I probably should already know what to say but I don’t. I’m having writers bloc. lol….. An barely teen ager was molested by a family member at 7 years old and she states she is mad at God and borders on not believing there is a God. Why didn’t He stop the man that was molesting her because she was not strong enough to stop him plus she was scared? What can be told her________________
I certainly agree with her thinking. I have thought the same over my many years. IF it was tough for me to try to understand without just saying, it is in YOUR Hands Lord, I can understand a child’s feelings toward God. Not that I understand one millionth of what she might have faced.I hope I read a REAL answer that just might give her some solace.What a tough situation!!!________________Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/
First, as a survivor of the sexual abuse, I can say I’m so sorry. I can also say this was not God’s will or God’s fault, but Satan’s (and the abuser who let the Devil influence him).During this present age, in which God is giving all mankind the opportunity to choose between good and evil, God cannot stop all evil acts, or else mankind would lose personhood/agency, and would essentially become robots who could only do God’s will ever. Without the ability to do evil, there simply could be no ability to do good, either. God will one day stop all evil and all unrepentant evildoers and child molesters will be punished absolutely justly, according to their deeds. Even still, God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should be brought to repentance, and He is giving humanity more time to repent, according to 2 Peter 3
Somehow the story of Joseph comes to mind, not in sexual abuse, BUT abuse. He in the end was the winner. Maybe this child can somehow Know and help others that are abused. Maybe she can be a lightening rod of help for others that suffer in her shoes because she now KNOWS the horrors. maybe she can be some ones HERO and get them out of a life of abuse as she hoped for herself!! ________________Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/
Thanks Quiet Wyatt and Cojack for your input. Believe it or not it pushes me a little closer to an answer. BUT, it would help to have a few more inputs>Jump in________________
I do hope some more ideas come in, I need them too. I have close to the same problem in our extended family. I have a feeling many pastors have or will face this…….. ________________Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/
God did not stop Adam and Eve from sinning, nor did He stop Cain from murdering Abel. This is the nature of the world we live in.
Apostle Peter said,
I agree with Doyle, that often it is not our answers that help people as much as our being there to help them through the rough places. Much can be said about being present in the moment of pain, offering support through your presence.However, I might tell the person if they are angry with God, it’s okay. God is big enough for us to be angry with Him, though of course, we need to eventually find a place of dealing with that anger. A friend of mine told me that someone told her God was big enough for her to be angry with Him, and she told God, That’s good, because I’m really ticked!I went through a time in my life in which I was very angry about a lot of different things in my life that I felt I had no control over. After talking with a counselor, he told me I was a very angry woman. Having been raised to believe that Christians should not/could not be angry, I believed I am a Christian, therefore I am not angry. WRONG! A lot of us just learn to suppress it and then it comes flooding out on some unsuspecting person…I asked the counselor what God thought about my being angry, and I’ll never forget his answer. He said, God understands. He told me that anger is a God-given emotion, given to us so that we will not allow others to harm us or our children, and the only time anger is a sin is when we want to use it to hurt someone else. As long as I am working to get through that anger, God will give me grace. The counselor proceeded through our counseling to help me understand and realize how to take my emotional temperature and realize that every emotion was not anger…and how to tell those emotions apart. Those tools helped me a lot in diffusing the anger in my life and learning how to deal with it more appropriately.A person who has been abused probably needs professional counseling (though it was a pastor who had been trained that helped me.) There is likely anger, grief, shame, and a lot of other emotions that need to be addressed.Perhaps you could also remind this person that God did not rescue His own Son when he was being crucified. He allowed it because there was a greater purpose. Remind them that God loves them very much, and even if they are angry, God’s love for them will never change. He longs to help them find peace, and it is available to them if they will continue to seek Him________________More of Him…less of me.twitter.com/camiracle77www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=691241499&ref=name
I of course agree that victims need compassion and true godly love. When we have a false, unscriptural view of God and how he works and a false, unscriptural view of humanity and moral agency or freewill, we consign ourselves and those to whom we minister to a mass of insuperable contradictions. Having a false, unscriptural view of God, self, and of the way the world operates never helps anyone get over their problems.