What comes to mind when you hear the term “abuse”? Maybe you imagine crime scenes, physical violence, or torture. Perhaps just the sight of this word causes your radar to go up because it seems to be so overused and underdefined. My hope with this blog is to bring biblical clarity to the nature of abuse so that churches can take steps to better prevent abuse and care for the abused. Here are two truths and a lie to consider as we carefully think through this topic.
Truth: Abuse seeks a self-centered kingdom
At the core of abuse is seeking first the kingdom of the abuser. In this kingdom, the pattern of unrepentant selfishness has become so normalized that a victim’s thoughts about self, relationships, situations, and even their thoughts about God may begin to revolve around the abuser as the guiding light, the source of truth, and the center of everything.
There are many helpful definitions of abuse, but our church has come to define abuse this way:
an unrepentant pattern of punishing and demeaning tactics used to establish and maintain a self-centered kingdom where power is lorded over someone else and where the victim regularly feels unclean,
To continue...read the full-length post originally published on this site.
