Another Kind of Child Abuse

I Was Abused Again

The title must have gotten your attention. Don't worry. I'm ok. But its true. I was abused again. But there are different kinds of abuse. There's physical abuse and sexual abuse and emotional abuse. This time I wasn't physically or sexually abused. This time I was threatened and emotionally abused. It upset me at first but I'm ok now. But it makes me really mad that its happening to lots of other kids who are being scared and terrified by it. I got an email from someone I don't know that had a poem in it. It was a poem that was written to scare children and threaten them and get them to do something that the author of the poem wants them to do. It threatens that the children will be punished and abused and hurt and tortured if they don't obey. Anyone who sends that kind of poem to a kid is guilty of child abuse for trying to scare and threaten them that way. Would you like it if someone threatened your children with being tortured if they didn't obey that person? Would it matter what it was that the person wanted your children to do? What if he told your children, "Get undressed and show me your body or I'm going to torture you?" You'd be really mad about that. What if he said, "Give me $50 or I'm going to hurt you really bad." You'd still be really mad, right? But what if all he said was, "Brush your teeth every night at 8:00 or I'm going to sneak into your house at night and kidnap you and take you to a dungeon and tear off your clothes and torture you and you'll never see your family again!" What if he didn't say it like he was teasing but that he really meant he would do it. And it really scared your kids. Would you think that was OK because he wasn't asking them to do anything bad? Children should brush their teeth. So is it ok for him to threaten and scare them like that to get them to do something they should? Or would you still be mad and want him to be punished for threatening to torture your children? Would you want the person to go to prison so he couldn't threaten any other children no matter what it was he asked them to do to avoid being tortured? I bet you would. Now here's the poem that I got sent by email. Read it and think about how it threatens children with being tortured if they don't do something.
	I went into my classroom Ready for another year at school. I didn't want the work, Just wanted to hang and be cool. I had on new clothes, New sneaks on my feet. I was there for class on time Went to the back and took my seat. Yeah, I'm moving up. I'm already grown. Soon I'll be graduating And out on my own. I talked to some of my friends. We were all having fun. Said some things I shouldn't have said, Did stuff I shouldn't have done. I knew I was different. I felt God touch my heart. I knew I should set a standard, But then I'd be set apart. Walking to the bus, I was not looking for strength. I heard the car tires screeching, But now it's too late. I'm standing in this room And I can see the heavenly gate. Oh no! I never prayed. I thought I had time to get it straight. An angel walked to me. He had a book in his hand. I knew it was the Book of Life. When would this dream end? I told him my name And he began to look. Then he looked at me sadly and said Your name is not in this book. Angel, this is a dream. No, I can't be dead! He closed the book and turned away. He whispered - You cannot proceed ahead. No...no this can't be real. Angel, you can't turn me away. Let me talk to God. Maybe He'll let me stay. He led me to the gate. Jesus came to me, He did not let me in but said, Beloved what is your need? Jesus, I cried, please Don't cast me away from you. Tears ran down His face as He said, You knew what you needed to do. Lord, please I'm young. I never thought I would die. I thought I'd have plenty of time. Death caught me by surprise. Lord, I went to church. Please Jesus, I believe. He said you would not accept me. My love you would not receive. Lord, there were too many hypocrites. They weren't being true. He took a step back and asked What does that have to do with you? Lord, my family claimed to be saved, They weren't real. You know. He said, I died for you. Now I have to go. I fell to my knees crying to Him. Lord, I planned to be real tomorrow. I couldn't make Him understand. I had never felt such sorrow. Then it hit me hard, I said Lord, where will I go? He looked into my eyes and said, My child you already know. Please Jesus, I begged The place is so hot. It seemed to trouble and grieve Him. He whispered, DEPART FROM ME, I KNOW YOU NOT. Lord, you're supposed to be love. How can you send me to damnation? He replied, With your mouth you said you loved me, But each day you rejected my salvation. With that in an instant, Day turned into night. I never knew such torture could be. Now too late, I know the Bible is right. If I can tell you anything, Hell has no age. It is a place of torture, Separated from God and full of rage. You know I thought it was funny -- a joke, But this one thing is true. If you never accept Jesus Christ HELL IS WAITING FOR YOU!
Maybe you believe its ok to abuse children by threatening them this way but I don't. I think its sick that a religion has to tell children to obey them or they're going to be tortured for eternity. I can't believe that's what God wants. I think that God would rather have children learn to worship and honor him out of love not out of fear. I don't think I could ever believe in a religion that tries to convert children to their belief by threatening them with torture if they don't. I can't believe that God only cares about which religion you are and how you worship and honor him instead of just caring about the kind of person you are and how you live your life. I can't believe that God only accepts one religion over all the others. I can't believe that God will only let worshipers of that one religion into heaven and will send all the others to hell just because they honor and worship him in a different way. I do believe that if we're all made in God's image then the best way we can honor and worship God is by respecting each other and caring for each other and helping each other. Every time we are cruel or insensitive or hurt another person we dishonor God. I believe that the greatest thing we can do to show God that we love him is to treat each other with courtesy and respect and love and to help each other. That's what I believe God cares about more then which church you go to or which prayers you say and what religion you practice. That's just my opinion but its just as good as anyone else's opinion. That's all religions are anyway. They're just opinions about about what's important to God. They're based on traditions and writings and beliefs that are ancient but they're still just opinions. And almost all religions think theirs is the only right way to worship God and all the others are wrong. Well if your religion is right and all the others are wrong then the others must just be people's opinions. And your religion is wrong according to someone else's religion so yours is just an opinion too. That's what I hate about most religions. They think they have a monopoly on worshiping God. I don't think anyone's religion is wrong as long as they're not hurting other people. I don't think that God will keep Christians or Jews or Moslems or Hindus or Buddhists or any other religion out of heaven just because of the way they worship him. You might not agree with my opinion and you might think yours is the only real way to worship God. That's your opinion. It's different than mine. But nobody can say for sure. It's just based on our beliefs. We won't know for sure until after we die. So until then please make sure you don't abuse children with your religious beliefs. Find a better way to teach them to love God. Please don't try to argue with me about my opinion. It's my religion. I think I'm right and you think you're right. Let's agree to disagree. I'll be happy to debate it with you when we see each other in heaven. Rachel September 18, 1999
Copyright � 1999 Rachel Williams