I am coming of a long clinical day. I have had to deal with the consequences of false memories — caused in many ways. Of people who are guilty or shamed because they have a clear memory of events. That. did. not. happen.

This world is fallen, and this passage scares me. I have seen the results of self-mutilation, and the reasons: most of the time this comes from the country of madness, where metaphor becomes real.

Matthew 18:1-9

¹At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” ²He called a child, whom he put among them, ³and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

⁶“If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. ⁷Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom the stumbling block comes!

⁸“If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and to be thrown into the eternal fire. ⁹And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into the hell of fire.”

So I need to reiterate: Christ is using metaphors. He speaks in parables. He uses hyperbole. Saying it would be better to suicide than molest a child — well that’s true, but it is not a command. The mutilation? Well, some treatments for people will have neurological consequences, of which impotence would be the least (go look up tardive dyskinesia. I’ll wait). And I know people who have lost limbs to meningococcal disease — amputated to save their lives. At that level, the metaphor works.

But not as a command. Christ is telling us to preserve the child in us. that which has faith, that which has trust, that which will believe promises. Not destroy that. Not betray trust. Not damage the child by abuse or neglect. I’m not sure, but I think he implies not only physical abuse and neglect but removing the means of salvation by destroying the basic trust a child has that the rules are fair.

Which has happened before: the consequences of the same are being worked out in the post Soviet world. For there is a greater sin that turning from God. It is removing access to God for the next generations, who no longer read that gentle schoolmaster to faith (Aristotle), nor understand logic, nor are taught the defences of theism (which Thomas Aquinas compounded, working om many church fathers, Augustine being not the least). If you go down a rabbit hole into your own error you will make your own hell. That, bluntly, is your business. But saying, out loud, that there is nothing but that hole, and screaming at anyone who teaches otherwise, is projection at best, and active evil at worst. I have seen the consequences of these belief systems, and it is not nice, or beautiful, or true, or good, or an example to emulate.

Our society will be judged harshly and is on a road to destruction. Do not be like your neighbours. Do not join in the memes produced by this society: they are the living dead, and I pray that you are alive, and you know how to run.