Friday, January 23, 2009

Another reason to avoid the label "Christian"

Biblical Battered Wife Syndrome: Christian Women and Domestic Violence
By Kathryn Joyce
January 22, 2009

"W
hat is a good enough reason for divorce? Well, according Rick Warren's Saddleback church, divorce is only permitted in cases of adultery or abandonment—as these are the only cases permitted in the Bible—and never for abuse."

Read the rest of this scary and revealing article at Religion Dispatches.

For the life of me I can't understand how anyone who claims to follow Jesus could abuse anyone, especially someone supposedly loved. But then, it seems to me that many of the people who claim the label "Christian" have no clue about the message of the Gospels. I will share the eucharist with them but I don't want to be grouped with them.

6 comments:

Kirkepiscatoid said...

Ewwwwwwg.

There's just no other word for it. I grew up in a house rife with physical abuse. I was repeatedly chewed out by my mother not to "push my dad's buttons." She never left him for abuse, but she left him for his adultery. Unfortunately, it took him 26 years to get around to being caught in the adultery part.

Oh, yeah...now I remember why I like living by myself!

Lee M. Davenport said...

Many, many, many Christians have no clue what it means to live out the message of Christ. They don't get it at all. And it leaves me scratching my head in disbelief.

When I was a newspaper editor, I had the ignominious task of serving as religion editor. I had about 25 clergypeople who submitted religion columns by assignment. Invariably, the Baptists gave me the most trouble. I had rules that had to be followed. Rules meant to keep everyone within the bounds of mutual respect and propriety. They'd break them routinely and then tell me they wernen't breaking them at all, that I wasn't a real Christian and, I was told this more than once, that I was going to hell.

I've meant to say this before, but Kirkepiscatoid is a very, very cool moniker.

Kirkepiscatoid said...

Thanks! It is a variation of "Kirkatoid", the name often used for the locals of Kirksville, MO. So that would be a Kirksville Episcopalian...and the "oid" is even more useful b/c I was a cradle Lutheran (LCMS--Baptists with liturgical robes) before becoming a Piskie.

Lee M. Davenport said...

I was a cradle independent Baptist. No robes, just ... well, I'm sure you're well aware.

I feel your pain.

Fran said...

I am speechless - it makes no sense.

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

That article was so painful to read. I grew up Baptist and even attended a Bill Gothard seminar, and I count myself so fortunate that I didn't marry until my 30s, after I'd finally shed all that submission theology (it took years).