Reunion Online

These are daunting obstacles to creating a safe, supportive environment so that our community members are safe and those aren’t can come forward and seek help. But there are practical steps that Christian leaders and congregation members should consider when dealing with domestic violence victims-survivors and offenders.

When addressing situations of domestic violence, we offer the best possibilities for victim-survivor safety and offender accountability when we work in partnership with individuals from a wide variety of disciplines—medical, legal, spiritual, mental health, criminal justice.

Let’s consider the story of one Christian survivor, Mary, who filed for divorce because her husband was abusing her emotionally, physically, psychologically and spiritually. The response of her pastor is shocking.

Arguably the most frequently quoted verses in the entire Christian Scripture to support male dominance and encourage female subservience, Ephesians 5:21-33 has been misused for centuries.

The Sanctity of marriage. Divorce as sin. Male headship, forgiveness and more. Today, Rev. Al Miles discusses five of the most frequently cited justifications offered to Christian women as to why they need to stay with an abusive husband.

In this series, Rev. Al Miles will be answering some common, albeit very complex, questions about spiritual abuse: how exactly is it perpetrated? Where did the myth of male entitlement and female subjugation come from? What about the sanctity of marriage? The notion of forgiveness?

Why? We ask it all the time: Why is the sky blue? Why didn’t she call me back? Why do I have such a hard time being disciplined? Why did that man kill all those innocent children? Why did I get abused? It is the ultimate question resulting in what we hope to be the ultimate answer to bring us some form of closure and comfort. Sometimes it does, but most of the time we are left many years later asking the same questions and still wondering why. Today, Aaron explores this question.