Shat  terd

Men 

The hidden half of domestic violence

How to have eternal life

Spiritual Abuse

Spiritual abuse just like domestic abuse is a catch phrase. It can mean anything someone wants it to mean.

It does happen and it happens far too often I think. That is one of the major complaints we have in Shattered Men as far as the "religious" content of SM.

I have talked to several people...people who do not even know each other that have told me they have a problem with "religion" because when they were young, they went to church and had groups of people surround them to "cast out demons" While they were doing this, they
were hitting them to beat the demons out of them. These were people who were already abused at home and now it was happening again in a place it should have been safe. It is not hard to understand why some have asked me, "will Jesus hurt me too"?

In reality, Jesus never touched those whom He casted demons out of until after the demons were gone.  All He had to do was to command them to leave and we do not need to "beat the demons out" of anyone either.  Free At Last was done in an instant messenger chat.

Another form of spiritual abuse is to claim that some are so evil they can not be saved.  It also occurs when we focus on the person and not the sin to condemn the person much as Westboro Baptist Church does when they picket the funerals of those who died in service to our country. This "church" has driven more away from GOD then they will ever bring to Him.

The question can be asked, how does this abuse occur? How can it be stopped? Well first, it occurs as any other abuse does. It is a power and control issue where those in authority do not want to be questioned and those under that authority may resent being submissive to that authority. There has to be a balance. There are many good Biblical churches where the pastor thinks they can not be questioned. Some act as if you are questioning GOD Himself
if you dare to challenge them. Yet anyone that does so needs to make sure they are on solid ground and have scripture to back them up. We need to make sure we do not use...I must obey GOD rather then man simply to avoid something we do not want to do.

Again, there has to be a balance. Anytime a human sets himself up to be the authority who can not be questioned, we run the risk of abuse. Anytime we question our authority without valid grounds, we run the risk of rebellion.

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JUNE is Domestic Violence Against Men Awareness Month