Smacking Bad, Paedophilia OK

I am not sure how many times I have used Isaiah 5:20 to introduce – or conclude – an article, but it once again comes perfectly into play here. Although written 2500 years ago, it perfectly describes the age we are now living in, in the secular West.

The passage says this: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” We seem to be doing this constantly in the post-Christian West. We have managed to condemn virtue while we celebrate vice.

Two recent news items illustrate this so very thoroughly and tragically. Both stories have just appeared this week, both have to do with children, and both demonstrate that the West is now about as morally rotten and debauched as it can be.

The first story has to do with a family in Sweden which had been busted up by the coercive utopians who run that secularist paradise. Because two parents dared to lovingly smack their own children, they have been chucked in jail, and their children have been snatched away from them.

Here is how one news outlet has covered the story: “A Swedish district court has sentenced a couple to nine months each in prison and fined them the equivalent of US $10,650 after they admitted to spanking three of their four children as a normal part of their parenting methods. Corporal punishment of children by parents was made illegal in Sweden in 1979, an early step in what a U.S. parental rights lawyer called the nearly total take-over of parenting by the state in Sweden.

“Court documents, quoted by Sveriges Television, said that the parents, who have not been named in the press, ‘explained that they had used, what they themselves described as spanking, physical punishment as part of their methods for raising the children.’ There is no indication of abuse by the parents in the released documents, with the court noting that the parents ‘had a loving and caring relationship with their children’.”

A loving and caring relationship? Who cares? The State clearly knows far better than any parent how to properly look after children. In the People’s Republic of Sweden faceless bureaucrats are obviously considered to be far superior to mere biological parents when it comes to the wellbeing of children.

The article continues, “Mike Donnelly, Director of International Relations for the US-based Home School Legal Defence Association (HSLDA), told LifeSiteNews.com that it is ‘extremely unlikely’ that the children will ever be returned to their family home. Donnelly said that the case is typical of the stories of many families with traditional values in Sweden: ‘In the area of family rights in Sweden things really aren’t going well there.’

“While the HSLDA does not hold an official position on the use of corporal punishment, Donnelly said it is clearly up to parents to determine whether corporal punishment is an appropriate form of discipline. ‘Parenting has been outsourced, or simply directly taken over by the state in Sweden,’ Donnelly said. ‘And these parents have been jailed for doing what in America would be perfectly normal.’ Ninety percent of Swedish children are in publicly funded day care from extremely early ages, as young as a year or 18 months, he said. It is the position of the state that parents are overruled by the state in areas of child rearing, he said.

“Donnelly said, however, that the best interests of the child are not the state’s highest priority: ‘So let’s take these kids who have had a loving and caring relationship with their parents and send them to foster care, and throw their parents into jail for nine months.’ Donnelly cited the now notorious case of Domenic Johansson, the boy who was snatched by state officials because his parents were homeschooling him, an act that is also illegal in Sweden. ‘The bottom line is, don’t go to Sweden. Don’t move there, if you want to have a normal family’.”

The second story has to do with a family law “expert” who believes we are being far too harsh on child sex offenders, and we should not be so “discriminatory” as to ban them from children. This English egghead is obviously far more concerned about the wellbeing of perverts than she is about the wellbeing of young and vulnerable children.

Here is how this story has been reported: “A ‘blanket ban’ on convicted sex-offenders adopting children is discriminatory, says a report from Helen Reece of the London School of Economics. Reece, a family law expert, has said that each case should be examined separately ‘on its merits.’

“‘Sex offenders shouldn’t all be tarred with the same brush,’ Reece said. ‘People need to be carefully screened for adoption and fostering, but each case should be taken on its merits. There shouldn’t be blanket rules. What somebody has done before is not necessarily what he or she will do again. When someone has served a sentence, as far as you can, you should treat them the same as anyone else.’ The report was published in the latest edition of Child and Family Law Quarterly.”

Here we go again. Here’s the “D” word which trumps everything else. It is now discriminatory to look upon those poor paedophiles as if they are all the same. After all, they have their rights. How can any just and caring society take away their rights?

Besides, their predisposition to children is obviously genetic. They cannot help wanting to rape and abuse children any more than a person can help being red-haired or left-handed. How heartless we have become as a society to deny those poor child abusers the right to freely live as they were born to be.

Sure, a few more innocent kids might get raped, or even killed, but hey, we have to show some compassion here. Those paedophiles have rights like anyone else, and we dare not discriminate against them. After all, such discrimination is the greatest moral evil of our day.

