By Kathy Athearn

As Congress is seeking the truth regarding the Epstein files, many people are intrigued because Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell had powerful friends, including world leaders and celebrities. However, Christians should care about the Epstein files for reasons that go much deeper.

1. Imago Dei: God Created All Human Beings in His Image

Epstein, Maxwell, and their friends dehumanized the girls that they trafficked. According to author Christina Oxenberg, when she asked Maxwell who the girls were that she brought to Epstein for a “massage” for $200, she answered, “They’re nothing; they’re trash.” As Oxenberg said, Maxwell didn’t even acknowledge them as human beings.

Christians, however, should see the girls as human beings made in God’s image, Imago Dei (Genesis 1:27). The Creator of the heavens and the earth knows each of the victims personally — even the number of hairs on their heads. As FRC’s Mary Szoch explains, “Sex trafficking treats a person as an object to be exploited for pleasure rather than as a human being with inherent, incalculable dignity. As Christians, we are called to defend the dignity of every person, because every human being is made in the image and likeness of God. This mandates that we stand up for victims of sexual exploitation and human trafficking.”

2. We Should Love the Victims as God Loves Them

Maxwell developed relationships with girls as young as 13 years old and persuaded them to trust her. She and Epstein promised them a bright future and education through their money and connections. As a result, hundreds of young, vulnerable girls and women were manipulated and sexually abused over a span of 25 years. Many of them were poor or from broken families.

In contrast, because Christians love God and want to glorify him, we should love these girls as we should love all human beings: selflessly and unconditionally (with agape love). God loves every single person that he created so much, that he sent his only begotten Son to die for them so that if they put their faith in him, they will have eternal life.

When one of the religious leaders asked Jesus what the most important commandment is, he answered, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31).

3. Jesus Has a Special Love for Children

FRC’s Joseph Backholm told The Washington Stand, “Sex trafficking is especially egregious when children are involved. In Matthew 18, Jesus said it’s better to die than to harm children. ‘But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea’ (Matthew 18:6). So yes, we should absolutely care.”

4. God Hates Exploitation and Abuse

Isaiah 10:1-2 says, “Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!”

Backholm explains, “Sex trafficking is possibly the most anti-Christ thing you can do. Where the model of Jesus is giving yourself for the benefit of others, sex trafficking is using and harming others for your own sinful pleasure.”

5. Christians Are Called to Expose Darkness

The apostle Paul instructed the church in Ephesus to “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.”

And Jesus told his disciples, “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:13-16).

Christians should lead the way in exposing evil to the world and bringing hope and healing to those who are hurting and lost.

6. We Should Seek Justice for the Destitute and Voiceless

Because Epstein had the ability to hire the most expensive lawyers in the country, justice for his and Maxwell’s victims was horrifically delayed. The first report of abuse to authorities was in 2005. In 2008, Epstein was granted a “non-prosecution agreement.” He was in prison for 13 months and received special privileges, including an unlocked cell door and the ability to spend most days at his office — not in prison. He was also allowed to have visitors, including young women. Although several other brave young women reported their abuse by Epstein and Maxwell over the years, it took another 11 years before Epstein was arrested again in 2019. He then committed suicide while awaiting trial.

Christians should be appalled by this delay in justice, which enabled hundreds more children and women to be abused. We cannot allow the other perpetrators to get away with their crimes simply because they are wealthy and privileged. We should speak up for the destitute and the poor. “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:8-9).