with good nutrition, gentle yet firm love and discipline, ideally two parents, a male and female or at least a single parent who loves the child unconditionally, a good education and the opportunity to make something of their life.
So let's get consistent. Let's love children as Jesus loved children! They are fully human, made in the image of God, to be loved, nurtured and cherished!
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