I don’t have to strain my brain very much to imagine what Isaiah would have to say about all this. In fact, what Jesus has to say about it will do rather nicely: “If anyone causes one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!” (Matt 18:6-7)

BTW, I did a bit of sniffing around, and just happened to find the contact details for the Swedish Embassy in Australia, just in case any of you are concerned enough about this ripped-apart family to make a little stink about it:

Postal address: Embassy of Sweden, 5 Turrana Street, Yarralumla ACT 2600
Address: 5 Turrana Street
Phone: +61-2-6270 2700
Fax: +61-2-6270 2755
Email: sweden@iimetro.com.au

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/swedish-parents-jailed-for-spanking-children-seized?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=4a336034bb-LifeSiteNews_com_Intl_Headlines11_30_2010&utm_medium=email
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/prohibiting-sex-offenders-from-adoption-discriminatory-says-report?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=081b6c955e-LifeSiteNews_com_Intl_Headlines12_01_2010&utm_medium=email

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24 Replies to “Smacking Bad, Paedophilia OK”

  1. Hello Bill,
    When will all this heartbreaking insanity ever stop?
    The thought of those precious children being separated from their parents breaks my heart. And the parents in turn being separted from the children they so obviously love.
    Come, Lord Jesus, come!
    God bless,
    Paul de la Garde, Sydney

  2. Thank you Bill for keeping us informed about the madness of this godless world.
    I just emailed the Swedish embassy concerning this insanity and asked for the contact details of these parents so I can write and encourage them. Will they give them to me? I am not holding my breath.
    Des Morris

  3. I was repelled by the so-called law expert who proposes sex offenders should not be discriminated against if they want to adopt or foster children. I heard her speak on the radio and she was clearly one of these people who thrive on playing devil’s advocate and I would not be surprised if she did not have children herself. Why should the child be risked just so an ex-offender can indulge in the role of nurturing? Why doesn’t the ex offender forget about children and go play a game of tennis or something? The offender may have served a punishment but due to the law of probability the ex-offender is a down-side risk as far as children are concerned and it is not in any child’s interest to be in contact with an adult who is unable to control his/her sexual impulses. It’s NOT unfair on the ex-offender, who has had his/her chance and blown it, but it is deeply unfair on the child and tantamount to throwing the child to the lions. I despair of these Talking Heads and the quote from Isaiah fits them exactly “Woe to them..” What about Sarah’s law which is due to be rolled out across UK – I thought we had some kind of handle on this aberrant behaviour.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1245680/Sarahs-Law-allowing-parents-carry-sex-offender-checks-rolled-out.html

    Rachel Smith, UK

  4. Just today on Religion News Service website there was a feature about persecuted homeschoolers in Germany. Here is one part:

    Earlier this year, the Romeike family was granted political asylum in the U.S. when a federal judge in Tennessee decided that the family was persecuted by the German government for teaching their children at home.

    http://www.religionnews.com/index.php?/rnstext/german_christians_fight_for_right_to_home_school1/

    I am not homeschooling my child but I wish I could. Just keeping my eyes and ears open all the time because this leaning towards paganism and so called global values is present in American schools as well.

    In many ways, the Romeikes fit the standard profile of German home-schoolers: Conservative, evangelical Christian, and opposed to sex education, evolution and fairy tales, which in Germany are often built around witchcraft or paganism.

    Germany is one of just a handful of nations that bans home-schooling. While home-schoolers argue about whether the constitution expressly forbids it, a Hitler-era law gave states the right to take custody of children who don’t attend school.

    Brenda Polack

  5. Thanks Bill

    A few weeks ago in the German news was an article which read that a German man has written a book, which is now for sale, to teach fathers how to be pedophiles.

    It stated that fathers do not spend enough time with their children and this kind of touching should already start in the basinet, to make the child familiar with this “pleasant” feeling.

    I did not read the whole article because it was so disgusting, did not get the authors name.

    But I do know that Jesus said “If anyone teaches these little ones to sin it would be better for them to have a stone tied around their neck and to be thrown in the deep sea.”

    Anne Van Tilburg

  6. Great article, Bill. I see the spirit of the age as one overriding spirit. On the one hand, It takes from good, decent families and on the other hand, it pushes governments and people to allow children to go into evil environments where they will be abused and destroyed so that they will be bitter against God. Satan desperately wants to destroy this generation which leads me to believe that God wants to something awesome with them. I’ve been getting into the King James Version of the Bible lately and finding stuff that I hadn’t seen before. This verse in the book of Daniel talks about the evil end-time government which will hate God and Christians. Look at this amazing wording:

    (And in the latter time of their kingdom when transgressions have come to their full, a king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences shall stand up…)

