Info Post: Please do not include these things in your comments here at ACFJ

Jeff Crippen ♦ 21st July 2017 ♦ Leave a comment

UPDATE  Sept 2021:  Barbara Roberts has come to believe that Jeff Crippen does not practise what he preaches.  He vilely persecuted an abuse victim and spiritually abused many other people in the Tillamook congregation. Go here to read the evidence. Jeff has not gone to the people that he spiritually and emotionally abused. He has not apologised to them, let alone asked for their forgiveness.

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We are noting a resurgence of certain types of material in some comments that we at ACFJ either do not endorse or that we simply are not scientifically qualified to assess or report on. For example, we prefer commenters not to mention:

• research about brain scans
• research about the neuropsychology of psychopaths or the genetic inheritability of psychopathy
• research about the statistical prevalence of psychopathy or sociopathy.

If anyone does include such material we are likely to edit or not publish their comment. We are also mindful that the research from brain scans and neuropsychology might easily be used as an excuse by abusers. And we are concerned that brain science findings may be used in the legal system to get abusers off the hook from the crimes they have committed.

The Bible says that ALL people are born with a conscience (Romans 1). An abuser has so habitually suppressed his conscience that it becomes seared.

Also, we remind commenters to not give directive counsel to other commenters. We have explained our reasons for this in our New Users Info page. Here is what we said there:

Language to avoid
Some survivors of abuse, in their zeal to help another survivor, start telling her what to do or how to feel or think. We ask you not to do that. If you tell another survivor what to do, that can sound to her like you are issuing an order to her… so it’s not a good idea. It can trigger the abused person if you tell them what to do. It’s better to use phrases like:

Have you considered such and such?
Maybe you would like to think about …..
I encourage you to respond to that person by ….
I suggest you do so and so….
Invitational suggestions are much easier for victims to hear than instructions and orders.

The best means of helping other abuse victims here at ACFJ (besides the articles we publish) are for other commenters (particularly other abuse victims/survivors) to relate their own experiences and lessons learned and then let readers make their own application. Everyone who has been the target of an abuser knows what it is like to live under the constant “shoulding” or “should not having” of the abuser. Abusers work hard at discouraging their targets from thinking for themselves and trusting their own insights. So that is the last thing we want to do here at ACFJ.

So look out for the temptation to step into “counselor shoes” and starting to tell others what they should or should not do. Those kinds of comments will most likely not be published by us.