truthseeker

Lin and Mara: right on! In the post above, I referred to a tragic situation. One of the women who was horribly abused in that circumstance dutifully told her male church officials-when they came asking about it-that she had forgiven the man. Later, when the couple whom I personally know extremely well visited her, she confessed that she still suffered severe nightmares, fears, phobias, etc. from the abuse. She knew she had to say she had ‘forgiven’ the man, yet the damage was severe, and what did the forgiveness really accomplish? The abuser didn’t even ask for forgiveness.

It is NOT enough to just go up and say to someone, “I am sorry, please forgive me” when the offense has been hideous. True repentance as well as appropriate reparation MUST be demonstrated, and sometimes it takes time to tell if it is indeed true.

Piper’s comments are frankly appalling. Would this be the advice he would give to his own daughter-if he has one-if she married and then discovered the hard way that she had married an abusive husband? I think not, or at least I hope not. His response sickens me. I received a similar one once from a pastor and elder. It didn’t work, I can assure you of that, and two persons were on the receiving end of the brutal violence.