    In the latter time of their kingdom…I wonder if this refers to the European Christianized empire which arose from the fall of Rome and developed into what we knew in the 20th century. But in the latter time, transgressions have ‘come to their full’. How much more wicked can this world get to snatch children from good, loving families and to give them to the ungodly environments they are going to now?
    A king…understanding ‘dark sentences’ will stand up…I wonder what dark sentences are. Witchcraft? Occult? Skip the next verse and check this out…

    (And through his policy also, he shall cause craft to prosper…DANIEL 8:23&35)

    (Craft? I wonder if this is witchcraft. Nothing in God’s word is there by accident. I wonder if the new world order we are seeing is one built upon witchcraft and occult and if so, imagine the demonic hatred of Christianity that will emanate from that and the race to take the next generation, the total disregard for their well-being and a seemingly mad blindness to what is best for our society…In my view, the very worst you can imagine that will no longer be restrained by our legal system originally based on the 10 commandments is coming. What can we do? Cry out to God for mercy for our nation and repentance and revelation and guidance for ourselves.)

    Dee Graf

  7. Hi Dee, I was interested to see your comments regarding the St James version of the bible. I’ve only ever seen this version and would like to see another version. I’ve recently had pause for thought about the King James version as King James 1st of England/6th of Scotland was bi-sexual and in my opinion caused the unwarranted execution of Sir Walter Raleigh. I think my next project is to have a look at a different version of the bible to make comparisons. I like your theory regarding Daniel 8 and agree that the scenario you describe is a real possibility – the way things are going.
    Rachel Smith, UK

  8. Hi Bill,

    Thanks for the updates. I was thinking of emailing the Swedish Embassy in Australia. Do you have any data/research that shows the benefits of smacking/discipline that I could quote?

    David Roberts

  9. Thanks David

    I suspect the police state known as Sweden is fully aware of the evidence, but is uninterested in it, and is unlikely to change. Nonetheless, I have written a number of articles with some of the evidence, including these:
    https://billmuehlenberg.com/2009/01/06/turning-parents-into-criminals/
    https://billmuehlenberg.com/1998/05/30/the-case-for-corporal-punishment/
    https://billmuehlenberg.com/2007/04/10/parental-rights-vs-the-nanny-state/
    https://billmuehlenberg.com/2009/07/21/child-abuse-and-family-structure/

    Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

  10. Bill that quote from Isaiah is so fitting for describing our moral guardians of the Left. If anyone hasn’t done so they need to watch this speech by the comedian Liberal turned conservative Jew, Evan Sayet

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaE98w1KZ-c

    Basically he points out that everything that is good in our society is opposed by the left and everything wrong and evil is propounded by them. So very true indeed.

    The moral inversion of the left is complete.

    Damien Spillane

  11. Reading all this makes me feel like the person in Munsch’s (? sp.) picture “The Scream” — the world is going insane. I need to spend some time quietly in prayer and then contact the Swedish embassy to protest this outrage. Thanks for the contact details Bill.
    Anna Cook

  12. Hi Rachel. Actually I’ve never really read much from the King James version. I thought it was rather silly and legalistic to read a version which was in archaic English when there were far easier versions to understand. However, I’ve had one around the house over the past couple of years and its large print has made it more attractive so I’ve been picking it up and actually in that archaic wording have been finding gems that seem not to have made it into some of the later versions. I’ve also heard negative rap on some of the new translations (though I’m keeping that on a back burner). The use of the word ‘craft’ in this instance jumped out at me. The later translations use the word ‘deceit’ which could be an alternative translation of the word going back to its original meaning. But it occurred to me that perhaps God looked across the centuries and planted a clue in the text there to be picked up in the understanding of these latter days. Just a thought. And knowing some of the things that have been coming out about people in high places, I believe that ‘craft’ is certainly being made to prosper by legislation and by the planting of certain key people into key positions. There are plenty of accounts out there about the abuse of children by satanic networks. Get some of those into legal positions, journalistic positions and political positions and why would they not (cautiously) push for the barriers in society against pedophilia to be broken down?
    Dee Graf

  13. By the way, on the person of King James himself. I’m not surprised. I have no doubt that much of royalty and other high level people in this world which ‘lies in the hands of the evil one’ have been corrupt and evil themselves. The higher up (into power circles) you go, in my view, the more putrid the air gets! However, he may have authorized a translation into English for his own popularity or for other reasons. It may have been the political milieu of the times and he might have decided to earn himself some kudos. That may not necessarily mean that the translators themselves were corrupt. As a matter of fact, I think that this was a great watershed and a defining moment in Christian history. It brought such freedom and such an amazing paradigm shift that I can’t credit that to just one corrupt leader.
    Dee Graf

