Institutional Child abuse.

Our church recently received an email from someone asking if I would send a message of encouragement to those people who are currently giving evidence to the Royal Commission into "Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse".

This does not directly involve our church, for we are an independent church, and not affiliated with any of the large groups - we have a loose association with other likeminded independent Baptist Churches, no direct link.

However, as a result of the generalisations I have already written about, Christians in general are often caught up in these accusations. I know people who blame all of Christianity for such crimes.

I must say that the people who perpetrated these crimes are of the lowest sort of person in this world, and certainly are not Christians in the Bible sense of the word.

These people are (wrongly) put in a position of almost unquestioned trust and authority, and so to then use that position to satisfy their own sinful lusts, and especially on those who are not old enough to know better, is quite simply an abomination.

And for the institution to then protect and hide what was done is to heap abomination upon abomination.
Anyone who perpetrates crimes like this should have no protection from any group - they should face the full weight of the law, and if anything, their punishment when found guilty should be increased because of the trust involved.
The Institutions involved should be the first to bring in the police and open up fully to investigation, and ensure that the crime is paid for appropriately - and I am talking about justice here, not finance, although if it is deemed necessary there should be no balking at that either - but money will not fix it.

But, and this is the point I want to make, these people are not Biblical Christians.

It is clear from their false worship practices - I won't go into it here, but if you compare what the "High churches" in particular do, you will see that not much of it comes from the Bible.

No man should be put on a such a pedestal that this kind of thing would be possible.

There are so many ways that these people, and the institutions they are involved in, are not qualified to call themselves Christian - but unfortunately people look particularly at the Catholic Church and what they do, and they blame every Christian for it.

Oh yes, there have been Christians who have done bad things, but not everyone who calls themselves a Christian actually is a Christian.

One thing is certain though - whether a "church" institution, or a community institution, or a government institution, or in fact any sort of institution - if there are people in there who are committing crimes of any sort, they should not be protected from the Law.
And this is especially true for the kind of crimes that are being testified of in this Royal Commission.

These people testifying have every right to be angry, both for the crimes, and also for the treatment from the institutions.

I have prayed for the Royal Commission and will do so again.

But to these people - do not blame Christ for the crimes of men who do not know Him, but carry His name.
They are impostors.

You have every right to not trust people who talk about God.
But if you would read the Bible, you will find the truth about God, and it is very different to what these people taught, and to what you might think of God after your experiences.

Don't listen to what men say about God, but simply read the Word of God.

Study to shew thyself....

I have been doing a lot of preliminary study lately.

By that, I mean I have picked a subject and searched out as many verses and passages that are relevant to the passage, listed them in a document file, and then, verse by verse, looked at and added my thoughts between.

Some of these I have completed in a preliminary sense and come to a general conclusion.

Some have far more depth to investigate.
For instance, Marriage.
So far I have looked into the Biblical origin of marriage, and the Biblical pattern of marriage, but there is far more to look into with this subject.
Like, the Biblical interaction of a husband and wife, on both spiritual and emotional levels - and some also on the physical.
And the family issues that result from marriage.
And even the matters surrounding divorce.

But the initial basics I have found so far are that Biblical Marriage is between one man and one woman. Plural marriages are recorded in the Bible, and God even used people who were involved in plural marriages, but it seems pretty evident that God's original design was one man for one woman for life.
Plural marriages appear to be biblically against God's will, not in accord with God's will.

And these things have been settled with me from God's Word alone - yes I have pre-existing opinions on these matters, but my investigations are to find out what the Bible says about various matters, and I try to set aside my own opinions. And I also do not want to just take on someone else's opinions.

Since the Word of God is the rule and guide for my life, then I should be able to find the answers to these questions in God's Word.

I have not sought out commentaries or web pages or sermons by others.

I may look to these things further into my study of a particular issue, but only once I have found a solid Biblical baseline. It may also be of help to find other's opinions so that I can investigate their arguments against the Bible and against the position I find myself at - If their position is closer than mine, then I need to change mine. I may find a direction of argument that has slipped by me that someone else has seen - and of course maybe there is a good reason why I never saw that thought in God's Word - it might not actually be there....

Anyway, study of God's Word is a good thing, and if you have the time - or can make the time - it is a profitable thing - it must be, because God says that study makes you approved unto God, and that can't be a bad thing.