It seems like every time we turn on the news or read the paper, someone somewhere is being tried for murder.
That leaves the question open for the death penalty. Do you believe or do you not believe?
My husband and I were talking about this the other day, He asked me what I felt. Now years ago I would have told you a firm 'YES'. I would have given you all my reasons and left it at that. But, Now that I am growing in my maturity and my christian faith, I cant be sure of this answer.
I am busy watching the Casey Anthony trial, knowing good and well she is the one who took her 2 year old life. (well, in my mind I feel she did). And I think of the little girl Caylee and my heart breaks for her and what she must have been going through in her mind when this murder was taking place, clearly, if it was her mommy, she was probley smiling and trusting her, Never thinking she was going to die in her mothers hands.
Then I think, Yes she should die. And then I think Wait...she should have to live forever thinking about her acts, let the woman in jail beat her and she if she likes it,,then I think, That girl has clearly some mental issues that brought her to this point.
But no matter what I think, it is what God thinks. God KNEW of Caylee's death even before Caylee entered this world. God KNEW Casey Anthony would be on trial, even before Casey was put on this earth. God Knows the verdict even before you or I know. and God KNOWS where Casey Anthony will end up.
Now as Christians you and I need to be not judging her or others for their sins, this is a hard thing to NOT do. As people we are just simply wired to judge, we judge everything in our lives,,from TV shows to sermons..we are judges.
But God has told us NOT to judge, it is not your place or my place. So, what do we do then? we simply pray. Pray for the ones you love and pray harder for the ones you don't.
If the death penalty is the way out for justice, then we all must die. For God said "not one sin is greater then another". So, therefore the murder who is put to death needs to be in the shooting range with the liar or the thief, we must all go together.
I my friends..would be dead a million times over if this were a fair and just legal system.
I do think that God will take something from each and every situation, good or bad, and turn it into his glory.
I think of Jeffery Dahmer, the man from Wisconsin, He would rape and murder men and then eat them. He began this ritual at the age of 5. He would take animals and begin his life long sickness on them. As he grew his sick desire grew and he began to feel the need to kill people. It took one lone survivor to turn him into the police. The story is gruesome.
Finally Jeffery was captured and put in prison. He was kept in a cell so that other people could not hurt him. He asked for the main prison area, they denied and he kept pushing it that he could be in the main hall with the fellow prisoners. Do you think the fear from the prison staff was that Jeffery could again practice his sick obsession? Maybe.
Do you think the other prisoners were ready to welcome Jeffery into their society?
Oh yes, I am sure they had a master plan if he was released into the general public!!
When interviewed, Jeffery was asked '"Why do you want to go in harms way"? He replied in two fold. he said he felt he deserved it, and that he also had came to know the Lord Jesus Christ in his solitary, He wanted to ask forgiveness from his brothers and tell them of God.
They let him out. Now, I don't know how many he got to tell of the Lord, if any. I do know that Jeffery was killed by 3 of the prisoners in a very painful way. This was his death penalty.
I do believe Jeffery knew what his demise would be. But as a christian he also knew where his eternity would be.
Now, had Jeffery tortured one of my sons, I would maybe leaning on the side of the death penalty, I may think he should die also. I just don't know. I am not in that situation to know and I never want to have to try to understand that feeling.
I do believe that I am not here to judge the death penalty. I do know that I feel God is always in control and his WILL BE DONE. I can not waste my time on deciding if one should die or live, I can not carry. that on my shoulders.
I will believe in my father and his justice. I am thankful that Jesus gave his life for me so that I would not have to die for my sins, big or small sins..they are all sins to God. I am thankful that our lord has paid the price for me and you. I am thankful Jeffery Dahmer asked God to forgive him, for remember his deeds, though very bad, are no worst then my sins, or then your sin.
I pray that all who read this will understand that we are all equal, we are all precious to our father. That he looks at our bad and loves us anyway.
Do not judge one another, hate the sin..not he sinner.
So, Do I believe in the death penalty? I guess you have figured that out! I do not. Do I judge you if you do? I do not. I am not saying my theory is correct. they are only my feelings.
I opened the bible today asking God what he would like me to say, and I opened it to NAHUM and began reading. I didn't get to far into the book when the verse was shown to me..then I knew.
NAHUM 2.
God is in control... Let him have it..it is HIS people...we are HIS children...HE IS THE MASTER..He is the WISE one, HE IS THE BEGINNING AND THE END. AMEN
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
In the eyes of a child
Many children are facing the world growing curse of divorce.
I am a child of divorce and know that the feelings can be very confusing to a child. They see the people they love and trust the most in the world 'unloving' one another. How can this be possible? How can the parents whom they love more than anything in this world, not love one another? They think, Maybe I should do something to make them love each other again, or what can I 'not' do again, so they love one another again. It is a totally normal process that they will go through.
Divorce is a very emotional time and such a roller coaster ride for all involved. Even as the parent, you second guess yourself at times.
