Burn Victims

This is a first degree burn. Usually caused by a sudden, brief burst of heat…or perhaps
a mild sunburn. A first degree burn turns the skin red and sometimes causes swelling
and peeling skin. It is painful to the touch and usually lasts 48-72 hours.
This is a second degree burn. It occurs when the first layer of skin has been burned through,
affecting the second layer of skin, called the dermis. A second degree burn has an intensely
reddened appearance and blistering caused when the micro vessels perfusing the area
are injured and leak plasma below the destroyed epidermis. Healing can take several weeks
or even months. Second degree burns cause severe pain and intense swelling.
This is a third degree burn. It occurs with the destruction of the entire epidermis, dermis
and the body underneath. It can be caused by scalding hot water, hot oil or grease,
contact with extremely hot materials, flame, electricity or chemicals. The risk for infection
is high. Surgery and painful skin grafts are required, sometimes full amputation. Scarring
is permanent. This is a fourth degree burn. It damages nerves
to the point of complete destruction. It burns through the skin to the muscle and bones.
It is a horrific and devastating injury often resulting in amputation or death.
These images are difficult to watch, because they affect us in our core. They reveal our
deep-seated fears about the agonizing, sometimes indescribable pain and disfigurement that
severe burns bring. They fill us with terror, as we find the mere notion of having our flesh
roasted from our bones to be unimaginable. Unbearable. Our worst nightmare come true.
Yet these horrific injuries are nothing…absolutely nothing…in comparison to the tortures handed
out by a supposedly loving God. Matthew 25 asserts that God will tell the non-believers,
“Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and
his angels.” For the damned, there will be no ending to
the cries of agony, the charring skin and bones, the writhing and wailing, the madness.
For the finite crime of not believing in Jesus, the infinite punishment of fiery torment awaits.
Ask yourself if a truly just and loving god would require the torture of another. Compare
this never-ending torture chamber, created and populated by Yahweh, with the finite tortures
of Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin, Stalin, Pol Pot, Hussein or any other earthly tyrant. Challenge
yourself to reconcile your own morality with an allegiance to any “father” that could
burn his children alive…forever. Hell is a mythical place conjured up in the
name of fear, control and oppression. We cannot even imagine the horrors of such a place.
But if Hell existed, would it not make the god of scripture the most heinous, evil, sadistic
and monstrous being to have ever lived? Contemplate a deity that makes a conscious
choice to burn people alive. Then…ask yourself… what kind of god am I serving?