Tried With Fire

I was cautiously optimistic when I read Pastor Jason Meyer's sermon " Fooled by False Leadership " last year. Meyer spoke on the issue of domestic abuse in Christian homes because of hyper-headship. Many Christians only acknowledge physical violence as abuse, if that, and have a very limited understanding of abuse in general. In addition John Piper (Meyer's predecessor) is probably one of the last people I would ever send an abuse victim to for advice , hence the caution. However I was pleased to read the following statements and several charts detailing different forms of abuse and naming them abuse . If these are the numbers for physical and sexual abuse, imagine how much bigger the problem is if you add mental and emotional abuse. Let me put this in layman’s terms. Do not say insensitive, misguided things like, “If it doesn’t leave a physical mark, then it is not abuse.” and Emotional abuse is a pattern in the use of words and actions to assault, reorder, and...

Trigger warning : Domestic violence and victim/target blaming. I am cautiously optimistic about Jason Meyer's commitment to change how Bethlehem Baptist (John Piper's former church) has handled domestic abuse in the past. I appreciate these statements that he made from the pulpit because abuse and the climate in which it can fester are rarely addressed, if ever, and he seems to "get it." An ethos that does not value women can lead to an environment where sick things slip under the radar. I have heard this statement before—warning, if you want to see me get visibly upset, just say what I am about to say in my presence: “If wives would just submit better and become more meek and quiet, then husbands would not get so angry.” These thoughts must be taken captive, or else we can create a climate in which domestic abuse can take root and grow... However, the dynamics change decidedly in situations of abusive sinfulness. In these situations, the conflict is not treate...