Someone pointed out to me a video on youtube about a woman that was assaulted by her boyfriend (no longer at this point). They are both members of the same church, and they don't seem to feel accountability for him is needed. Its her word against his, but they will offer her 'recovery classes' to help her heal. I have to wonder if that tells anyone something? You want her to recovery from something you refuse to acknowledge or talk about. She wanted to speak out against this, and she was told that would be unChristlike of her.
You can hear the pain in her voice, and suffering in her tone. I can only imagine how much MORE emotional she may have been during this meeting. If the church can't deal with these types of issues why all the lip service about how they are there to help?
This is another great example of 'sweep it under the rug' because we can't acknowledge domestic violence within the church, and PLEASE don't go near the sexual assault either! I will be praying for this young woman personally.
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2 comments:
Stuff like this really makes me angry. In the Jewish Community you are told its "Lashon Hara" and that you are breaking "Beit Shalom" to tell. BALONEY!!
This is from my personal blog, H -
http://barbarany_9.blogspot.com/2007/10/why-victims-survivors-must-keep-talking.html
Enjoy
My heart goes out to women like her, especially because I was once one of those women. Many Christian women feel bound by their beliefs, their church, and their faith to remain in abusive marriages. I was such a woman. I divorced my husband, who was an associate pastor in our church, due to domestic violence. We separated several times, prior to the divorce, due to domestic violence. Each time, I sought counsel from the church to resolve the issues. Finally, when it became too much for me to bear and to continue to allow my two-year old daughter to witness, I decided to file for divorce. This, of course, left me feeling displaced, awkward, and ostracized in the church because there are no ministries that address this issue in particular (i.e. singles and marriage ministries). Out of this experience, God led me to write a book, "I Will Survive in Jesus' Name! How three Women, who are fighting for their lives, use the Word of God to Triumph over Domestic Violence" While women from all walks of life purchased the book, the church shunned it. The church doesn't want to deal with this "taboo" subject, in part, because they help to perpetuate the abuse by remaining silent and failing to hold the abuser(often a member and, at worst, a church leader) accountable. God has raised me up as a part of His remnant to continue to call attention to and shed light on the church’s flagrant disregard of domestic violence.
Jennifer Mitchell Earley
www.aphesispublishing.com
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