The parents are culpable...and I'm sorry as hell for their loss and for the horror that their children experienced before having their worlds destroyed by savages.
You know what, that was my first thought too. If I were a missionary, I would never take my children to such a savage place to minister. It's one thing to put your own life at risk, but not that of your children. And to think that isn't what the parents were doing, is not seeing reality.
Those poor children. They are with God now. And he is a vengeful God. Those "militants" don't know what's comin'!!
I totally agree with the "what were they thinking?" attitude about missionary parents dragging their kids to the hell hole that is the middle east. It's not even safe to take your kids on a pilgrimage to Israel anymore.
Ironic and horrifying that the name of their group is the At Any Cost Mission and those parents paid the ultimate cost.
I'm a Christian, and was about to light you up and would have...
except for the small part of you making a valid point.
There are some missions that I would expose my underage children to.
Pakistan ain't one of them.
One of these we will doing next June and I will be watching my daughter like a hawk the entire time.
I agree. If you're going to Pakistan to do missionary work, leave the kids behind with a relative in a more "sane" country.
Sorry I should have read your profile page...it explains your post.
>>>This might draw some fire, but I accuse the parents of gross neglect of the welfare of their minor children. If the parents want to risk their own lives trying to convert muslims to Christianity, that's their own affair; but their minor children weren't mature enough to make such a life-endangering decision for themselves. >>>
I somewhat agree.
The parents did their Christian duty and brought up their children in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord," and the Holy Spirit enabled them to confess the name of Jesus in the face of death, as millions of martyrs have done since Penecost. "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus Christ is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him ffrom the dead, you will be saved...Everyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame." (Romans 10:9,10)
This life is very temporary...eighty or ninety years, max. These children have gained life everlasting with their faithful witness to Jesus. One simply can't compare with the other. If this life is all one has, that is pitifully little in comparison with eternity.
True Christains know that even though their loved ones were brutally murdered, they are now in Heaven. The Bible says not to fear the first death, but to fear the second death which is hell.
Consider yourself fired upon.
Are you serious? Your kind blames the U.S. for 911.It's the killers not the parents fault !!!!
This might draw some fire, but I accuse the parents of gross neglect of the welfare of their minor children.
Thank Youuuuuuuu.
I gave her a copy of this writing by James Jatras, but she dismissed it for the most part.
She told me about a school they were planning to send their kids to in Pakistan, one for English/Americans in the country.
Anyway I was horrified at the time that they were taking their kids into Pakistan.
Is there anything in your world worth dying for?
Thanks - that's what I was thinking too. How bad an idea is it to put children in that situation?
I would imagine that if these children were in Pakistan, their parents knew the danger and the children did also. I doubt that the parents would go if their children were not fully on board with the decision.
While I respect your concern, the great comfort to their parents and all christians lies in the fact that they died and did not deny their faith, unlike the Fox news crew that imperiled the children's lives when they "converted." The promise of scripture is still true that they would be welcome into the bosom of their Savior. I guess there are worse fates than that.
In the end, it was the terrorists who took the lives of these young people. May God have mercy on the souls of these murderers and bring them to repentance.
When I opened this thread and read the article I wondered how long it would take until a FReeper would blame the victims. It didn't take long, sad to say.
I'll not take shots at you....I agree with you 100 percent
May God rest their souls.
There are worse things than death. My kids have known and, to what understanding they have had through the years, agreed with our position. Our decision to come here was made as a family and we stay here as a family. It is part of our method of bringing our children up in the fear and obedience to the Lord and we are expecting Him to work His purposes through it all.
We have known all along that our children might die over here and they might die a martry's death. To be frank, that scares the bejeebers out of me. But I, and my husband, and my children consider it worth the sacrifice to gain the prize of a life of obedience to God.
We consider "reckless obedience" to be the only type of obedience. We do not feel that Christians can serve God halfway. Additionally, being here or in the states does not guarantee that my children will live to adulthood, nor suffer horrific deaths. The death rate everywhere (with the exception of Elijah and Enoch) is 100%. The question is, do we want to live loving God and glorifying Him or live today in relative safety.
Plus, our life here is really exciting!
I think none of my children, now that two of them are adults and the other thinks she's an adult, would chose any other path. They all have personal relationships with our living Lord and are chosing themselves, away from us "bullying parents" lives of reckless obedience.
/rant
Your logic is extremely messed up. The parents did not kill their children, nor did they put the kids in this situation. The Barbaric and inhumane Koranimals are the guilty ones, and only them. The parents should not be accused of anything but having faith in their religion.