Is the Church Sending Wrong Message to Women of Abuse?, by Cherry Simpson

Susan Murphy-Milano Says so beautifully in her new blog about what Rick Warren, the Southern Baptist megachurch pastor chosen to offer the invocation at President-elect Barack Obama's Jan. 20 inauguration, says the Bible does not permit a woman to divorce a spouse who is abusing her.

Rick Warren photo by AFP/Getty Images

Rick Warren: Abuse is no excuse for women to seek divorce The New Agenda A women's rights blog called Warren's views "alarming," especially in light of recent statistics showing a 42 percent rise in reports of domestic violence from 2005 to 2007.

Because It Matters in Freedom in Christianity by Danni Moss writes "Rick Warren and Saddleback Church on Domestic Violence"

Listen for yourself by going to and scroll down to #32 and click to listen in his own words.

Watch for public out cry to this - Many women's advocate groups are up in arms and not going to stand for this kind of putting innocent women and children in harm's way.

I am writing and commenting on each blog and ask for your support in this also.

There are certain times in a Christian's life when he or she will have to determine which command of Scripture takes preference. Abuse within marriage is one such case. On the one hand, the Lord states, "What God has joined together, let man not separate (The Sixth Commandment). Yet he also says, "You shall not kill" (The Fifth Commandment). We recall that the Fifth Commandment also applies to ourselves in that we shouldn't put our life or the lives of our loved ones at undue risk.

If a woman (or man) feels that the physical or verbal abuse she is suffering in her marriage is putting her or her children in harm's way, she needs to take action. If repeated attempts to address the situation fail, she may even consider divorce. In such a case she is seeking to give glory to God by applying the Fifth Commandment which commands us to protect human life. By patiently yet firmly attempting to work out the situation with her husband and get him the help he needs, she is seeking to give glory to God by keeping the Sixth Commandment which commands us to honor marriage. Should her attempt to do so fail, divorce may be the God-pleasing option. It is assumed that in all of this she is seeking the help and advice of a pastor or Christian counselor who honors and respects what God's says in his Word.

Because the abusing person has willfully persisted in his sinful behavior, he has violated the marriage bond and deserted his wife. He is the guilty partner even though his wife may be the one who actually seeks the divorce.



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Thought[s] Of The Day ...The Land That Never Has Been Yet ...

I found this today on Cool Justice Report. Thanks Andy!





Let America be America Again

LANGSTON HUGHES
Originally published in Esquire
and in the International Worker Order pamphlet
A New Song (1938)


Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-- Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek-- And finding only the same old stupid plan Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope, Tangled in that ancient endless chain Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need! Of work the men! Of take the pay! Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil. I am the worker sold to the machine. I am the Negro, servant to you all. I am the people, humble, hungry, mean-- Hungry yet today despite the dream. Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers! I am the man who never got ahead, The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream In the Old World while still a serf of kings, Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true, That even yet its mighty daring sings In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned That's made America the land it has become. O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas In search of what I meant to be my home-- For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore, And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea, And torn from Black Africa's strand I came To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me? Surely not me? The millions on relief today? The millions shot down when we strike? The millions who have nothing for our pay? For all the dreams we've dreamed And all the songs we've sung And all the hopes we've held And all the flags we've hung, The millions who have nothing for our pay-- Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again-- The land that never has been yet-- And yet must be--the land where every man is free. The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME-- Who made America, Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose-- The steel of freedom does not stain. From those who live like leeches on the people's lives, We must take back our land again, America!

O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath-- America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies, We, the people, must redeem The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers. The mountains and the endless plain-- All, all the stretch of these great green states-- And make America again!


Please join us at Peace4 the Missing
Missing Persons Awareness and Support Network
http://peace4missing.ning.com