The Lies of the Right!!!

I am living in the hope that there is an actual hell for people who are lying about their care and concern for children. Especially the ones who use children for sex, risk children’s lives for money, and destroy resources simply out of cruelty. Indeed, the last five months of the Trump administration have made such hope seem bleak but, at this point, it is one of the only hopes to which I can cling.

Currently, the Trump administration is embroiled in the Epstein scandal. While I do not want to focus on Epstein, I do want to draw readers to Doe v Trump and Epstein, Case 1:16-cv-07673-RA, filed October 3, 2016. In this civil complaint filed by Jane Doe who was allegedly one of the many underage victims of Epstein and Trump, citizens can read the horrific account of her alleged rape, abuse, and physical assault committed by the current sitting president. The civil lawsuit was dismissed several months later, probably settled out of court. However, the fact that such a complaint is part of the public record and that this person was still elected to the highest office in the land (after other convictions plus being adjudicated a rapist in the E. Jean Carroll case) is absolutely horrific.

Second, as I ponder the terrible events surrounding the deaths of 27 campers, counselors, and the owner of Camp Mystic, I am also horrified by news uncovered by National Public Radio. In the years 2013, 2019, and 2020, Camp Mystic requested that FEMA, which is the agency that creates maps designating flood areas, remove more than a dozen buildings from flood zones. The request was finally granted in 2020, thus allowing the Camp, an all-girls summer camp near the Guadalupe River, to remove multiple buildings from the government map even though private data suggested the flood threats remained. This allowed Camp Mystic to reduce their flood insurance and have more buildings to house more campers at the rate of $3,000 per camper. Camp Mystic asked to remove 15 buildings outside of the Flood zone maps that FEMA had designated as a flood zone. The girls who were swept away were in that flood zone.

Finally, The Atlantic Editor and journalist Hana Kiros reported that USAID is set to incinerate 500 tons of emergency food. The food was supposed to be sent to malnourished children in Afghanistan and Pakistan. One excuse that the Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered for not sending the food to Afghanistan was the possibility of terrorists benefiting from the food. There was no reasoning given for not sending the food to Pakistan. The reasoning for the incineration is that the food is about to spoil since it was never sent. Moreover, this amount of food is enough to feed 1.5 million children for a week. So instead of sending the food that was left over from the Biden administration, the Trump administration simply let it rot which is cruel.

Why do I invoke a special place in hell for such people and for such antics? I truly believe Jesus would do so as well. You see, there are surface-level readings of texts related to children that do not take into account the actual imperial context of the New Testament.

Specifically, as the most oppressed group in Roman-ruled Palestine, Jesus names children as the reign, rule, and kin-dom of God.  Let’s look at my translation of Mark 10:13-16.

In my translation, I differ from many standard translations, such as the New Revised Standard Version, because I add “Mothers” instead of using “People.” I imagine mothers bringing their babies, little children, and toddlers to Jesus for a blessing. While I cannot confirm such an interpretation, it makes better sense to me, especially when I translate the Greek word evankalisamenos as “hugging” them instead of “taking them up in his arms.” The writer’s use of the word evankalisamenos may be a specific association with the Phyrgian mother of the gods (and the goddess of motherhood) – Cybele. Cybele was also known as the goddess of fertility and the mountains.[2] This goddess was known for hugging children and also “saving” them. The word for “saving” is the same word for our Christian understanding of salvation (i.e. sozw.)The act of saving has many connotations beyond salvation from sin. It also means healing and wholeness while residing on earth.

For me, thinking of Jesus as a mother scooping up children after declaring them to be the reign of God allows a different understanding of children in the Gospel. Noting that Jesus has singled out children as specific recipients and participants of the reign of God, we must now wrestle with the ways that this text has traditionally and superficially been taught and preached in church settings. Normally, the text of Jesus blessing the children serves as a sermon or lesson about humility. We must learn to come to Jesus with humble spirits, like children. Oftentimes, we forget that children were the most vulnerable and oppressed group in ancient Palestinian society. Our readings cannot just be theological but must account for the fact that up to 50 percent of children died by age ten in Palestine.[3] Further, newborns were often denied protein-rich, infection-fighting colostrum because of early weaning and inadequate food consumption by mothers. Imagine living in Jesus’s world and knowing that it takes six thousand boatloads of grain per year to keep Rome fed and that much of that grain comes from working Palestinian farms where the mothers have to immediately return to work on the farm. Resentment for the wealthy brews among the peasant class.[4]

Therefore, if Jesus calls children the reign of God, how do we imagine Jesus reacting to the use of children for sex? How do we fathom calling ourselves a “Christian nation” when children die so that businesses save a few extra dollars? How do we think Jesus would react to a “Christian nation” burning tons of food instead of feeding the children that he is prone to hug? I hope that Jesus is preparing the fires for these people to burn.

[1] All translations of the New Testament are this author’s translations.

[2] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 330.

[3] See Warren Carter. The Roman Empire and the New Testament: an Essential Guide. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2006. 116.

[4] Carter, 107.