Awakening the Evangelical Church to Domestic Abuse
Supposedly, Billy Graham imposed this rule on himself: never to meet alone with a woman who wasn't his wife. The Billy Graham rule is used by legalistic men to keep women at a distance from important discussions in churchianity. "He had no concept how to be my friend." — The Billy Graham Rule Gone Wild,… Continue reading The Billy Graham rule, avoid all appearance of evil, and keep women out of the loop
The Bible says that we can be blinded by Satan and by other human beings. Some of the humans who blind us are consciously working for Satan. Some of the humans who blind us are unconsciously working for Satan. Perhaps they have to some degree been blinded by other humans who are consciously working for… Continue reading Blindness as a result of being deceived by others – part 5 of series on blindness and deception
The choices a group / group leader makes can bring the group into even more blindness. This is Part 4 of a series addressing the questions: Are abusers spiritually blind? (Or psychologically blind, which is pretty much the same thing.) Are abusers deceived? If they are deceived, to what extent have they been deceived by… Continue reading Blindness exacerbated by group choice and group-leader choice — part 4 of a series on blindness and deception
Julie Cleaveland was married to a very wicked man. When she sought help from her church, she got the usual bad treatments. She published this letter to her former church leaders to highlight the bias in their thinking. *** Dear Former Church Leaders, I was surprised to hear that your head pastor and you parted… Continue reading Comforting My Church With the Comfort They Gave – by Julie Cleaveland
For centuries Jewish religious leaders have insisted that in order for a divorce to be legal, the husband must write a certificate of divorce. The essential words in the certificate were "You are free to marry any man". Jews call this divorce certificate a 'get' – it is a Hebrew word unrelated to our English… Continue reading The Jewish divorce certificate gave women the right to remarry, but some men used it rule over women
Jesus didn't say "Hardness of heart is grounds for divorce". In Deuteronomy 24, Moses didn't say that hardness of heart is grounds for divorce, he only set limitations on the future conduct of men who chose to divorce their wives. That is the take-home message of this post. In this series I am doing my… Continue reading Jesus did NOT say “Hardness of heart is grounds for divorce”. Deuteronomy 24 has been greatly misunderstood.
A Cry For Justice 