The "Monsters" Among Us: Child Sex Abusers in Our Midst

Christianity Today
April 25, 2012

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/may/editorial-christian-sex-abusers.html?start=2

But how we answer the restoration question is paramount to our theology.

Second, we must extend the gospel to child sex abusers. This is a monumental task. A 2011 Slate report titled, "Are molesters really the most hated people in prison?" answered, simply, "Yes. Convicts who have committed crimes against children, especially sexual abuse, are hated, harassed, and abused." Even Christians instinctively feel that child abusers should "rot in jail" when they imagine a fellow Christian fondling a child or masturbating to such images. So when we begin preaching that such "monsters" are known and loved by Christ, it will horrify the watching world. And even us.

Yet if we let the gospel seep into our imaginations, we have no other choice. "Christ died for the murderer and the thief—did he not also die for the child molester?" asks Struthers. "Or am I going to create categories of people who are no longer able to be saved by the blood of Christ?"

Hear us rightly: Restoring molesters doesn't mean full or automatic inclusion in community life. It certainly means jail time, psychological testing, and an intensive recovery program. It should mean complete barring from children's ministry. But for the gospel-shaped community, it will, by God's grace, also mean holding on to hope that the lives destroyed by the molester—among them his own—will be made new on the Final Day by the loving judgment of Jesus.