Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Multiple times God gives this instruction to Joshua before and during the campaign to take and occupy the Promised Land once Joshua assumes leadership after Moses’ death. It won’t be quick. It won’t be easy. It will require preparation. It will require obedience. It will be the task for the rest of his life…and he’s approaching 80 at this point….
“The only righteous anger is when God is the one being offended.” Yep.
God does NOT intend for children to be anyone’s sex toys! Wherever children are being sexually groomed, harassed, exploited, molested, used, and abused we need to change the dynamics, the conversations, and the outcomes!
As mothers and advocates for women and children many of us have followed strong women who took courageous stands through the generations. It’s our turn to stand…. to “Be strong and courageous. Do not tremble or be dismayed for the Lord our God is with us wherever we go!” Our children, grandchildren, and the next generation of great-grandchildren for us looming over the horizon are set to experience an assault on their innocence from a culture that no longer values what we have known as “family”, childhood innocence, boundaries on sexual morality, public decency, etc. The toll on relationships, the inability to make good decisions and commitments, the control issue conflicts between family members, the rise of domestic violence, mental health distress, substance use and abuse, and many other cultural dysfunctions are the result.
Wherever God directs your attention, start THERE. I’ve been working with adults with life-limiting mental health and substance abuse crises for the last 12 years. I’ve heard the stories of their having been sexually abused, cruelly controlled and used, neglected, disregarded, and denied justice. They have struggled as they repeated patterns with their own children that brought similar results. THIS IS INSANITY. Generational dysfunction can stop with our generation. It has to be spoken out loud and called out, not just by law enforcement and the courts whose wheels move slowly and are clogged by the overwhelming scope of our cultural problems, and has so many built in loopholes for protection that they’ve become effectively neutered by system-gaming ploys of legal manipulation. But families and public advocates can pick up the banner and keep on keeping on.
We’ve got to get creative, people. We’ve got to quit being put off by systemic failures. God does NOT intend for children to be sex toys! Wherever children are being sexually groomed, harassed, exploited, molested, used, and abused we need to change the dynamics, the conversations, and the abuse!
what are the lessons from these dysfunctional family saga? LOTS OF THEM!
David’s son Absalom had a beautiful unmarried sister named Tamar. Amnon, another of David’s sons, fell in love with her. He was so much in love with her that he became sick, because it seemed impossible for him to have her; as a virgin, she was kept
from meeting men. But he had a friend, a very shrewd man named Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shammah. Jonadab said to Amnon, “You are the king’s son, yet day after day I see you looking sad. What’s the matter?”
“I’m in love with Tamar, the sister of my half brother Absalom,” he answered.
Jonadab said to him, “Pretend that you are sick and go to bed. When your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please ask my sister Tamar to come and feed me. I want her to fix the food here where I can see her, and then serve it to me herself.’” So Amnon pretended that he was sick and went to bed.
King David went to see him, and Amnon said to him, “Please let Tamar come and make a few cakes here where I can see her, and then serve them to me herself.”
So David sent word to Tamar in the palace: “Go to Amnon’s house and fix him some food.” She went there and found him in bed. She took some dough, prepared it, and made some cakes there where he could see her. Then she baked the cakes and emptied them out of the pan for him to eat, but he wouldn’t. He said, “Send everyone away”—and they all left. Then he said to her, “Bring the cakes here to my bed and serve them to me yourself.” She took the cakes and went over to him. As she offered them to him, he grabbed her and said, “Come to bed with me!”
“No,” she said. “Don’t force me to do such a degrading thing! That’s awful! How could I ever hold up my head in public again? And you—you would be completely disgraced in Israel. Please, speak to the king, and I’m sure that he will give me to you.” But he would not listen to her; and since he was stronger than she was, he overpowered her and raped her.
Then Amnon was filled with a deep hatred for her; he hated her now even more than he had loved her before. He said to her, “Get out!”
“No,” she answered. “To send me away like this is a greater crime than what you just did!”
But Amnon would not listen to her; he called in his personal servant and said, “Get this woman out of my sight! Throw her out and lock the door!” The servant put her out and locked the door.
Tamar was wearing a long robe with full sleeves, the usual clothing for an unmarried princess in those days. She sprinkled ashes on her head, tore her robe, and with her face buried in her hands went away crying. When her brother Absalom saw her, he asked, “Has Amnon molested you? Please, sister, don’t let it upset you so much. He is your half brother, so don’t tell anyone about it.” So Tamar lived in Absalom’s house, sad and lonely.
When King David heard what had happened, he was furious. And Absalom hated Amnon so much for having raped his sister Tamar that he would no longer even speak to him.
To the perps:
Apologize-sincerely & specifically. NOW. To the child(ren) whose trust you violated by sexually objectifying their childhood innocence. If they spit in your face, take it like a man. They will forgive you eventually, but may need to express anger and disgust first. Take it like a man, dunce. It doesn’t mean any will give you the time of day going forward. Reconciliation and restored trust is not required. Only forgiveness and justice for victims and the opportunity to come clean and repent by perps. (BTW, Dude, repent means to grow a conscience, confess and quit doing it.) And if you are a female who has sexually abused children, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING??? You will get outted, too!