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| http://www.itv.com/news/wales/topic/mold-crown-court/ |
The jury in Mold Crown Court has arrived at a unanimous verdict in the
case of the abduction and murder of a five-year-old girl April Jones. They have
found the defendant guilty, and all now await the sentencing of the man
responsible.
As we were on holiday in South Wales at the time, we can remember the
prolonged searches that were features on the news at the time. As the hours and
days passed, so hope began to fade that the little girl would be found alive.
Indeed, her body has never been found and the precise manner of her death
remains unknown.
The untimely death of a child, particularly in this manner, is
something that challenges us all. We can’t imagine the heartache of a parent
whose child is taken. We can’t really appreciate what it means to maintain hope
and yet find it dashed when someone is charged with that child’s murder.
Neither can we begin to understand what motivates a person to take a life,
especially the life of such a young child. How do we explain it?
Atheists may question the existence of God when, as they see it, He
fails to intervene and prevent such senseless killing. However, this avoids the
really searching question – what is it in the human character that causes us to
be capable of such dreadful acts? God says of man’s heart – your heart and mine
– that it is “deceitful . . . and desperately wicked”. What is alarming is that
the potential is in us all! We are sinners. History demonstrates that sad
conclusion.
But what of this God of love? The real display of God’s love was seen
in the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. As the Father watched the cruel
treatment meted out by humans upon His Son when He was crucified some 200 years
ago, He did not intervene. Indeed, the Bible tells us that God made to meet “upon
him the iniquity of us all”. In order that we might be forgiven the Lord Jesus
Christ died at Calvary. Could we forgive the person who murdered our child? Yet
God is prepared to forgive us in spite of our sin and guilt provided we acknowledge
our guilt and turn to Him in faith.
