Dear runner,

You wrote;

"Could not disagree with you more but as you point out it does show how we view the Lord Jesus Christ differently."

Yup. you see him as a clone of Paul and as a Paulian that is your right.

CSTEELE...actually that was a typo "we get childred TO stubbornly refuse"...

SHOULD read "who". which puts a very different light on it.

The point being, that when they experience the love of those caring families, the contrast with what they came from is so stark as to be such that the thought of returning to their post crisis real family is a horrible thought for them.

Jewelly...'those' families (as mentioned above) do not need to be slandered in the slightest, rather they need to be encouraged as they give of themselves.

CSTEELE... you demonstrated your heretical and unbiblical position clearly there. Obviously you just pick and choose which portions of the New Testament which suit your own program. There were others who did that..and they are listed among the many many heretical groups history is littered with.

When Jesus came, his message was clear:

REPENT.... (from sin)
BELIEVE...(in the Gospel)

His message was NOT to comfort sinners in their sin. After the Gospel is offered, with the attending signs which he gave..giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, strength to the paralyzed, life to the dead.... his injunction to 'shake off the dust of your feet' is not harsh at all for those who remain 'dug in' in their sin.

Dear AGIR,

By just re-quoting the line ''shake the dust off your feet” and call it “not harsh” without regard to its following verse is totally disingenuous.

To quote;
“And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.”

You call that not harsh?

You said;
“Obviously you just pick and choose which portions of the New Testament which suit your own program. There were others who did that..and they are listed among the many many heretical groups history is littered with.”

The example above reveals the true culprit of self serving selections.

Further as I don't belong to a church I can not be accused of heresy. You my friend certainly can and I do so now. By cherry picking as you have just done you have consciously neutered the true message the writer sought to convey in those verses.

Further I ask whether it should also be regarded as blasphemy i.e. An irreverent or impious act, attitude, or utterance in regard to something considered inviolable or sacrosanct.

Please take a little more care in the future.

Epison

'It was done by people who were lauded by folk like yourselves as shining examples of the Christian ideal.;

Just shows how distorted your thinking is.

Jewely

'They can pay their teachers more so get better ones?
'

Go on deceiving yourself mate. No wonder you can't face the truth with answers like this one.

Notwithstanding the apologetics from ALGORE
and runner, it seems that Epsilon's experience
of the tender mercies of Christian child care
are far from unigue:

"Salvation Army says sorry for abuse
07 December 2010

"...an apology by the Salvation Army for the abuse of children in its care up to the 1990s was welcome news for many of the survivors who gathered in Canberra on Tuesday."

"Brian Cherrie, 57, who was repeatedly raped inside the notorious Box Hill Boys' Home, wants the churches and charities responsible for the abuse to sell assets to pay for compensation.

"The children's home where I grew up is still owned by the Salvation Army ... and is worth tens of millions of dollars," he told reporters.

"These churches and charities made a lot of money on the back of our misery and they need to cough up and pay redress to all forgotten Australians."

But survivors like Alfred Stirling, 70, say no amount of money will ever make up for the abuse suffered inside.

"I'd get the crap beaten out of me, and then raped ... it was hell," he said of his time in Bayswater Boys' Homes from 1954-57."

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1435261/Salvation-Army-says-sorry-for-abuse

I think it's runner and ALGORE who are
"deceiving themselves" about how some
Christians treat children who have been
placed in their care.