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This morning I read upon a posting on another site about a festival of EID where the Muslims were butchering a camel alive but stripping the meat off its flesh as it struggled to get away.
Sometimes there are things I read or see, especially with the internet, that affect me very negatively. The world can be very horrifying. I am not a person with a thick skin and I am not desensitized. In general I read a lot of articles and I pray a lot as I read them.
My struggle is with hatred on these things. I am talking about reading crimes against children, rape, torture, murder, harming and killing animals horrifically.
As a Christian I struggle to not hate the person/s associated with the crime instead of just the deed. I struggle to see them as Jesus would see them.
Once I was driving and I was thinking about a crime that happened close to here. The man raped a little girl and killed her mother, it was a random crime. I was crying and I was talking to God about it and told Him it broke my heart and how much I hated that person and how evil they were and he said "It breaks my heart too because this was not just one of my children but three" (including the murderer/rapist)
I understand all sin is equal in Gods eyes but may have different levels of consequences in this world. I realize I am no better in that if I hate in my heart I murder as well.
Many Christians do not believe in the death penalty for good reasons but I do. I believe sometimes there is evil so strong that to protect the world from it that we need the be rid of it.
My questions are:
Is it important to really know the truth and know these things happen?
How do you see these horrifying things and not be broken from it?
Should we desensitize ourselves?
How do we love the people who do such heinous crimes?
How do we separate the sin from the sinner?
I would like to hear how other people deal with this and how they live out the love of Jesus regardless of the evil. Please please no snarky replies or condescension or attitude I will ignore it. I can't deal with that today...
Sometimes there are things I read or see, especially with the internet, that affect me very negatively. The world can be very horrifying. I am not a person with a thick skin and I am not desensitized. In general I read a lot of articles and I pray a lot as I read them.
My struggle is with hatred on these things. I am talking about reading crimes against children, rape, torture, murder, harming and killing animals horrifically.
As a Christian I struggle to not hate the person/s associated with the crime instead of just the deed. I struggle to see them as Jesus would see them.
Once I was driving and I was thinking about a crime that happened close to here. The man raped a little girl and killed her mother, it was a random crime. I was crying and I was talking to God about it and told Him it broke my heart and how much I hated that person and how evil they were and he said "It breaks my heart too because this was not just one of my children but three" (including the murderer/rapist)
I understand all sin is equal in Gods eyes but may have different levels of consequences in this world. I realize I am no better in that if I hate in my heart I murder as well.
Many Christians do not believe in the death penalty for good reasons but I do. I believe sometimes there is evil so strong that to protect the world from it that we need the be rid of it.
My questions are:
Is it important to really know the truth and know these things happen?
How do you see these horrifying things and not be broken from it?
Should we desensitize ourselves?
How do we love the people who do such heinous crimes?
How do we separate the sin from the sinner?
I would like to hear how other people deal with this and how they live out the love of Jesus regardless of the evil. Please please no snarky replies or condescension or attitude I will ignore it. I can't deal with that today...