Friday, May 18, 2007

Man Seeking Ministry Position Microwaves Baby

A 19 year old man, by the name of Joshua Mauldin staying in a hotel with his wife, 2 month old baby and his mother reportedly called the front desk asking them to call 911 as his baby had been sunburnt and was bleeding. After being questioned as to the burns, the father had several inconsistencies in his story which led investigators to the hotel room where they found the microwave in which the baby was placed. The 19 year old changed his story several times from sunburn, to accidentally spilling boiling water on the baby to finally admitting that he placed the baby in the microwave out of frustration. He was in town looking for a job in the ministry. The baby is being treated at a hospital and has undergone 2 skin grafts.

You can watch the video here.
You can read more about it here.

Some questions:

-Do you think it is ever possible to be so frustrated with your child(ren) that you would resort to unconventional punishment?
-What punishment should this man incur?
-What does this type of action say concerning the way we teach our youth? Are we teaching them to be responsible adults?
-If he was seeking a ministerial position, this would presume that he would claim to be a christian. If this assumption is correct, what does this say about what the church teaches being a christian means?

2 comments:

misawa said...

What on earth could a 2 month old be doing that could cause a person to do that? There's no mention in the article, but I can only imagine crying endlessly?

I don't have kids, but I was around my niece a lot during her first 6 months and she had a set of lungs on her - but not once did it ever occur to me to do anything more than hug, rock, bounce, etc.

Pastor Klay said...

As the father of five, I know how a combination of stressors can place you in a vulnerable position, but to actually put the child in the microwave is down-right demonic.

Perhaps there is SOME comfort in knowing that he was looking for a ministry position rather than serving in one - back that is a small comfort indeed.