Many couples decide at certain time that it is inevitable, a divorce will be taking place. Some do it right away, some separate for a time to be sure, and yet a handful will make it until the children are out of high school and then go their own way. (As though the pain will not effect the child at 18).
I was married in 1983. I found myself pregnant and felt that the marriage must take place. I was hopeful that He and I would make it..yet..I knew deep down that it would probably not last, but I was going to give it a go and see what happened.
We struggled, like so many with finances. He made a generous amount of money, but, we were two young kids who didn't know or even care about the value of a dollar. We enjoyed the money and the credit we had! We had nothing to show for it, but we did have fun with it!!
One day, I went to the mail box and in it as the greatest thing I had ever seen... a VISA card, with a THOUSAND dollar limit... what a blessing (NOT)!
I remember my first purchase like it was yesterday. There was an infomercial on a country western singer and his greatest hits...oh I had to buy that for my husband..I waited and waited and then one day..there it was! I so proudly gave it to my husband and he just smiled and said "who is he"? So, I can only assume I sold it in a garage sale!
That card was the beginning to our end. We felt so empowered, we could shop, spend and have a great time. and we did.
Then the bill came. we owed $1,000.00. plus interest. well that sucked.
I think I paid the minimum due for awhile and never seen that I could start to shop on it again. so I got bored and stopped paying it, I believe, I felt they were ripping me off! From then on..we were broke.
Money came between us on a daily basis. I wanted more.. he wanted more and we both had none.
In this time, we decided to have another child!! Soon we had 2 daughters and nothing to feed them. Our home was going to go back to the bank. I was paying people to babysit so I could work cross shifts as my husband. The kids would have a babysitter for 2 hours a day, but that wasn't free either.
There was a point that I found I was having to steal food from a neighbor to feed my girls. YET, we had a boat, toys and a nice T.V.
I never thought of maybe selling my items to survive, just figured we were in a hole that we could never crawl out of.
When winter came along our life would be much harder. Back in the 80's there was not a program where there were heat laws. If you didn't pay your heat bill.. you simply had no heat. Many, Many times I would feel my husband place our children in bed with me before he would go to work, he would tell me to cuddle up with them as there was no heat in the house.
If any of you know anything of Minnesota..you know winters are very cold. This cold was worst due to our home was a 30 year old mobile home.
There were many times the water would be turned off along with the heat. So, I would pack up the kids and go to a family members house or friends house until my husband could figure out how to get the home up and running again.. And somehow he always did. only to have it start again in the next week or so.
As you can well imagine the fighting soon began. Now, I do not blame him for all of the mess, I was just as much responsible.
I felt that this was going to go nowhere and that WE were not going to go nowhere. So, I went out alot to run away from the stress-only to welcome far more stress!
I began to see my husband as a lesser man, and other men sempt to me the key to my survival. I then entered into a world that was new to me and I was liking it. Drinking and other men. life was finally becoming good. I finally found my place in the world and I belonged.
My life took a downhill spiral from then. what had I done? I can tell you what I had done. I allowed Satan to take my life and run with it.
Was I having fun? you better believe it. Satan will make any and all sin look fun and be fun, for a very short time, then the hate of him comes through and he allows you to suffer in ways you never thought possible. I destroyed my marriage, my relationships with my in laws, my children's, mine and their father relationships were damaged, My 'friends' turned against me, I turned against me. I was entering the pit of hell and I didn't know what to do.
This story goes on and on, but, I was trying to understand why I chose to take my marriage and destroy it. They only thing I could say was 'I love you, but, I am not in love with you'.
Again, the point needs to be made that WE both did many things in the union that destroyed it. I can only speak for myself and the things that bent me.
I did not take my vows serious, I really can not even tell you what I did vow, I was too concerned how I looked that day or if the flowers were all in place and all the other things brides want to be perfect, things, I wanted my 'things' to be perfect that day, not my vows, not my 'forever' mate, just things.
Satan knew this and knew he could have our relationship.
I made choices to destroy my life and my children's family life. I made the choice to allow Satan to control me, Yet, at the time I had no clue what he was doing.
Well, as you know, we did divorce and our lives moved on. I am married now to my second husband, we raised my girls and 4 other kids and now have grand kids.
Satan NO longer has control of my life, do things go wrong in our marriage? yep. But I allow God to take control.
When and if you are going through a time that you feel divorce is the only way out, look deep. Is it something that you can see Satan in? (other then for your or your child's safety) Can you pull yourself out of a situation you may be in and see if it is of God?
I never felt I would be married and WANT to have a husband, I never felt that I would ever stayed married, and though many rocky times have come, I listened to God, took to his word. Read the bible, went to classes, allowed God to head my marriage. Allowed my self to be forgiven and to love again.
I am a child of divorce and know that the feelings can be very confusing to a child. They see the people they love and trust the most in the world 'unloving' one another. How can this be possible? How can the parents whom they love more than anything in this world, not love one another? They think, Maybe I should do something to make them love each other again, or what can I 'not' do again, so they love one another again. It is a totally normal process that they will go through.