  14. Thanks for your thoughts Dee, Hardly a day goes by when I am not shocked by the pushing back of barriers against paedophilia, the family, citizen responsibility – in short the surge to anarchy and the weak response to the dangers. Let’s hope that the few people left who live by the holy Spirit can turn the tide which seems to have gathered momentum over the centuries. I am confident that the truth and good news can be found in the words of the bible.
    Rachel Smith, UK

  15. hi everyone, i have read the life site news article refering to sex offender cases asked to be treated individually in regards to adoption/foster care of children and i have read all of your opinions. I agree with Matt 18:6-7: “If anyone causes one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!”
    but i also agree with people who have in their past made wrong decsions and committed crimes, that have convicted and labled themselves as sex offenders should have their cases assessed individually IF they have truely repented and changed their lives. i believe more of the power in the blood of jesus that washes away all sin than condemnation for life.
    we as christians should show no partiality to sin.
    sin is sin! im not sure about foster care, but everyone deserves the right to be a parent.
    yes circumstances can arise in any family along the road of parent hood and sometimes needing intervention. but these circumstances can happen in any family with or with a prior history of sexual offences. Our God is a God of second chances. will we also give a sex offender a second chance if they have fruit of repentance. that is a case to be assessed individually do you think? but with this sort of history before coming to Christ i would encourage pastoral guidence and accountability.
    Love covers a multitude of sins.
    Michelle Mahon

  16. Thanks Michelle

    Sorry, but I am not quite with you on this one. I don’t know of any responsible parent – whether Christian or non-Christian – who would readily let their kids be looked after by a convicted pedophile. That seems to me not to be Christian grace but lunacy and irresponsibility.

    But you in fact are confusing the issue here. It is one thing for an individual believer to extend grace – others might say, be gullible and naive – in this matter. It is quite another thing for the state to protect its own citizens. It is not up to the state to extend grace, mercy, forgiveness, etc, but to administer justice. That is the real issue here. Christians may turn a blind eye, but states may not.

    But I write about all this more fully here if you want to take it further. Have a read and let me know what you think: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2007/10/14/sin-forgiveness-and-consequences/

    Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

  17. thanks bill for replying to me. i have read your article on forgiveness and consequences.
    i agree with it. do the crime – except responsibility for your actions, with or without Gods intervention. there is always a consequence of sin.
    as christians we are not exempt from sin and making things right to fufill repentance.
    i never said a christian with a past of sexual offences should not serve jail time or be exempt from parole expectations on the contrary these can be opportunitys to witness the grace of God.
    but then does it make it a crime for sexual offender changed into the righteousness of God (2Co 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.) with bearable fruit and accountability be deprived from having their own children with a believing spouse with no criminal history? adopted or concieved natually.
    why then shouldnt goverment children services see into cases differently when shown a life of change, repentance and accountability?
    Michelle Mahon

  18. Thanks Michelle

    My short answer is this: if you want to let a convicted child sex offender look after your kids, feel free. But don’t expect others to share your passion for this.

    Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

  19. Rachel Smith wrote that King James I was bi-sexual …

    Maybe. Maybe not.

    “Throughout his life James had close relationships with male courtiers, which has caused debate among historians about their nature.[114] After his accession in England, his peaceful and scholarly attitude strikingly contrasted with the bellicose and flirtatious behaviour of Elizabeth,[114] as indicated by the contemporary epigram Rex fuit Elizabeth, nunc est regina Jacobus (Elizabeth was King, now James is Queen).[115] Some of James’s biographers conclude that Esmé Stewart (later Duke of Lennox), Robert Carr (later Earl of Somerset), and George Villiers (later Duke of Buckingham) were his lovers.[116] Restoration of Apethorpe Hall, undertaken in 2004–2008, revealed a previously unknown passage linking the bedchambers of James and Villiers.[117] Others argue that the relationships were not sexual.[118] In Basilikon Doron James lists sodomy among crimes “ye are bound in conscience never to forgive”, and James’s wife Anne gave birth to seven live children, as well as suffering two stillbirths and at least three other miscarriages.” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_I_of_England

    Apologies for quoting wikepedia!

    I have seen this “tar them with the homosexual tag” far too often. When arguing against homosexuality at Uni., I was accused of being a closet homosexual myself who was not comfortable with my own sexuality. Bet someone eventually throws that line at Bill too (if they haven’t already).

    Apologies, Bill, as this is really getting a long way off topic.

    Graeme Cumming

  20. Re paedophilia, there’s the situation in Tasmania where former host of ABC’s Collectors programme, Andy Muirhead, was charged with possessing one paedophile image, while the 100+ men who used a 12-year-old girl prostituted by her mother, escaped all prosecution.
    Michael Watts

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