Friday, October 21, 2016

50 Years on - Aberfan is still remembered!

By John Thorn, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9146083

The Aberfan disaster was the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip in the Welsh village of Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil, that killed 116 children and 28 adults on 21 October 1966. The collapse was caused by the build-up of water in the accumulated rock and shale tip, which suddenly slid downhill in the form of slurry.

More than 1.4 million cubic feet (40,000 cu metres) of debris covered a section of the village in minutes. The classrooms at Pantglas Junior School were immediately inundated; young children and teachers died from impact or suffocation. Many noted the poignancy of the situation: if the disaster had struck a few minutes earlier, the children would not have been in their classrooms, and if it had struck a few hours later, they would have left for the half-term holiday.

By John Thorn, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9146083

There is no easy answer to the question as to why such a thing should be allowed to happen. What had these children done to deserve to die so young? Nothing, apart from living in world where tragedy and sin exist and where disasters are unavoidable due to the fact that we live in an imperfect world.

Often children suffer because of what adults do. The so called innocency of youth camouflages the fact that they have the same gene pool as each of us - they are also sinners and subject to death. The bible is clear when it states that 'all have sinned and come short of the glory of God'. There are no exceptions to this rule. Even our little darlings are sinners - time proves this to be the case.

But what happens to a child who dies so young? Are they condemned for being a sinner without the opportunity to repent and believe the gospel. You have the opportunity to consider God's offer of salvation and may choose to reject it but what of the child who dies without this opportunity?

I believe that the bible teaches that a child, who dies before they are able to understand and accept or reject the gospel automatically goes to heaven. The death of Jesus Christ covers them. If you are interested I can send you details of why I believe this to be the case but I feel this is the teaching of scripture.

But remember that is not the case for you. You have the capacity to believe the gospel, to understand the seriousness of your sin and repent and trust Christ for salvation.

Have you ever done this?

To access podcasts and videos explaining the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ visit www.seekthetruth.org.uk