Divorce is a very emotional time and such a roller coaster ride for all involved. Even as the parent, you second guess yourself at times.
Many couples decide at certain time that it is inevitable, a divorce will be taking place. Some do it right away, some separate for a time to be sure, and yet a handful will make it until the children are out of high school and then go their own way. (As though the pain will not effect the child at 18).
I was married in 1983. I found myself pregnant and felt that the marriage must take place. I was hopeful that He and I would make it..yet..I knew deep down that it would probably not last, but I was going to give it a go and see what happened.
We struggled, like so many with finances. He made a generous amount of money, but, we were two young kids who didn't know or even care about the value of a dollar. We enjoyed the money and the credit we had! We had nothing to show for it, but we did have fun with it!!
One day, I went to the mail box and in it as the greatest thing I had ever seen... a VISA card, with a THOUSAND dollar limit... what a blessing (NOT)!
I remember my first purchase like it was yesterday. There was an infomercial on a country western singer and his greatest hits...oh I had to buy that for my husband..I waited and waited and then one day..there it was! I so proudly gave it to my husband and he just smiled and said "who is he"? So, I can only assume I sold it in a garage sale!
That card was the beginning to our end. We felt so empowered, we could shop, spend and have a great time. and we did.
Then the bill came. we owed $1,000.00. plus interest. well that sucked.
I think I paid the minimum due for awhile and never seen that I could start to shop on it again. so I got bored and stopped paying it, I believe, I felt they were ripping me off! From then on..we were broke.
Money came between us on a daily basis. I wanted more.. he wanted more and we both had none.
In this time, we decided to have another child!! Soon we had 2 daughters and nothing to feed them. Our home was going to go back to the bank. I was paying people to babysit so I could work cross shifts as my husband. The kids would have a babysitter for 2 hours a day, but that wasn't free either.
There was a point that I found I was having to steal food from a neighbor to feed my girls. YET, we had a boat, toys and a nice T.V.
I never thought of maybe selling my items to survive, just figured we were in a hole that we could never crawl out of.
When winter came along our life would be much harder. Back in the 80's there was not a program where there were heat laws. If you didn't pay your heat bill.. you simply had no heat. Many, Many times I would feel my husband place our children in bed with me before he would go to work, he would tell me to cuddle up with them as there was no heat in the house.
If any of you know anything of Minnesota..you know winters are very cold. This cold was worst due to our home was a 30 year old mobile home.
There were many times the water would be turned off along with the heat. So, I would pack up the kids and go to a family members house or friends house until my husband could figure out how to get the home up and running again.. And somehow he always did. only to have it start again in the next week or so.
As you can well imagine the fighting soon began. Now, I do not blame him for all of the mess, I was just as much responsible.
I felt that this was going to go nowhere and that WE were not going to go nowhere. So, I went out alot to run away from the stress-only to welcome far more stress!
I began to see my husband as a lesser man, and other men sempt to me the key to my survival. I then entered into a world that was new to me and I was liking it. Drinking and other men. life was finally becoming good. I finally found my place in the world and I belonged.
My life took a downhill spiral from then. what had I done? I can tell you what I had done. I allowed Satan to take my life and run with it.
Was I having fun? you better believe it. Satan will make any and all sin look fun and be fun, for a very short time, then the hate of him comes through and he allows you to suffer in ways you never thought possible. I destroyed my marriage, my relationships with my in laws, my children's, mine and their father relationships were damaged, My 'friends' turned against me, I turned against me. I was entering the pit of hell and I didn't know what to do.
This story goes on and on, but, I was trying to understand why I chose to take my marriage and destroy it. They only thing I could say was 'I love you, but, I am not in love with you'.
Again, the point needs to be made that WE both did many things in the union that destroyed it. I can only speak for myself and the things that bent me.
I did not take my vows serious, I really can not even tell you what I did vow, I was too concerned how I looked that day or if the flowers were all in place and all the other things brides want to be perfect, things, I wanted my 'things' to be perfect that day, not my vows, not my 'forever' mate, just things.
Satan knew this and knew he could have our relationship.
I made choices to destroy my life and my children's family life. I made the choice to allow Satan to control me, Yet, at the time I had no clue what he was doing.
Well, as you know, we did divorce and our lives moved on. I am married now to my second husband, we raised my girls and 4 other kids and now have grand kids.
Satan NO longer has control of my life, do things go wrong in our marriage? yep. But I allow God to take control.
When and if you are going through a time that you feel divorce is the only way out, look deep. Is it something that you can see Satan in? (other then for your or your child's safety) Can you pull yourself out of a situation you may be in and see if it is of God?
I never felt I would be married and WANT to have a husband, I never felt that I would ever stayed married, and though many rocky times have come, I listened to God, took to his word. Read the bible, went to classes, allowed God to head my marriage. Allowed my self to be forgiven and to love again.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)