To the parents who killed their 3 year old

I was having a fine evening, a great evening in fact. My first post since the new blog came up was supposed to be light-hearted and happy...and it will be...I promise.

However, since the beginning of this evening until now something has crossed my path that sickened me. It sickened me and made me choke back tears. It made me realize...we are definitely not in heaven here.

I don't want to rehash the whole story but go here if you want to know more details about the case. WARNING, the article is graphic. Any parent reading this will be struck to their core.



In short, two adults, Gary Fellenbaum and Jillian Tait, beat their three year old son for a period of three days until he died all because he wouldn't eat breakfast.

It also came out that Fellenbaum and Tait beat their six year old son but by the grace of God he was spared his life...His mental shock and lifelong battle with trauma after surviving for the first six years of life in such a horrific enviroment will remain to be seen.

The article was short but it struck me...hard. I started to tear up and I instantly wanted to say something.

There are multiple levels of horrendous sin here: a parent's negligence, a parent's willful endangerment, a parent's active hatred towards that with which God blessed them.

Beyond this, he was child, a child. He was the precious imprint of good and beautiful in humanity. He had the innocence of youth. He was made in God's image and he was precious to the Lord.

I strongly believe that the death penalty is very appropriate here.

However, and this I say with great weight and some sinful apprehension, Christ is still a Savior. He is able to forgive even the vilest offenders. Please note, forgiveness in this case wouldn't mean avoiding the consequences of this horrible crime. No, punishment should still be administered.

But while we are disgusted and reeling let us remember this simple truth: but for the grace of God. But for the grace of God we would be those parents, blind hatred and years of practiced hits and punches and slaps controlling every fiber of our being.

Our sin nature is a powerful slave driver and it drives us and drives us and drives us again to do and become evil incarnate.

If it weren't for Christ to break the cycle of sin or pry open our blind eyes, we would be every bit as prone to evil as these parents...perhaps even worse.

Fellenbaum and Tait deserve death. I sincerely hope they are placed on death row. But I also sincerely hope they will come to know Christ. I pray for them. I pray for their families. I pray for their surviving son.

I pray that through this tragedy Christ will be known and that righteousness will still be seen even through this incredible evil.