Yey y'all!
I know you all have been waiting with great anticipication for me to give my thoughts on the current situation going on in Texas concerning the raid by the Texas authorities on the FLDS compound in El Dorado, TX. I have held back my thoughts for many reasons.
1) I have "jumped the gun" on too many situations, and found later on that I just looked ignorant.
2) I am out of the "mainstream" of Christian church-goers, and look at issues with a Libertarian eye.
3) I am a Christian (that means that I love, and trust in Jesus), so I do my best to look at events through His "eyes of love."
D) I am the husband of one wife...with no desire for more than one...(heck, when you've got the Mrs...well, no polygamy for me!)
5) This deal is so screwy that even hundreds of lawyers, preachers, and judges can't figure it all out. I'm thanking the Lord that their ignorance is giving me "cover" on this one. You can look at the whole article here from CNN...it just gets wilder all the time!
So, I'm gonna try to tell y'all my opinion of this deal clearly.
Okay, let's get started with the whole idea of "polygamy." Since this is a "polygamist sect" causing all this uproar, it is a good place to start. "Polygamy" is really easy to define.
It reminds me of of when I was a kid, and Junior Samples (from Cumming, GA) on "Hee Haw" responded to the fact that some yokel had been "arrested for bigamy...he had three wives." Junior would always say, "That's not bigamy, that's trigonometry!"
Now, I'm not real sharp, but I think that the States have laws about marriage. If a fellow goes down to the courthouse, applies for a marriage license from the State, and gets it signed and recorded, he is "married." That means that he can't go through the same legal process again with another gal until he gets a "divorce" from his current wife. If he does, now that is law-breaking...he is a polygamist.
But if a fellow just goes through some sort of religious service (however weird the religion is), and promises to love and take care of 4 or 5 gals...he's not a polygamist. He's just ignorant! So this isn't a "polygamist sect" at all...it's just a weird bunch of folks.
Polygamy is anti-Christian at the outset. Marriage between a man and a woman is really just a picture of Jesus and The Church. The Church is the "bride of Christ." He is our "bridegroom." He is the "model" for a husband. He is always faithful to us, even when we are unfaithful to Him. That is why I so despise divorce between two believers in Christ...the "figure" of Christ and the Church is rendered void in some sad way.
I don't care at all about divorce between two non-believers, because the example doesn't apply. Don't get me wrong...I know it's painful and makes problems for the children, etc. It's just not "divorce" in the holy matrimony sense. Now I hope y'all don't take this as judgmental, because I sure don't want it to be. Heck, almost everybody in my family, and most of my friends have been divorced at least once. I don't look down on anybody for it. Heck, the Mrs. might divorce me one of these days (slow arsenic poisoning is more likely though...I caught her rifling through the insurance papers a few days ago).
Anyway, polygamy is anti-Christian in concept and practice.
But, how many millions of Americans live together outside either a legal, or church marriage? And how many of those millions have children that they are raising together? And how many millions of men have children by more than one woman that they are supporting?
Therein is "the rub." The Libertarian in me says, "Those folks choose to live together in a compound, and share a husband, and bear children, and raise them to believe that this is an acceptable way of life." That is not much different than the other millions that do it...they just don't live in a compound all together.
I am convinced that the seizure of all these children would not be happening if these folks weren't considered "cultists." If the women didn't wear neck-high dresses like your great-grandma in old black and white pictures, I am sure this wouldn't have happened.
Now, to allegations of child abuse. Okay, there is a sticky one. Imagine if you will, a small town in Texas with 400 children living there. Do you think that quite possibly some of those children may be being abused at this very moment? Maybe there are a couple of fathers (or young men) in town that get their jollies that way. Does the State of Texas go in and round up every child in town, so they can question them away from their parents? Heck no! They go specifically and question the accused abusers, and leave the rest alone. If there is enough suspicion, they go further with investigating the deal.
My understanding of this deal is that a telephone call came from a "resident" of the compound...and I still have my suspicions about that. That girl should have been able to tell the authorities "who," or how many "whos" were up to what...names, etc. Now, maybe the accuser did. But what good does it do to drag the children out of there? It might be a weird place to live, but it is where they live...it's their home. I know if I was a child, I would be scared to death. Heck, I might be scared to death if they pulled me out of my home now!
Just go in there, question the suspects, arrest them if you want to...but don't screw these kids up anymore than they are right now by disrupting their daily routine...that's real important for younguns.
Some of the later reports on this are saying that prosecutors are urging the mothers of these kids to avow that marriage under the age of 18 is not okay. I hope they don't. Heck, my Momma was under 18 when she married my Daddy (had to lie). My great-grandmother in North Carolina was 12 when she got married...didn't seem to hurt her any. In fact, the Virgin Mary was probably about 12 when Joseph married her. I know it's weird in our society...but sometimes our society is a little weird itself.
That's about all. Well no...that is all.
Hey Geoff,
ReplyDeleteI know that your goals are high and lofty. And I appreciate that.
The problem is that for decades, the public school system has embraced an "anything goes" approach to lifestyles...in some schools even promoting "Johnny has two Moms," the teachers unions contributing in huge amounts of dollars to political candidates that vote contrary to traditional family values, NO PRAYING unless you are an offended Muslim...giving away free condoms (lessons with a banana)...or whatever.
To unravel this whole mess is not possible.
Law enforcement is going to be powerless in this deal. Teachers coming forward can help, but only on a small scale. And even when they do, there will be errors made. Innocent parents will be tagged as "abusers" by children that got ticked off because Dad wouldn't let them go to the mall ("I'll get even with him...my teacher told me I should report it if my Dad touched my wrong")...etc.
The public school system has screwed itself into a hole. As badly as it wants to protect children, it has no way of doing it.
I hope that you can come up with a "magic pill" to stop child abuse. If you do, well God bless you. I hope you come up with a method to stop at least some of it. I really do.
But the truth is, until Jesus comes again, the old Devil will still direct the actions of his followers. It's sad...but true.