How Should Churches Handle Issues of Sexual Abuse?

MoralityVirtues

How Should Churches Handle Issues of Sexual Abuse?

25 min

MoralityVirtues

How Should Churches Handle Issues of Sexual Abuse?

25 min

Episode 192 Show Notes

How Should Churches Handle Issues of Sexual Abuse?

From the Show

How are churches supposed to deal with issues of sexual abuse?

Paul here is not talking about transgressing federal and state laws, he’s talking about Christians bickering among themselves and offending each other, and even, yes, committing petty crimes…But when it comes to felonies. It’s something that has absolutely to be dealt with by secular courts because you’ve offended against a secular law…. This is a law that we are obligated to as Christians and non-Christians alike. When those laws have been broken, victims absolutely need redress. They need justice. So, thank the Lord that we don’t receive justice from the hand of God. But victims need justice from the hand of man. — Michael Horton

Questions in this Episode

1. How do you understand John 20:23, where Jesus says, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld”?

2. I was wondering why it’s important to recite the Apostle’s Creed and the Lord’s Prayer during a worship service? I know some worship services do not do this and I was wondering what the reason for that was.

3. Does Jesus really expect Christians to turn the other cheek? Where is the line? At what point should a Christians stand up for themselves or their family and defend themselves against persecution?

4. How do you understand 1 Corinthians 10:23 where Paul says, “‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things build up”?

5. I was raised believing that we are supposed to get baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I have been reading my Bible about that and in Hebrews it says that we are supposed to be baptized in Jesus’s name. Can you clarify this?

Resources

9 Ways to Protect Your Children from Sexual Abuse

12 Things the Apostles Creed Teaches Us

The Limitations of Forgiveness

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Michael Horton (Ph.D., Wycliffe Hall, Oxford and Coventry University) is the J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California and Founder & Editor-in-Chief of Sola Media.

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