The Church Caught between the Devil and a Woman

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The ChurchCaught between the Devil and a Woman
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The ChurchAn agent of Satan or a Refuge for
Healing
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The ChurchCaught between the Devil and a Woman
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The Churchs Response to Intimate Partner Abuse
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THE PRINCIPLE

• Do you not know that you are Gods temple,
  and that Gods Spirit dwells in you? If anyone
  destroys Gods temple, God will destroy that
  person. For Gods temple is holy, and you are
  that temple (I Cor. 316-17).

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• The Greek word translated temple here comes
  from a root word meaning to dwell and is related
  to the Greek word meaning a sacred place.

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• For you were bought with a price therefore
  glorify God in your body
• (I Cor. 619-20).

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THE REALITY

• The bodies of some are exchanged for money.
• Others whose bodies are not yet able to bear
  children are forced to give birth, often dying in
  the process.
• Many who survive endure a living death with
  diseases that make them social outcasts.

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• Jesus came to release women and girls from the
  bondage of social custom and give them a place of
  honor in the kingdom of heaven.

Is the church doing this today?
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• Jesus came to release everyone from the bondage
  of social custom and give them a place of honor
  in the kingdom of heaven.

Is the church doing this today?
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• Jesus went out of His way to empower the
  powerless and give honor to those shamed by
  social, political, economic, or religious
  restrictions.

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• We must examine our own attitudes, as well as
  the problems in our community. We must ask
  ourselves, What am I doing to help protect women
  and teenage girls in my church? What am I, by
  my unconcern, allowing to go on in my town? Am
  I acting like Christ?

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• It is important also to consider the sources of
  my attitudes. Negative customs and attitudes
  about women have been codified in the laws of
  many cultures.

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THE RESPONSE

• Too often Christians adopt the social and
  political attitudes of their society rather than
  building a strong biblical foundation which
  recognizes how much God values every person.

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• The Christian church bears a moral
  responsibility to call governments, communities,
  and individuals to rise to the biblical standard
  of the high value God places on the human body,
  the temple of the Holy Spirit and purchase of
  Jesus Christ.

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• Before significant behavioral changes can occur
  or more ministry services are organized, it is
  important for more church members and leaders to
  recognize the extent and severity of abuse issues
  in their churches.

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THE EVIDENCE

• What evidence do we have that God wanted to raise
  and restore woman to her rightful position?

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• God forever raised womans body from shame to
  honor, from humiliation to respect.

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1. Mary
2. The woman with the issue of blood
3. Mary and Martha

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• Jesus not only elevates women to new heights, but
  He honors and respects her capacity to use her
  God-given mental powers to learn.

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• Jesus, once again, is breaking the stranglehold
  of socially assigned womans place to raise her
  to the place God has assigned her.

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• This is what Jesus shows in all these
  encounters. Understanding this, one can
  understand Pauls statement that in Christ, there
  is no male or female (Gal. 328), since their
  baptism into Christ makes them equal in Christ.

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• The lesson from Jesus encounters with women
  whose bodies and brains were disdained and abused
  is that those who receive Jesus Christ must honor
  and respect women.

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• What can the church do?

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(No Transcript)
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Sadly, abuse among Christians is on par with
those who claim no faith.
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• What can the church do?

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• The Church can develop a proper theology of
  marriage, family life, and reconciliation.

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• I no longer call you servants, because a servant
  does not know his master's business. Instead, I
  have called you friends, for everything that I
  learned from my Father I have made known to you.
  John 1515 NIV

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• I no longer call you servants, because a servant
  does not know his master's business. Instead, I
  have called you friends, for everything that I
  learned from my Father I have made known to you.
  John 1515 NIV

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• I no longer call you servants, because a servant
  does not know his master's business. Instead, I
  have called you friends, for everything that I
  learned from my Father I have made known to you.
  John 1515 NIV

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• The Church can admit that intimate partner abuse
  exists--awareness.

Conduct an abuse prevention Sabbath/Sunday
service each year.
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• The Church can seek to employ more female pastors.

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Women stated in the interviews that they would
not confide in a pastor simply because in most
cases the pastor was a man. Kathy, a marital
sexual abuse survivor, said, I could never go to
a man to tell this stuff to. Its just too
intimate. In the single case where the
survivors home church employed a female pastor,
the abuse survivor recalled that female pastor as
being a godsent.
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The church can stop creating and sheltering the
abusers.
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The church can listen to the hurting.
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The church can support government legislation
that will help protect victims of abuse.
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The Church can conduct seminars on intimate
partner abuse.
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The Church can conduct support groups for victims
of abuse.
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The Church can conduct men's retreat that
promotes equality and partnership rather than
male leadership.
Male and female have equal voice, vote, and
power in all human relationships.
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The Church Can
Teach men how to be good persons.
Teach men that they are not leaders by default.
Teach that leadership is a gift and not a gender.
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"There must be. . . "a liberation of the male
psyche from preoccupation with domination, power
hunger, control of patriarchal culture. This
requires commitment to deep study, combined with
a willingness for painful, uncomfortable, and
often shocking change." (Haki Madhubuti)
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Instead of telling men to go home and take back
authority, (Tony Evans) teach men the concept of
power sharing and co-leadership in marriage.
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The Church can hold the abusers responsible for
their behaviors.
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"If the problem of wife abuse is one of evil, the
church can no longer avoid taking sides. A love
which intends to be effective in terms of Gods
kingdom cannot avoid taking sides," says
theologian Jose Bonino. . .
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. . . In fact the church will be in collusion
with evil if it does not a stand on the side of
the victim. Only when it becomes an advocate for
the oppressed can it fulfill its prophetic role."
Battered Into Submission (Alsdurf)
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In Christianity, I've experienced "leadership"
attitudes from men that have been of the
dominating perspective than of the understanding
guidance perspective. I know many men who have
taken "Christian" teachings and used them as
their God-given authority to "keep a woman in her
place" and maintain their male-leadership role. .
.
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. . . They refuse to let their wives get a job,
to go to college, have her own friends, dress the
way she wants to, etc. They want to control a
person in order to be the "leader." And guess
what a lot of Christian men do when their wives
won't do what they tell them to -- a little
verbal hollering, shaming, a few slaps, a little
hitting, to show them who's in charge because God
said so in the Bible.
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The Church Can
Teach all to speak evil of no one, to avoid
quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect
courtesy toward all human beings. Titus 32
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The Church should be a place where men and women
are freed from the slavery of traditionalism.
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The church must not be caught between the Devil
and a woman. Instead, it must unfurl its waves
of freedom and justice.
The church is to be a haven of rest and a safe
place for the wounded.
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• May the renewal of our minds create new and
  wholesome ways of relating to one another in
  Christ, honoring body, soul, and spirit as a gift
  we give to one another because we recognize the
  value God places on every person.

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• ADRA/WM Partnership
• www.enditnow.org
• www.adventistwomensministries.org

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The ChurchA haven of rest