abuser
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How Abuse Damages Your Faith
The damages of abuse are well-documented and include PTSD, mood disorders, physical illnesses, and a host of relational difficulties. Less discussed are the damages an abusive relationship can inflict on a victim’s relationship with God. Often a good deal of spiritual abuse accompanies any other type of mistreatment and can really hamper a person’s belief in and relationship with God. Because our relationship with God serves as a basis for both deliverance from the abuser as well as healing from abuse, the enemy often targets a victim’s faith. For most of us, our experiential belief trumps the intellectual assent of our religious beliefs. What this means is that our experiences…
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Language: 5 Types of Abuse and How to End It
At first, I was going to write about the various layers of healthy boundaries we have, beginning with our skin and ending with our renewed spirit. But I got stuck at language. Most of our boundaries are either created or destroyed by language. We forget that language is first and foremost a creator of reality. It is through language that we discover and articulate our identities. Language, too, is the creator and sustainer of relationships, creating bridges of understanding between people. Redemptively speaking, how we speak and the words we use, even the tones we employ while we communicate, are in their best sense, intended to create community. The end…
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Human Trafficking and the Bible
I remember when Pretty Woman came out in the theaters. Many loved the romance while others lamented the impossibility much less the improbability of a prostitute and a tycoon falling in love. Reading reviews, it was my first exposure to the “hooker with a heart of gold” trope. I remember Saturday Night Live spoofing it with their rendition of a respectable business man falling for a herpes laden, drugged out prostitute. Some Christians, if I remember correctly, were infuriated by the movie. After all, it seemed to glorify human trafficking. I was twenty two at the time and thought Richard Gere was cute and Julia Roberts was funny. Now twenty…
