Sexual, physical and emotional abuse not only devastates the victims but damages God’s mission, according to the spokesman of an Anglican network working to protect the vulnerable.
As well as being chair of the Professional Standards Commission of the Anglican Church of Australia, Garth Blake is a founding member of the Anglican Communion Safe Church Consultation. This is an informal network of Communion members working to prevent abuse in churches and their surrounding communities.
“Some Anglican Provinces have seen highly publicised lapses in behaviour by some clergy and church workers with tragic consequences for those who have been abused”, he said. “Our growing international group is committed to the physical, emotional and spiritual welfare and safety of all people involved in churches throughout the Anglican Communion.”
The Anglican Communion Office sanctimoniously declares it is dedicated to prevent abuse and is [i] “committed to the physical, emotional and spiritual welfare and safety of all people involved in churches throughout the Anglican Communion.â€[/i]
What a laugh. If only they WERE serious about abuse.
All abuse is sin -and-[b] ALL sin IS abuse.
Sin/abuse[/b] is is a wound and a trauma to spirit, soul and body.
ALL sin/abuse/trauma is harm, whether it is done to us or by us or even observed done to another.
ALL sin/abuse/trauma/harm is a trespass against the sacred boundaries that God has decreed and erected by His will and has expressed and related to us in His Word.
ALL sin/abuse/trauma/harm/tresspass is a violation of God’s order, design, will, purposes, Word, Law.
ALL sin/abuse/trauma/harm/trespass/violations done by us can have the same pervasive effect as those committed against us.
ALL sin/abuse/trauma/harm/trespass/violations cause fractures and divisions internally within ourselves and externally to other people and institutions whenever we sin or trespass against God’s law or their sacred boundaries.
ALL sin/abuse/trauma/harm/trespass/violations/fractures grieve the heart of GOD who loves us truly, purely, completely – beyond our deepest yearning and wildest imagination.
[b][i]Exactly what, how does ALL sin/abuse/trauma/harm/trespass/violations/fractures do harm and why? [/i][/b]
[b]Harm to the Soul:[/b] Mind (intellect, thinking, analytical, reasoning, beliefs, values, ability to believe and hold to truth) the Will (self-control, impulse-control, self-protection, ability to trust), Emotions (feelings, desires, perceptions, ability to love).
Children who experience or witness cruelty, who continually see one parent abusing and victimizing another are often turned into sociopaths or psychopaths. Soldiers and citizens are traumatized by witnessing horror or experiencing violence. Five minutes of sexual molestation can change a child’s entire lifetime.
[b]Harm to the will [/b] Pain is numbed by the increasingly addictive use of dependencies: sex, relationships, substances like alcohol, drugs, food, behaviors: work, distraction/business, porn, gambling, hobbies, sports, pets, etc.. Some are more addictive and pernicious than others.
[b]Harm to the emotions:[/b] Loss of empathy, arrested emotional development, lack of coherent identity, immaturity, inability to love, nurture, form and maintain healthy, balanced longterm relationships.
[b]Harm to the body and the Body[/b] Science and medicine and mental health show us the effects of sin. I could quote hundreds of published studies, but here is the latest from the CDC (March 2010 report) – Active homosexual males are 71 times more likely than females and 46 times more than other males to have syphilis, and they are 44 times more than other men and 40 times more than women to have HIV. Go to the website of psychiatrist, Miriam Grossman, M.D. to read about the effects of both hetero and homo sexual promiscuity on young people.
[b]Harm to the spirit and the Spirit.[/b] When we sin/abuse, etc. we become fair game for the enemy. We give ground to satan – give him the legal right to trespass against us and everyone connected to us. We become property, legally owned by the enemy of God. We become ‘children of the devil.’ in Jesus own words. We become defiled and polluted by evil. We bring shame to the Name of Jesus. We quench the Holy Spirit in ourselves, our families and Christ’s Church.
[b]If the only (Canterbury) Anglican Communion Office were really serious about abuse/sin/trauma/harm/trespass/ violations/fractures!!![/b]
They are not. Rather, they are cavalier about sin/abuse/harm/violations/trespass/fracture and even affirm and promote some forms of it, especially the Western provinces, the UK, Canada, US and their partners in the promotion of pansexual behavior, rights and marriage, abortion and contraception. Syncretism and paganism and even open unbelief/agnosticism have also become common in the leadership, clergy and laity alike.
Another proof that the AC is not serious about sin/abuse: Allowing Gene Robinson and John Spong to operate and promote their lifestyles and ideas in schools and churches under the guise of a bishop.
Here is one of Gene Robinson’s speeches made before he was installed as New Hampshire’s bishop. http://www.standfirminfaith.com/media/robinson_sermon_scan.pdf
Here is a scholar’s analysis of this talk: http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/1008
That Robinson was subsequently installed is proof that the ACO is not really serious about abuse/sin. That he will be speaking to Cornell soon promoting sin/abuse in the Name of The Episcopal Church, The Anglican Communion, The Body of Christ is another.