FAMILY VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Preface

This book is presented to raise the awareness of the shocking reality of control and power that women face in our evasive society. This book will explore statistical, social, theoretical and Biblical viewpoints of sexual and physical violence in the family with the goal of providing hope and healing.

The first world was destroyed by God because of ‘violence’ (Genesis:6-11-13). Violence is an act of man’s sinful nature which elicits the judgment of God upon mankind (Psalm 11:5-6). But there is the commandment or law of love. “Love thy neighbor as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 19:19). As the principle of loving our neighbor is being lived out there may be some diffusion of the quantitative violence that society experiences. Abuse is ubiquitous in the secular as well as the church world. One might challenge the degree of abuse in the church but the silence and the apathy of not exposing this is enough to qualify the idea of the monster ‘violence and abuse’. Abuse and violence in the church has its own religiosity.

Researchers are searching for reasons why men abuse their partners. These reasons are found in the systems that interact with the family such as low income, unemployment, and pre-existing abusive conditions within the family of origin and the like. Psychologists are investigating why so many adolescent boys are violent at such an early age and why so many adolescent girls are suffering from low self-esteem.

Physical abuse/violent behavior is a social dilemma within the context of the family and affects every member of society in one-way or another. Family abuse is not assigned to one sector or status of society, and is not restricted to age, gender, or color. The rich, poor, educated, uneducated, every age bracket, gender and color have experienced some form of abuse as documented in research. Statistics have demonstrated to the world and the church the need for change.

Is the church aware of abusiveness within their confines? This book is written to bring about a new level of consciousness in the church and to provide a mechanism to collaborate and facilitate change within our communities. True collaboration between the church and the community can only occur if a person can rise to a new level of spiritual healing and receive therapeutic counseling at the same time. It is important that the church is cognizant of the characteristics of the abused and the abuser’s behavior. I am hoping that this book will facilitate a new move giving direction to the church toward meeting the needs of abused women and provide hope and a new freedom for abused women..

There are pastors, ministers, missionaries and other clergy that can see the potential in the victim of abuse, and would like to open up the church, even though the abused woman’s way of thinking has caused her to struggle through circumstances. The church does not want to use “spiritual deliverance” as a Band-Aid for emotional scars but should provide long-term counseling and guidance working through the healing process.

Within this book there are ways provided for counseling methods and modalities for treatment of abused women and specifically what the church, and clergy as a whole can do. The hope then lies in the church as being a viable institution that can offer hope and rebuilding of fractured relationships. The answer lies in unlocking the chains of fear, doubt, hopelessness, guilt, shame, scars, oppression, depression, suicide and abandonment for every young girl and woman. Where did these scars come from? How long have they been living like this? What do they remember from their youth? These are some of the questions among a host of others that the church as an institution of help and love can help to unlock with the production of a new set of “keys”.

The new set of keys represent the road map to a wholesome life. The insight and guidelines of the road map is to facilitate the journey to healing and wholeness. The knowledge gained from the road map is enough to mobilize abused women to a new level of freedom through counseling and mentoring.

Throughout this book I will address some of the issues of women abuse, its impact on the abusee, the children, characteristics of the abuser, and societal views. I will investigate how society, both traditional and current, has greatly affected the issues of “Abused Women” in the 21st century and highlight the change in attitudes.