Photo by Jerry Kiesewetter on Unsplash
ROLF Harris, Bill Cosby, Weinstein,
Kevin Spacey, and now Dustin Hoffman, among a growing list of others. The ‘crisis’
is rippling through Western societies as we live and breathe. Weinstein has
even been chosen as the Edenbridge
Bonfire effigy![1]
Bring it on. That’s my initial
response. The more historical abuse is exposed in the upper echelons the
better.
Culture is influenced maximally
when crooked pillars of society are shaken straight.
It has its eventual impact on our
personal worlds. What was once held within the reach of lips tightened by yet another
abuse, is increasingly being liberated, as “justice rolls like the waters, and
righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5:24)
And yet, if we allow, the Spirit is
sifting each one of us; have I
subjected anyone to a similar harassment
currently indicting these megastars?
If the Spirit is home in us — and, it’s
a ‘yes’ as believers — an honest spirit will meet and align with the sifting of
God. And yet there are so many who have been transgressed in ways they would
never perpetrate. It’s horrifying to think that around one-in-five people have
suffered sexual harassment — and statistically, mostly women (over 80%), and most
before they turned 20.
As we pray the prayer of Psalm
139:23-24[2]
the Spirit adjudicates. Having had God deal with us, however ‘innocent’ we are,
our glibness is also tempered. Added to our empathy for victims is our forgiveness of perpetrators. We forgive them as God, in
Christ, forgave us. Forgiveness is not
the same as mercy, however. We can forgive perpetrators and, as a society,
still withhold the mercy that would relieve them of paying the consequences of
their actions. Justice means paying restitution.
What is happening in our world at
present is very, very good. Truths are being exposed. The stifled are gaining
their voice. How much better if the guilty seek to make amends before their day in court. And how
glorious is it when those who have transgressed can own their fault and attempt restitution. Our prayers find
completion when the abused experience justice and eventual healing.
The Inquisition is coming, even as
it rolls into locations near each of us via our global community.
The best thing for victims of
sexual assault is the righting of injustice. The best thing would be if it had
never happened.
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