I was having my morning coffee this morning and a concept occurred to me, but first a little back story.
Earlier this morning I was in facebook, and my sister IM'd me. She had seen a post about my unborn baby. Long story short, and this is not all of it, but alot of it is personal and I am only sharing what is PERTINENT to this post. She asked me to come back to my home town. I told her I would not do so, and she told me that I needed to reconcile with my family.
I was sexually abused when I was a kid by my adoptive father. I eventually came forward and as often the case goes with this type of situation, it was swept under the rug. I left my home city at the age of 19 and never looked back.
She asked me this morning why I refused to come home and bring the baby with me and I told her because of what happened with dad and I would not bring my child around that kind of situation. She replied that she would not listen to that, that her dad had never done anything like that, that I was crazy and lying and had made it all up. Now this in and of itself is not the issue, as I realize that this is how they think and react to this and has always been the reaction.
The ISSUE came up when she told me that she "lets her children be there alone with him all the time."
This greatly distrubed me. The thought crossed my mind..."great, I come forward, tell everyone what he did, he even ADMITTED it to my mother, they hide it, deny it, HE GETS AWAY WITH IT, then my sister who has been TOLD that this happened is now putting her children in an unsupervised situation with this guy. The thought crossed my mind, that if he has been found out that this happened, ADMITTED IT WITH HIS OWN MOUTH, and they hid it for him and he got away with it, what is to stop him from taking that situation as "well I can do it again because I wont get caught and even if I do they will just say it never happened and hide it for me".
Very terrifying thought. Worse yet, I realized, OH NO, my sisters are IGNORING this, my family is ignoring it, and these children, their kids, are being left UNPROTECTED by their MOTHERS and FAMILY. Legally no action can be taken due to a "statue of limitations" about what happened with me. I had asked a lawyer and the lawyer said they could not take a legal action due to that. So, the law can not protect these kids because they can not take action for something that happened so long ago, AND ON TOP OF IT, now my family and these children's mothers are NOT protecting them either.
WHO is left to protect these kids?!
So I did the only thing I knew how to do. I got in prayer request and I briefly explained that there was a situation and I was afraid that NO ONE was protecting these children and I wanted everyone to pray because if the HUMANS in these kid's lives refused to listen or acknowledge a problem or take action to protect them, who else was left to protect them but God?
The room did pray thank God. But I was also told by those in chat, to "forget about it and focus on how good Jesus is."
THIS is why I am posting. Now I am a Christian and I get that Jesus is good. But WHEN DID IT BECOME OK TO SMILE AT THE MENTION OF A SERIOUS PROBLEM LIKE CHILD ABUSE AND SAY, OH DONT WORRY ABOUT IT JESUS WILL TAKE CARE OF IT?
When did we as a human race, turn prayer into an EXCUSE to ignore the ugliness of our world, NOT take ACTION against it, and "put it all on god?"
When did we decide that we could look the other way and not do something about the bad in life, because "jesus will take care of it?' When did we decide to hide our responsibility to actually take a role in making the world a better place behind our faith?
How would you feel if you walked down the street today, and got hit by a car, needed an ambulence and were lying there bleeding to death. Two people walk by and you ask them to help you. To call someone. And they look at each other and say, "dont worry dear, we prayed, and jesus will take care of you" and smile and walk away?
30 Jesus replied, �A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii[a] and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, �Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.� 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?� 37 He said, �The one who showed him mercy.� And Jesus said to him, �You go, and do likewise.�
Footnotes:
Luke 10:35 A denarius was a day's wage for a laborer
What about this? This is a perfect illustration. The priest walked by doing nothing, which is the same as "pray and let god take care of it", the levite walked by and did nothing, which is the same as "pray and let god take care of it", the Samaritan stopped and TOOK ACTION. And Jesus said, YOU GO AND DO LIKEWISE
Shared ~ When did we as a human race, turn prayer into an EXCUSE to ignore the ugliness of our world, NOT take ACTION against it, and "put it all on god?"
*** Yup !!!...Part of being In Christ Jesus is we are Equipt for Every Trial and Tribulation that this world will throw at us...He is our Strength or Fortress and of course our LORD...many people just walk on by the alcoholic bum or the homeless runaway teen mixed up with the wiles of the world...people shake their heads and say...what a shame...and never lift a finger to help...Everytime a person does what ever they can at the moment put before them by God to help another...Jesus said you have done it unto me...so ifin you do nothing...well...you aint nothing...:winksmile:...in Christ Jesus eyes...Be Blessed Yall..xo
My reply isnt about acknowledging Christ Jesus...its about NOT acknowledging peoples Needs...a Person can Pray and Leave the Decision to Father GOD...and other times...we as People must take Action...Faith is Nothing without Action PJ...xo
Ok...I re-read all your responces PJ and I agree with you...I was only commenting on one part of the posters post...taking a Action in Faith...not to be cornfuzed with "works"...I know where you stand on and in Faith and you know were I stand on and in it...Its all GOOD PJ...xo
I am sorry for this trial you find yourself in. Be encouraged that God does not give us more than what we can bear, and he will be with his children till the end.
I have been through a similar incident, it was not a family member, but a elder in a church i had attended. The elder was brought up on charges in the church, and was to have no contact with children. The child he had molested, was his daughter, she would not bring him up on civil charges. They counseled with the Pastor, was asked to step down as an elder. The family was either oblivious or in denial, but the grandchildren were always left alone with him years on. Praise God for his protection of his people, but i have not heard of any further issues.
On the other hand we are not to sit still and just"let god" that is the whole problem with the world today. We as christians have sat back and let liberals run a muck in our society & in our churches even. We are to do everything with prayer and supplication. May God grant you wisdom as you live through this season in your life. May God grant you peace in your hard decisions.
Let me say; that is a terrible situation you are in and what you had experienced. But there is nothing to Big for God that he can not handle or Heal.
Forgiveness is hard; but with God we can do All things.
We are to Pray in every situation that arises in our life as a Christian. God hears the Believers prayers! He gives us strength to go through the trials of life but his Holy Spirit also leads us to do the Right things; make the Right choices.
Seek the Lord for your answers; He has all the Right answers and will reveal them to You, if you are in His Will.
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to You. James 4:8
The effectual fevernt prayer of a Righteous man availeth much. James 5:16
Let me say; that is a terrible situation you are in and what you had experienced. But there is nothing to Big for God that he can not handle or Heal.
Forgiveness is hard; but with God we can do All things.
We are to Pray in every situation that arises in our life as a Christian. God hears the Believers prayers! He gives us strength to go through the trials of life but his Holy Spirit also leads us to do the Right things; make the Right choices.
Seek the Lord for your answers; He has all the Right answers and will reveal them to You, if you are in His Will.
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to You. James 4:8
The effectual fevernt prayer of a Righteous man availeth much. James 5:16
Hi Theophannia:waving:...and WELCOME TO THE FORUM!
I read your post, and I musts ay that I empathize with you and what must be painful still regardless how long these awful things happen in your life.
While reading your post, I became somewhat confused by a few things of said such as, "my sister IM'd me. She had seen a post about my unborn baby." Then you went on to say, "She asked me this morning why I refused to come home and bring the baby with me and I told her because of what happened with dad and I would not bring my child around that kind of situation."
I suppose what confused me and I'm sure you can calrify for muy understanding is, that you state that your sister saw a post
