Forgiveness weaponized and the gospel's protection
- What does a person actually do when someone discloses sexual abuse to them?
The hosts continue with Denhollander's answers: forgiveness can be misapplied, Christian coverage focused only on her forgiveness while ignoring her pursuit of justice, and her closing charges that the gospel of Jesus Christ does not need the church's protection but its obedience, and that obedience costs. They wrestle with practical responses: one host admits he may counsel forgiveness too quickly, another walks through what he would tell an abuse survivor, a host uses a marriage-reconciliation analogy to argue the church should be radically transparent, and they reject holding the whole church accountable for what must be worked out person to person. The Matthew Loftus second article is tabled for a future show.
More on Forgiveness
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Dear LFTP: the $4,200 loan that never came back
- How do I get past the sadness over the $4,200 loan my friend never repaid — do I just let it go?
The final Dear LFTP letter: a year ago a supposed friend asked to borrow money — her husband had left the country to renew his visa, her car was repossessed, she had no way to get to work.
From No. 603 · Found Out
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Dear LFTP: the stolen college fund and telling the 90-year-olds
- Should I tell my 90-year-old parents that their grandson stole my granddaughter's college fund?
Ben hands to Mike, who reads a grandmother's letter: her son helped himself to the college money the great-grandparents set aside for her granddaughter; she fears telling her parents, in their nineties, could shock them into a stroke.
From No. 586 · Nothing Personal
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Dear LFTP: forty years of a cheating wife and a temptation
- Would it be wrong to rekindle an old friendship for intimacy when my wife has cheated for forty years?
A man approaching his fortieth anniversary writes that his wife has always been a serial cheater, a secret he kept to protect the children's view of her; with retirement and a sexless marriage he asks whether rekindling things with old female friends would be wrong.
From No. 581 · Silly Rabbit | Christianity, Culture, and Navigating Social Expectations
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Dear LFTP: the stalker ex-girlfriend
- How do I get my stalker ex-girlfriend to leave me alone?
Mike reads a letter from a man whose ex-girlfriend keeps trying to get him back, even stalking him, after he blocked her number.