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Kill The Prophets & Crucify The Witnesses
Sexual Abuse is Enabled Through Silence
(Read part 2 first if you haven't)
To this day I don't hate Edgar Stine. Instead I feel a sense of extreme sorrow for the man and the judgement he's now awaiting. To this day, however, I'd be a fool, an idiot and a hater of children and every human being who is created in the image of a just and holy God if I just continued believing the rumors that Edgar didn't do anything.
Maybe I have something mentally amiss for feeling and believing like this. Perhaps I'm just bound and determined to think children were being assaulted who weren't in fact ever at risk. Maybe I'm sick or a tool the devil for even saying anything. It's been suggested, including by the ex-minister of a Messianic fellowship we once attended. In defense to concerns I raised, the minister's brother suggested if anyone were doing such things to kids, it was more likely to have been the one writing this article. It certainly could have been me. I didn't enter this world through a virgin birth or immaculate conception, so maybe I should have bought their line and zipped my mouth like they wanted me to. Even though Mr. Stine never laid a finger on me, maybe him doing what he did across that driveway to those other children 30 years ago somehow sent bad vibes 400 feet away and twisted my mind. I'm certain if Edgar were still alive today, he'd say the problem rested squarely on me and alot of folks would line up to believe him. But why would they believe him?
A majority of youth who've been abused, ironicly, aren't believed when they finally cough up the courage to say something. That was pointed out to me when I first sought counsel concerning one situation of molestation in the congregation we were attending. At that point I had no experience with dealing with sexual abuse occurring in a religious environment, which was why we sought counsel regarding the safest way to proceed. It was heartwrenching then, once a suspect was identified, to watch the travesty of unbelief we were warned about get carried into reality by the very individuals who warned US against disbelieving victims.
Sorensen and Snow, in "How Children Tell" document how in one study of 630 cases [of child sexual abuse], 72 percent initially denied having been sexually abused, and while 96% of the children eventually disclosed the abuse, 22% subsequently recanted those disclosures. Of that latter group, however, 92% later reaffirmed their accusations." (Child Welfare 70, No 1 (1991: 3-15). The fact that most children who make such allegations either innately sense, or else know from experience they'll be disbelieved, contributes to this problem. It compels other children who are abused and follow their example into silence and covering for their abusers.
Satan's best defense is offence, and how bitterly ironic it is that of all crimes which beset humanity, victims of sexual assault and those who stand up for them are so frequently painted by the defense as the trust-breakers, false witnesses, and abusers? How in hell is it ok to publicly identify a murder, but not ok to publicly identify someone who raped children, under the excuse "that would irrepairably destroy their reputation"? Somehow it's always easier to strangle the witnesses, kill the prophets, and crucify the messengers.
These sobering statistics don't mean it's too late to change course. Change, however, starts with individuals on a deeply personal level. We can either continue contributing to this problem or we can enact a solution and practice that solution accountably together. We may not be able to change the course of the world, but we could change the course of the church if the leaders and laymen were willing to do it.
I didn't walk through the near-abuse experiences I did as a boy for nothing. They made me more tersely aware of an epidemic not only sweeping the world, but specifically movements of faith. Satan knows the first and foremost way to destroy any people - a fellowship, a family, or a nation - is through the hiding of sin and hypocrisy. My experience with Edgar opened my eyes to the fact that there are young people in the same situations I was in and far worse who do not say anything. Young people "sweep it under the rug" in my neice's own words (please pray for her if you would). They rack it up that "rumors" are just something you have to physically experience. They adapt to the point they support what has been perpetuated on them, and those who perpetrated it. They believe the lie that this is normal, that it happens to everyone, like my nephew told those he violated, and that's how it becomes a way of life, lowering the morals and the morale of the next generation. Thus covering sexual misconduct within families and fellowships becomes multi-generational, and heaven is in all counts justified to DAMN those who don't do something drastic to change that.
Continue to Part 4 >>
(Read part 2 first if you haven't)
To this day I don't hate Edgar Stine. Instead I feel a sense of extreme sorrow for the man and the judgement he's now awaiting. To this day, however, I'd be a fool, an idiot and a hater of children and every human being who is created in the image of a just and holy God if I just continued believing the rumors that Edgar didn't do anything.
Maybe I have something mentally amiss for feeling and believing like this. Perhaps I'm just bound and determined to think children were being assaulted who weren't in fact ever at risk. Maybe I'm sick or a tool the devil for even saying anything. It's been suggested, including by the ex-minister of a Messianic fellowship we once attended. In defense to concerns I raised, the minister's brother suggested if anyone were doing such things to kids, it was more likely to have been the one writing this article. It certainly could have been me. I didn't enter this world through a virgin birth or immaculate conception, so maybe I should have bought their line and zipped my mouth like they wanted me to. Even though Mr. Stine never laid a finger on me, maybe him doing what he did across that driveway to those other children 30 years ago somehow sent bad vibes 400 feet away and twisted my mind. I'm certain if Edgar were still alive today, he'd say the problem rested squarely on me and alot of folks would line up to believe him. But why would they believe him?
A majority of youth who've been abused, ironicly, aren't believed when they finally cough up the courage to say something. That was pointed out to me when I first sought counsel concerning one situation of molestation in the congregation we were attending. At that point I had no experience with dealing with sexual abuse occurring in a religious environment, which was why we sought counsel regarding the safest way to proceed. It was heartwrenching then, once a suspect was identified, to watch the travesty of unbelief we were warned about get carried into reality by the very individuals who warned US against disbelieving victims.
Sorensen and Snow, in "How Children Tell" document how in one study of 630 cases [of child sexual abuse], 72 percent initially denied having been sexually abused, and while 96% of the children eventually disclosed the abuse, 22% subsequently recanted those disclosures. Of that latter group, however, 92% later reaffirmed their accusations." (Child Welfare 70, No 1 (1991: 3-15). The fact that most children who make such allegations either innately sense, or else know from experience they'll be disbelieved, contributes to this problem. It compels other children who are abused and follow their example into silence and covering for their abusers.
Satan's best defense is offence, and how bitterly ironic it is that of all crimes which beset humanity, victims of sexual assault and those who stand up for them are so frequently painted by the defense as the trust-breakers, false witnesses, and abusers? How in hell is it ok to publicly identify a murder, but not ok to publicly identify someone who raped children, under the excuse "that would irrepairably destroy their reputation"? Somehow it's always easier to strangle the witnesses, kill the prophets, and crucify the messengers.
These sobering statistics don't mean it's too late to change course. Change, however, starts with individuals on a deeply personal level. We can either continue contributing to this problem or we can enact a solution and practice that solution accountably together. We may not be able to change the course of the world, but we could change the course of the church if the leaders and laymen were willing to do it.
I didn't walk through the near-abuse experiences I did as a boy for nothing. They made me more tersely aware of an epidemic not only sweeping the world, but specifically movements of faith. Satan knows the first and foremost way to destroy any people - a fellowship, a family, or a nation - is through the hiding of sin and hypocrisy. My experience with Edgar opened my eyes to the fact that there are young people in the same situations I was in and far worse who do not say anything. Young people "sweep it under the rug" in my neice's own words (please pray for her if you would). They rack it up that "rumors" are just something you have to physically experience. They adapt to the point they support what has been perpetuated on them, and those who perpetrated it. They believe the lie that this is normal, that it happens to everyone, like my nephew told those he violated, and that's how it becomes a way of life, lowering the morals and the morale of the next generation. Thus covering sexual misconduct within families and fellowships becomes multi-generational, and heaven is in all counts justified to DAMN those who don't do something drastic to change that.
Continue to Part 4 >>