This week has been tough for Christians in the news in the United States of America. Between the report of the Southern Baptist Convention investigation reporting thousands of unreported sexual abuse cover-ups and scandals with pastors and congregation members to the debate of gun control again coming to the forefront with another mass shooting that has spurred another conversation about what Christians should say about gun control.
In many conversations that I have seen happening about these topics in areas on the Internet as well as around me, Christians are seen as a group that is passive, hypocritical, self-serving, and dismissive of others. The comment tends to be “yeah, but what about abortions that are so much worse… Only 18 children were killed yesterday by choice? 125,000 are killed by abortion.” or “thoughts and prayers” without any follow through.
This certainly does not describe everyone, but the generalization is based on truth as those comments were copied and pasted from people I’ve seen write them or heard in my life, so they are very much out there.
My Own Thoughts
I certainly have my own biases, though with growing up as a pastor’s kid in a Baptist church, having developmental young adult years in the Mennonite church, being in ministry for almost a decade, and now as a Christian counselor, I’ve seen a lot of perspectives. Two things I hold to be true: I hate guns and I will always hear out the abused victim first and foremost.
I don’t have any political mountains to die on with these beliefs. I won’t argue about gun rights, but I do know that 3 out of every 5 deaths by a gun are suicide. Firearms are used in half of all suicide deaths. That means we are killing ourselves more because of mental illness and impulsivity than in the deaths of others to protect ourselves. [EFSGV] Nor do I support abortions. This does not have to be a mutually exclusive decision.
Further, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Children’s Bureau report Child Maltreatment 2010 found that 9.2% of victimized children were sexually assaulted, with more estimated numbers of 75% of the victims being girls. [National Center for Victims of Crime] “About a quarter of women experience intimate partner violence compared to about 10% of men” [Department of Justice] “The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of homicide by 500%.” [American Journal of Public Health] It is believed that at least half of all domestic violence victims do not report anything.
What Do We Do?
Simply complaining about it does not help anything. We need to be about God’s kingdom. Here are some questions and thoughts to consider.
Counselors
Are you educating your coworkers, clients, and community? Without education, this continues to just be a debate and nothing will change. Abuse and victims will still remain in the dark. We need to also see what prevention efforts are available to use in your area. If you want some statistics, check out our article on Domestic Violence and Mental Health.
Further, understand your ethics and Christian background. I won’t call out the counseling agency mentioned, but one Christian counselor who was part of a Baptist cover-up is quoted in a recent article as saying “[the pastor] should have been the one to stop it, but it takes two to tango.” In fact, these comments are what lead to the unreported cases of abuse.
Pastors
What is your church doing and should it be doing more? Are you partnered with the local domestic violence shelter or program? Are you having God honoring conversations about these topics? And is your focus on your flesh or on eternity?
I worry that when we get into these arguments, it becomes about politics, protecting the finances of the church (as one pastor was discovered to say in uncovered emails), and personal agendas. Are pastors setting good examples? Are they addressing when congregation members stop acting in the name of Jesus and rebuking sinful selfishness?
I would love to hear more and have a healthy dialogue about this in the comments below, though the debates can be left for someone who cares to do so.
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