Untitled Disturbing Post

I came across a link to this site during my daily time wasting. Turns out I live pretty much next door to a child molester. You might too.

I don't have children and I know I would be pretty disturbed to know what goes on in the brains of a random sampling of the people I come across everyday but, still there is something deeply disturbing to me about this. What I mean by that is the pictures of the offenders along with their crime and where they live makes this seem way too ubiquitous. We are really really creepy things.

And still... I'm debating whether to say this. It seems contrived, but it is where my thought went. Okay, I'll say it and risk seeming cheap- So I am grossed out by the pictures of men arrested for various crimes against children and I eventually think, "God loves him." Ugh- that seems so bumper stickery. I know it, and I know that in my own life I am thankful for grace and continue to grow more sensitive to how I have and continue to change. But... I don't know... I have a sense of how destructive my sin was/is but I am struck with this dissonance. It's almost like I don't want to have thought that because of what it means to someone else. I think when someone is truly changed- which, my saying, by the way means I believe people can change- it's because the self being confronted by God is both devastating and life giving. I know that- I love that. I don't want to qualify it, but what does that mean to someone for whom that means nothing?

I don't know that I have said anything clearly yet. What I mean is, Jesus really is the mediator between me and God. Despite my sin, I can be in communion with God because of Jesus. For me, this isn't casual knowledge and it comes with the knowledge of what my sin really is. I imagine this would be the case for anyone, but I don't know that it is the case for everyone. So say a child molester really comes to terms with their sin and the reality of God. If it means for them what it means for me, confronting that would be horrible. But beyond that what does it mean for their victims or their families? I look at the picture of, literally, my neighbor who is a child molester and think that God loves him but then think of someone else and I don't know how I would express that.

Hmm... so I've said nothing... but if you use the links above you may find you are surrounded by more sex offenders than Starbucks. So... you know... that's something.