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Articles
July is the time to weed the garden
Our series called "Gardening the Soul," is aimed at helping anyone who lives in desperate circumstances. The July "gardening" article is now available; we hope it brings comfort and renewal.
Matt 15:13 “ Jesus replied, “ Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted, so ignore them.”
July is a good time to weed the garden. The garden in your heart needs to be weeded just like the garden in your backyard. Weeds grow everywhere and, whenever I see a weed (a plant in the “wrong” place), I want to pull it up! Weeding can be a never ending task. You can choose to spend all your time and energy working against the weeds or, you can choose to turn from the weeds, ignoring many of them (listen to Jesus’ Word above and really try to follow His wise words in your life). This month , (after a month of fertilizing the good plants of Love- those that grow in His Light), we’ll spend time, our thoughts and activities, in the weed patches – learning to carefully recognize spiritual weeds , showing them to God , listening to His Voice which teaches about the weeds and then letting the weeds go as directed - ignoring them with faith they will be uprooted by God.
The Word of God Is Not Bound
"The pastors aren't going to be very willing to hear a message from a woman" quipped a seminary faculty member. I was already nervous about the speaking invitation, and my Ukranian friend's comment was not helpful. How does one address a hard core group of Russian evangelical pastors?
June is the time to fertilize the garden.
Our series called "Gardening the Soul," is aimed at helping anyone who lives in desperate circumstances. The June "gardening" article is now available; we hope it brings comfort and renewal.
Luke 13:6 “Then Jesus told this story: A man planted a fig tree in his garden and came again and again to see if there was any fruit on it, but he was always disappointed. Finally, he said to his gardener, “I’ve waited 3 years and there hasn’t been a single fig! Cut it down. It’s just taking up space in the garden. The gardener answered, “Sir, give it one more chance. Leave it another year and I’ll give it special attention and plenty of fertilizer. If we get figs next year, fine. If not, then you can cut it down.”
Fertilizing is the act of giving nutrients, good food, to the plants you want to strengthen. All living things, like plants ( and yourself) , grow better with good food. The plants of love God grows in your heart are no different. In June, we will be fertilizing or feeding the garden in your heart.
Call For Papers
Justice for All: Overcoming Barriers to Peace and Safety in the Christian Home
May 13-15, 2011, Columbia Bible College
(Abbotsford [Vancouver], British Columbia, Canada)
PASCH (Peace and Safety in the Christian Home), an evangelical Christian organization, invites session and paper proposals for our 5th conference that will be held in Abbotsford, British Columbia. The conference will be a venue for the discussion of strategies, research projects, best practices, legal processes, and therapeutic initiatives related to creating peace and safety in the Christian home, Christian responses to wife abuse, and other forms of domestic violence.
Pakistan contemplates legal ban on domestic abuse
Pakistan’s Parliament is considering a law that would outlaw domestic abuse, though it is currently locked in committee. The Associated Press reports “surveys have shown that up to 80 percent of wives in rural parts of Pakestan fear physical violnce from their husbands, while 50 percent of women in urban areas admit their husbands beat them, according to a 2009 Sate Department report on Pakistan.”[1] Though probably under-reported, in 2008 there were 7,571 reports of domestic abuse including rapes, beatings and other violence.” A cruel and common form of abuse is that of throwing acid on a woman’s face, thereby destroying not only her face but also her future.
April is the time to sow
“Thou Shalt Not Tempt the Lord Thy God.”
When I answered the telephone, I found myself listening to a weeping woman. Between sobs she explained that every three weeks or so her abusive husband strangles her into unconsciousness. Though a professing Christian, he suffocates her with pillows, locks her in closets and leaves her in terror for her life. She has turned for help to several pastors who call the couple into their office for joint counseling. I explained that couples’ counseling is inadvisable in situations of abuse, and she acknowledged that things were always worse at home after a counseling session.
She has come to realize the danger of her situation and was prepared to leave until a Christian friend told her that she must not break the covenant that she made at the marriage altar and must believe that God would work a miracle of transformation in her husband. I pointed out that her husband was the one who had broken the covenant promise to love and cherish her. A covenant is a solemn agreement between two parties, both of whom must abide by their promises. If one party refuses to honor the agreement, the covenant becomes null and void.
But this victim, who desired above all things to do God’s will, had been told that she must give the Lord enough time to change her abuser, even if that meant remaining in a life-threatening situation. I asked if she remembered the temptation of Jesus when Satan took him to the top of the pinnacle in the temple. Cleverly selecting a Bible verse, the devil urged Christ to throw himself down so that angels would bear him up and keep him from danger. But Jesus staunchly refused to put himself in a life-threatening situation in the expectation that God would perform a supernatural act. He responded “It is written ‘Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God’.” It was not a question of who could quote the best Bible verse but who could honor God and respect the laws of the natural universe.
Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett has become a hero
Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett has become a hero of the domestic violence community. While on a family outing to the Wisconsin State Fair, he heard a woman screaming for help, begging for someone to call 911. Barrett discovered a grandmother seeking to protect her one year old grandchild from an attack by a man wielding metal pipe. Police would later characterize the assault as “a domestic dispute.”
When the mayor attempted to dial for help, the assailant beat him with the pipe about the head and torso. Apparently Mayor Barrett was very determined, for in his defense of the woman and child, he suffered a broken hand. Clearly he used vigorous force to prevent any harm from coming to the unfortunate victims.
Patriarchy and Abuse: Have we read the scriptures right?
On Thurs., April 28, 1757 John Wesley made the following entry in his diary:
I talked with one who, by the advice of his Pastor, had, very calmly and deliberately, beat his wife with a large stick, till she was black and blue, almost from head to foot. And he insisted, it was his duty so to do, because she was surly and ill-natured; and that he was full of faith all the time he was doing it, and had been so ever since. [1]
The account contains no record of any sort of protest, and yet Wesley’s own compassion is evident. Like many another Christian, he is caught between the desire to honor the ministry of another clergyman and his own sense of social justice. Wesley’s description reflects his discomfort and dismay at the abuse that the woman has suffered, but what sort of questions did he pose to an abuser who acted out of religious conviction and upon the advice of his pastor? Did he ask how this accorded with the command for a husband to love his wife and cherish her? Did he dare to criticize that pastoral advice that had been given or to question a theology that justified the abuse?
Battery is NOT Included!
Here's a new article written by Brenda Branson, of BrokenPeople.
It was the judge, not the preacher, who held Anne's husband accountable for physical abuse. Joe claimed he was innocent—that she was making the whole thing up. But graphic photographs of multiple bruises, an emergency room report, and Anne’s brave testimony provided the proof the judge needed to convict Joe of assault and battery.
Joe didn't really have to pay much for his crime - he didn’t have to pay Anne's hospital bill or spend any time in jail - but at least the crime was acknowledged and finally Joe was held accountable for his actions.
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