This story has been all over my news feed today.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2018/january-web-only/rachael-denhollander-larry-nassar-forgiveness-gospel.html
She speaks in depth about this case
The actual suit is detailed in this link. It's horrifying and is pretty graphic
I have a dear friend who is a Lutheran pastor in Louisville. I wonder how the area non-SGM churches are handling this.
Bonus:
Some great gospel commentary from Pastor Fiene regarding Rachel's court testimony
Rachel to Nassar:
From Fiene:
https://thefederalist.com/2018/01/30/one-survivors-shows-forgive-monster-like-larry-nassar/
Kyrie Eleison. Maranatha.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2018/january-web-only/rachael-denhollander-larry-nassar-forgiveness-gospel.html
Quote:
In an interview with Christianity Today, Denhollander shared more details about her break with her church community, how poor theology causes many churches to poorly care for sex abuse victims, how she found God's perspective on sexual abuse in Scripture, and about her convictions that forgiveness and justice are both biblical and must go hand in hand.
Quote:
The reason I lost my church was not specifically because I spoke up. It was because we were advocating for other victims of sexual assault within the evangelical community, crimes which had been perpetrated by people in the church and whose abuse had been enabled, very clearly, by prominent leaders in the evangelical community. That is not a message that evangelical leaders want to hear, because it would cost to speak out about the community. It would cost to take a stand against these very prominent leaders, despite the fact that the situation we were dealing with is widely recognized as one of the worst, if not the worst, instances of evangelical cover-up of sexual abuse. Because I had taken that position, and because we were not in agreement with our church's support of this organization and these leaders, it cost us dearly.
When I did come forward as an abuse victim, this part of my past was wielded like a weapon by some of the elders to further discredit my concern, essentially saying that I was imposing my own perspective or that my judgment was too clouded. One of them accused me of sitting around reading angry blog posts all day, which is not the way I do research. That's never been the way I do research. But my status as a victim was used against my advocacy.
She speaks in depth about this case
The actual suit is detailed in this link. It's horrifying and is pretty graphic
I have a dear friend who is a Lutheran pastor in Louisville. I wonder how the area non-SGM churches are handling this.
Bonus:
Some great gospel commentary from Pastor Fiene regarding Rachel's court testimony
Rachel to Nassar:
Quote:
The Bible you speak carries a final judgment where all of God's wrath and eternal terror is poured out on men like you. Should you ever reach the point of truly facing what you have done, the guilt will be crushing. And that is what makes the gospel of Christ so sweet. Because it extends grace and hope and mercy where none should be found. And it will be there for you. I pray you experience the soul crushing weight of guilt so you may someday experience true repentance and true forgiveness from God, which you need far more than forgiveness from me though I extend that to you as well.
From Fiene:
Rest of the article is here:Quote:
So why was Rachael Denhollander able to say "I forgive you" to the monster who abused her for years? Because Christ said it first when He breathed out His dying words, "it is finished," upon the cross. Because the Son of God spoke these words, they are true. And because Rachael Denhollander is a Christian, she believed them.
So, in order to forgive her monster, she didn't need to get over his cruelty. She didn't need to stop being hurt by his abuse. She didn't need to achieve the impossible goal of no longer being nauseated by his evil. Nor does she need to produce that forgiveness herself. Rather, she just needed to take the forgiveness produced by Christ and hand it to the monster who hurt her. She just needed to look at Larry Nassar and essentially declare, "Jesus says He forgives you. I believe Him."
https://thefederalist.com/2018/01/30/one-survivors-shows-forgive-monster-like-larry-nassar/
Kyrie Eleison. Maranatha.