The other day my wife sent me a picture and asked me to “crush it” and my immediate reaction was just to let it go… what’s the point? You see these kinds of things all the time here on WP, and it just strikes me as pathetic and thinly veiled attempts to justify a position. Don’t get me wrong, if a person chooses not to believe, that’s their business and their right (granted by God, by the way) but to use a child is pathetic.
The more I thought about it however, I decided to deviate from my usual policy and comment on the one she sent. No, I’d prefer not to include it here, it depicts a very young little girl, smiling sweetly and holding up a hand written sign that says.
“According to religion I am: broken, flawed, sinful, dumb, weak, nothing. According to science I am: full of wonder, smart, a great learner, beautiful, potential for greatness. Which do you think is damaging?”
The little girl in the picture looks to be 4 or 5; I highly doubt she wrote these words…
The sign wasn’t specific on which religion her mother or father had in mind; Heaven help us if it was written by her teacher! Anyway, I can only look at this from the point of view of a Christian, so here goes…
As for what “religion” says, some of that list is true. Are we broken, flawed and or sinful? Probably so, certainly none of us are perfect. Healing comes from recognizing our imperfection and seeking grace, and we have grace to offer! Dumb? Does anyone know of any religion that teaches we are dumb? Does Christianity teach that we are dumb? Not even close. Apparently the person who made this sign and gave it to an innocent child to hold for a photo wasn’t a very a faithful steward of the truth, or is woefully misinformed. Does Christianity teach that we are weak? Yes, I guess it does in the sense that we are weak without God who strengthens us. Nothing, does Christianity teach that we are nothing? No, in fact it teaches that God so loved us that He sent His only Son to die to rescue us, that He knows every hair on our heads, and that He knew us while we were still in our mother’s womb! Again, it seems that someone is playing a little fast and loose with the truth.
Now what does science teach, does it teach anything like the sign says?
Seriously?
NO! It teaches that the little girl in the picture is the accidental evolution of random pond scum who is without hope, without purpose and without any particular value, apart from what she might someday contribute to society. Gee, once again we are far from representations that are truthful.
As for which is damaging, I’ll leave that to you.
Sadly, that poor little girl seems like she is going to be taught a willful and deliberate set of lies, and that is sad indeed. What does that say about the person doing it? Seems like maybe they are sinful, broken, weak and flawed… but there is hope! No, it doesn’t come from the latest amazing advances of science, it come from the fact that Jesus died for your sin, and is waiting with open and loving arms to attend to your healing and transformation from hopelessness to eternal life, a life that is full, and purposeful.
Ironic, isn’t it?
No, I didn’t “crush anything, I’m feeling charitable today.
Life Project Blog 
🙂 Dear Don… I say with all sincerity, I feel your pain. My heart also goes out to this little girl.
But two things sprang up, right alongside that moment of heartfelt regret for her circumstances.
(1) The tremendous comfort and joy I felt at knowing that somehow, some way, through some person or medium, Our Tender Lord will encounter and enfold that child in and with His heart, and she will have a clear opportunity to embrace Him in return. How do I know this? Well, because He has said He reveals Himself to ALL, and that’s just how a Father’s heart works.
(2) Truth is… for whatever incredible truth this may seem (you know my testimony)… once upon a time… I WAS that child, raised in that home.
And here we are….
Grace to thee!
The Little Monk
I do know your testimony LM, and it is a source of hope for me in this situation; I pray that it will be so! Thanks for dropping it into the conversation!
😇 Wonderful!! Thank you, I wish everyone could read this !
Thanks. I’m sure there are many saying it better than I have here….
I saw that picture the other day and had the same type of reaction. That little girl, as all of us, is fearfully and wonderfully made by God, she is loved by the Creator of the Universe, she was worth the price of the Son of God who loved her enough to die for her. She has been placed on this earth for a reason and she has purpose. She is not a purposeless product of random chance who exists for a brief time only to devolve into nothingness once mysterious life forces vanish. Thanks for your post!
You are so right!
You said a mouthful in such few words. A testimony of truth, value and purpose. What we all have in Jesus Christ. Continually seeking Him, Sharon
Thank you Sharon! I appreciate that!
A testimony of truth – yes – and there is only one truth. The lady who sent the picture to me knows a truth she has picked… but not the real truth. We have to really lose ourselves before we find ourselves in Christ Jesus. Thanks Don for tackling that for me.
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Brilliant. I absolutely love what you said here. You put it so well.
Thank yoy
great great take on it… I agree fully
Thanks
Reading through mainstream science tells us exactly what it teaches. It teaches we are very imperfect. Otherwise why does it try to perfect us? Enhancing drugs, gene manipulation and what is this transhumanism nonsense? It is a robot. That is what Satan wants us to be. He doesn’t want us to think on our own. Just follow the program he is laid out everywhere for us to program ourselves with. Any religion, philosophy or science, spirituality that teaches repetition is teaching just that. Be a robot. Quran means repeat if that is any indication.
I can rant on this all day, but I won’t. I pray everyone seeking already knows this.
God gave us free will. Created perfectly with the option of becoming imperfect. God wants his children to emulate himself. Without free will, we cannot become that.
I would agree!
Whoever wrote the sign took statements from both sides out of context. The most brilliant non-Christian says life has no purpose/meaning (other than the pupose/meaning you give it) While all most all Christians say life has purpose/meaning and that meaning/purpose comes from our Creator. This is not taking either side out of context.
“The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact.”
― Malcolm Muggeridge
Great observation Ken, thanks!
You hit the nail on the head, Don – they have no real, lasting hope.
Yep, sad but true
I saw that picture on Facebook a few weeks ago, and while reading your post, my mind instantly went to Matthew 18:5-7. In it, Jesus says: “And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!”
That picture really hurt my heart because I saw this verse being played out right before my eyes. All we can do is pray.
Amen. It’s really sick…
Excellent but sad blog. It would be sad enough if it was just one little girl, but it is an epidemic. A generation has been raised that they came from animals, by accident, and that there is no purpose, meaning, truth, morality in life. No wonder so many are depressed and aimless. Thank you for saying that there is hope in Jesus Christ.
It is truly sad, thanks for jumping into the conversation!