[Nell]

Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!

All good points, Nell. It is a very sensitive topic, to be sure. I certainly don't want to try and minimize the hurt & damage others have felt.

Yes, it is hard and maybe impossible for us to forgive. Fortunately it was not impossible for God in Christ to forgive, while sinners were unrighteously torturing and putting Him to a degrading death.

So you think those being abused by the LC leadership and other LC members should just shut up and forgive the LC abusers? Do you think speaking the truth about your abuser means you are living in "unforgiveness?" Isn't the abuser living in great sin and need in need of rescue? Isn't the abuser in need of someone confronting him/her about their behavior? Who is in worse condition, the abuser or those being abused? The abusers are supposed to be the shepherds of the flock. What is their accountability...not only to the sheep, but the One who entrusted them to care for His flock?

It's not really about the abused walking in "unforgiveness" is it? This is an extension of the "blame the victim" myth. You can't abuse someone then stand over them and preach to them about being "unforgiving."

One thing about unforgiveness is what it does to the person holding on to it. Corrie ten Boom also found it impossible to forgive the "monster" Nazi officer who had carries out heinous things against others in the concentration camp she was in. Yet, after the war there he was, standing in front of her, a new creation in Christ (and forgiven by Christ). Impossible to forgive his overt brutality, and she experienced that. When she knew 100% she wasn't capable of the least bit of forgiveness to him, then God had a way. She experienced God's overwhelming forgiveness - what a gift of freedom to her bitter heart!

Really? You're going there? Did the German SS need the Jews to forgive them so they could continue their slaughter of innocent Jews? Or did the German SS need to STOP, or be stopped, in its war against God's people?

The message of unforgiveness is best delivered by the Holy Spirit, as with CTB. Take the wife beater who is forgiven by the wife while he continues to beat her until he kills her. Do you think the wife beater is concerned about what "unforgiveness" does to his wife? Only to the extent that it enables him to beat her.

Has there been a ton of bad things done by the LC, LSM, WL et. al.? Sure. Have many been hurt by their actions? You bet!

But where do we go from here?

Again, sorry if I offended. I just know one day there will be accountability for all in His body and how we handled one another in love. Real love. His love.

Is anyone in the LC leadership or membership ASKING for forgiveness? As Ohio and I both are trying to tell you. NO! No one is asking for forgiveness. Your preaching to the victims of abuse about what unforgiveness does to them is gross.

Where do YOU go from here? Go to the LC leadership and preach your message to THEM.

Go to THEM with their "ton of bad things done by the LC, LSM, WL et. al.? Sure. Have many been hurt by their actions? You bet! "

And stop trying to put a guilt trip on those of us who resist the abusers and their "ton of bad things" that continues to this day, and are trying to recover from the hurt inflicted on them by their bad actions. Your "message" is far worse for you than it is for us. It's not as offensive to me as maybe to some. The real problem I see, and the reason I'm fighting back, is the lies of the devil that the LC uses to justify its "bad behavior."

You're an "insider". You are responsible to stop the abuse. That's where you go from here.

If you're truly concerned about accountability, go to those who are perpetrating abuse on God's people.

Nell