Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Monday February 5, 2007

When I was young the lyrics of a popular song stated, "You always hurt the one you love." The dramatic premise of the song being 'if I broke your heart last night it's because I love you most of all.' Whoever wrote this song never tried to sell the premise to the Great Blonde.

While musing on this memory from pre-marital days, I came upon an article written about a seminar at Harvard Divinity School titled, "Domestic Violence Panel: Awareness and Engagement in Faith and Non-Faith Communities." The seminar was given on November 30, 2006.

You may have guessed from the title the seminar dealt with the tragic practice in the United States of beating up, either physically, sexually or psychologically the ones we are supposed to love. The presenter quoted statistics from The Federal Center for Disease Control which estimates that a minimum of 32 million people suffer some form of "Intimate Partner Violence." Hey, it's Harvard so $50 titles are expected.

The Intimate Partner may be a spouse, a former spouse, another couple. The 32 million figure did not, I repeat did not, include abuse perpetrated on children or dependent elders. The total estimated numbers are staggering.

Keep in mind each number is a person who is being betrayed by the very person who should love them most of all. The estimates range from a conservative one in four, one in three, even maybe one half. This violence being committed on the defenseless person, a child, an aged grandmother, a wife or ex, by the person who should/could be a source of nurturing, trustworthy, a comforter and one who supports, the support taking many different forms, is testimony to the brutal, bestial nature of our current society.

What has happened?

Simple, yet complex. The nurturing etc springs from the heart made soft by Jesus. In the days when He walked the earth the brutal heart of the populace was on vivid display witnessed by His rebuke of the 'religious' leaders of the day stealing the living of widows and orphans. That children were left in fields and alleys to die because they were unwanted is well attested, with the early church making much headway through not only preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ, but also rescuing the homeless and otherwise helpless ones in their midst. It is not a stretch to find closed or sanctioned facilities for the aged, or others for children, operated by alleged Christians who have went AWOL concerning their fiduciary relation to the ones they purport to love.

As a pastor I long ago lost track of those who are to bear the marks of the crucified one who appear more like regulars at the Club for Battering and Battered loved ones.

You may always hurt the one you love, but with Christ really in your heart you do not have to live in this manner. Walk with Him and love instead of lashing out.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2007 Use with credit.

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