Merciful Lyn Benedetto and Her Throat-Slit Kids
To be honest, I find it very hard to stomach and read articles like this one about Lyn Benedetto taking a knife to her children’s throats. Ask my wife, as a father, I just can’t handle them. But in light to some mainstream Christian theologies, she should actually be viewed as a very loving and merciful mom.
Here is a quote from the full article:
“Lyn Benedetto, 47, told authorities that to prevent her family from suffering [during the Tribulation], she had her daughters, 11 and 14, lie on a bed, took a box cutter knife to their throats, then cut herself March 19.”
In fear of the pending tribulation slated to begin May 21, 2011 (thanks Harold Camping), and the suffering that would indeed ensue, she took the sane course of action: a few minutes of her kid’s suffering in trade of avoiding months of suffering. Seems very logical, merciful and kind.
and If we really, truly believe in a literal, eternal suffering hell where God will cast billions of people into…
and if we believe in an God-given age of accountability for children (most believe this age is somewhere between 5 and 13, where if a child dies before this age they will not be held accountable by God for their sins since they were too young and will be ushered into heaven)…
…then this course of action should not be rare or newsworthy. It should be a common practice by Christian moms who love their children. I mean, why risk the chance of their kids getting it wrong (or dying after their 13th birthday) and suffering for all eternity in hell? If a mom took this course of action to avoid months of suffering, imagine what a mom would do for her kids to avoid an eternity’s worth of suffering?
In fact, kid-throat-slicing should be a very common activity during 12th birthday parties and the moms who perform the loving act should be celebrated for their grace and mercy, not tried for their insanity and murder.
But something inside us says this is not right. Something inside of us says that her actions were not right, just, loving or merciful. Something inside of us says that the traditional notion of Hell is not right, just, loving or merciful. Something inside of us says that this is not who God is or what God would do.
And some will think worse about a mom who would do this to her few kids than a God who would do much much worse to billions.
But we should ignore and dismiss that “something inside of us” because, after all, “God’s ways are higher than our ways and who are we to offer him any counsel?”
Perhaps that “something inside of us” is God-placed and we should be listening to it? That maybe that still-small-voice inside of us is true and that maybe it’s our interpretations and hellish notions are off.
But perhaps not. And if so, excuse me while I try to find my box cutters…
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