I’ve got to warn you, these images are graphic. I’ve been crying on and off all day — just having trouble separating out my own experiences with my own boy in pain, and then… seeing this… I keep imagining it happening to Harry.

So please, if you are feeling fragile, don’t look. Iranian Islam thinks this is just treatment for an 8 year old boy caught stealing. They premeditatedly run over his little arm with a car tyre.

I’m not even sure if I should have put the images on my blog. I might delete it later — feeling paranoid. But at this stage… there are no words… only the photo’s will do justice to what’s going on in Iran.

So here’s my question. Do we have good answers for those disturbing “cleansing the land” chapters as the Israelites killed every living thing? I mean, really good answers? Because there would have been scenes just like this — or worse.

Note: A Muslim left a comment on my blog that Snopes says this is a money making scam. I’m unsure either way, because it seemed to be a particularly “thin on the details” Snopes article. Even if it is a money making scam, it didn’t look pain-free for the boy. Not sure how it could be anything other than it appeared to be.

Worth checking the Snopes link, though.

From snopes:

What the photographs actually depict (according to the operator of the site that originally published them) is performers hustling money from onlookers by staging an act, one in which a subject seemingly allows himself to be run over by a heavy vehicle and then emerges unscathed.  (Note the man with the microphone in the first picture, who drums up business and describes the action for observers.  Also note the blanket placed under the boy’s arm —not a consideration persons intent on severely punishing a lawbreaker would be likely to provide.) This a common illusion, variations of which are performed by many magicians and accomplished through a variety of means, with no lasting harm done. That the subject is a small boy who grimaces his way through the stunt is all part of the act, intended to elicit sympathy and extra cash—despite his contorted facial expressions, the boy is not seriously hurt.

They also show the final photo in the series.

That blanket under the arm has to raise a question mark.

This urban legends site has further links with which to follow up the story, including to the original website that posted the piccies.

Hi Gordon,
yeah, I read the Snopes but it didn’t have anything authoritative about the original website. This About.com has much more detail, and I’m now going to edit my blog.

However, the Quran is still pretty interesting with Surah 4:34 encouraging the beating of a disobedient wife. I notice the online versions have “lightly” added in, when my Penguin Pocket Classics version absolutely does not have that. Also, my version says “fear disobedience” ... and does not at all read the way today’s online English versions read. Someone’s been editing.

And I’m still troubled by the “cleansing the land” stuff, killing everything that breathed. Any time Christians protest about some facet of Islam the world can come right back at us… and I’m not sure I’ve prepared a good enough answer.

[removed stuff re hoax photos—for you Dave!]

That was really interesting Gordon. I was deeply upset by the images I saw with the impression I had of it at the time — and it so repulsed me that I’m trying to think about some serious biblical stuff. So I’m not really in the mood for this right now OK?

Hi Dave,

In relation to your question:

So here’s my question. Do we have good answers for those disturbing “cleansing the land” chapters as the Israelites killed every living thing? I mean, really good answers? Because there would have been scenes just like this — or worse.

My answer would be that the ‘ethnic cleansing” that took place would have had two main purposes in God’s eyes:
1) Judgement Genesis 15:13-16 tells us that one of the main reasons why there would be a delay of 400 years between Abraham being promised Canaan and when his descendents would occupy it was:

for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.

In Deuteronomy 9:1-6 the Israelites are told repeatedly that they aren’t about to get Canaan because of their righteousness, but

the wickedness of these nations

But what was this wickedness that warranted (to our eyes) such drastic action? Leviticus 18:1-23 contains a list of prohibited sexual relationships, basically various forms of incest, plus homosexuality and beastialty, as well as a prohibition on sacrifing your children to Molech. But then, in verse 24ff, it states:

Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations I am going to drive out before you became defiled. Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things, for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled.

2) Prevention Israel was to be a people holy to the Lord (Deut. 7:6). The instructions given in Deut. 7:1-5 to destroy the Canaanites nations, not intermarrying with them and destroying any sign of their religious practices appear to have been aimed at ensuring that the Israelites were not tempted to follow Canaanite practices.

Offensive though these passages sound to Western 21st century ears, they should remind us of the seriousness with which God takes sin. They should also provide us with a motivation to share the gospel with our city and nation, so that as many as possible will avoid the judgement of Christ when he returns.

Thanks Roger.

Some interesting stuff there. I of course know it’s about God’s judgement and the seriousness of sin… forgot about the reason for the 400 years though. Fills the “back story” hey?

But I guess mine is more a question of how to communicate it, not what to communicate. Because the sheer emotional horror of putting babies and kids to the sword is not something I’m sure I can visualise without asking God what’s going on, let alone explain to antagonised non-Christian friends.

Another question for anyone with the time: what does the passage mean about the land being defiled? Is this a strong theme in scripture? How does that compare with the Roman’s stuff about “groaning as if in childbirth”?

Dave Lankshear - 03 May 2008 11:14 PM

But I guess mine is more a question of how to communicate it, not what to communicate. Because the sheer emotional horror of putting babies and kids to the sword is not something I’m sure I can visualise without asking God what’s going on, let alone explain to antagonised non-Christian friends.

No suzuki comments this time Dave...I wonder if we actually lack imagination about the horrors that make God’s response (through his people in the Old Testament) seem right and proper. What horrible deeds might have called forth God’s judgement? Someone who survived the WWII concentration camps might have a better sense of how good it would have been if those who perpetrated atrocities had been killed as children, rather than being allowed to grow into the monsters they became.

Because we live in a country and a time where things are peaceful and prosperous, our sense of moral outrage tends towards sentimentality, unlike God, who sees and judges the heart and acts accordingly.

Where we can’t understand it, I believe the wisest course of action is to suspend our judgement upon God’s judgement.

Hi Dave,

I didn’t look at the images

So here’s my question. Do we have good answers for those disturbing “cleansing the land” chapters as the Israelites killed every living thing? I mean, really good answers? Because there would have been scenes just like this — or worse

My off the cuff resonse is “Jesus is the answer” it sounds trite but the perfect revelation of God is Jesus and His message of peace, love forgiveness, turning the other cheek and loving our enemies sets aside the brutality of the OT.

Also prayers for Harry, you and the rest of your family.

As a Christian I of course have to agree with you. We have an infinitely holy and just God, and so any small crime against such a God is infinitely serious. That’s what my “will” and “head” tell me when my heart and emotions are screaming “Hang on a minute”.

But I’m talking about kids and babies. I guess it’s also because I’ve one day got to work through the “age of accountability” concepts that some put over the bloggosphere more forcefully than others. (sighs) Sounds like another book to read.