We continue with Stephanie's story of abuse not only at the hands of her ex-husband but in some ways even more so by her ex-pastor and church. If you have not read the first 4 parts of her story in earlier posts, be sure to do so. Part 1 Part…
Read MoreTag: interpreting scripture Page 3 of 5
It hasn’t been that long ago that someone told me our church’s position on divorce was wrong. We acknowledge that God permits divorce for habitual, unrepentant, hard-hearted violation of the marriage vows. Sexual unfaithfulness, failure to love and provide for, desertion, and abuse (a kind of desertion) are, we maintain,…
Read MoreJames 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. There are literal widows and orphans today who need our help. Widows who are widows indeed, without even family members…
Read MoreThe teaching of the church has compounded much of this hurt rather than alleviating it. Victims of continued abuse have been told they must stay married, and if they do get divorced, they have been told they cannot remarry until their former partner has died. And sometimes those who have…
Read MoreWe want to make you aware that Pastor Crippen's sermon today at Christ Reformation Church is on marriage and divorce. Using the sermon text of Matthew 19:1-12 and scripture reading from Deuteronomy 24, Pastor reminds us of the importance of rightly handling the word of truth. And there are very…
Read MoreLuk 6:27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, We saw an example in last Friday's post of how "christian" fiction and fantasy does great harm, especially to victims of abuse as it hides in the church. That example, published…
Read MoreOur Daily Bread, a daily devotional publication, posted the following at odb.org for August 20, 2019. It was entitled Touched by Grace and written by Sheridan Voysey. Here it is: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. (Luke 6:27) In Leif Enger’s novel Peace Like a River, Jeremiah Land…
Read More1Co 13:7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. I suspect that most of you have had this verse quoted by people who are at work to keep you in an abusive relationship. We must love our abuser, you know. After all - love…
Read MoreIt looks like evil, wicked people are getting away with it. Probably most of us have thought this at one time or another, especially when we as victims consider our abusers. It can be easy to get discouraged when we see the wicked continuing to prosper, but Psalm 73 provides…
Read MoreDo you understand why this is probably the most important verse in the Old Testament? And do you understand what this verse has to do with the fact that you, a Christian, a child of promise, have been so wickedly treated by people who (in most cases) are people who…
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