Reasons Why Church Shouldn’t Keep Silent on Domestic Violence

Holy Bible
Holy Bible (photo: CCD File Photo)
By CCD Contributor: SophiaOctober 17th, 2016

Home is supposed to be the safe haven for us.It does not need to be large and luxurious. As long as there is love at home, we will feel warm. However, for a victim of the domestic violence, home is a miserable place, like a hell on earth. Although the " Anti-domestic Violence Law of the People's Republic of China" has been promulgated and implemented, the incidents of domestic violence are still reported on the newspaper from time to time--a wife's was cut by her husband, some are beaten, and even beaten to death by her husband, and a daughter was cruelly abused by her father......there a series of shocking violence incidents and the tragedies keep repeating, which makes us have to rethink profoundly.

As we all know, the domestic violence refers to acts of violence or abuse against a person living in one's household, especially a member of one's immediate family. The harm of domestic violence is extremely serious. It not only harms the victim's health, but also damages their mental health and personal dignity, and sometimes causes serious injury and death. What's more, it hurts the feelings of the couple and results in the breakdown of a family, as well as social chaos. The family is the unit of society, so only when the family is in harmony and happiness, the social will be in harmony and stability. And the social status of women is an important symbol of the development degree of human social civilization.

The domestic violence is generally caused by the marital infidelity, the misconduct of the perpetrators or the control freak of the chauvinists. The old concept of male superiority and other dross in traditional thoughts also make men do willful violence. There are also some men addicted to their "affairs", which leads their indifference and cruelty to their wife. There are some naive women devoted themselves in the period of premarital cohabitation, which makes the men think little of them and started beating and insulting them after their wedding.

The domestic violence act recorded in the Bible and the first killing case of human being case is a cruel domestic violence case. Because his brother's sacrifices are accepted by God, Cain was angry and jealous and did the "domestic violence" to kill his brother Abel, which made he was punished to drift to death by God.When Job faces trouble, instead of giving him comfort, encouragement and confidence, his wife viciously taunted him and even let him curse God and die, which was a "mental violence". Regardless of the causes of domestic violence, it can't be tolerated by the law and will be hated and judged by God. Because For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.(Malachi 2:16).

Humans are created in the image and likeness of God, with the sublimity and dignity of God, so no one shall violate the human rights.And we should uphold women's legal rights. It is said in the Bible, " So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them (Genesis 1:27)." "For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. (11:7)." Although God established the family status and the order of responsibility, men and women are equal at root. For the harmony of the family, the couple should share the order of the authority and skills, be interdependent and assist each other. The ultimate goal of the combination of men and women is glorify God.

Marriage always should establish on love and responsibility. A warm and harmonious home needs care, understand, respect and love. A house divided against itself cannot stand. A family in harmony is the basement of the prosperous country, happy life, good health and prosperous business. Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. (cf. 1 Peter 3:7). Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.(Ephesians 5:25). Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.(Colossians 3:18-19) A family can not violate the principle created by God and order. The husband and wife need to abide the engagement and love each other. They need tolerance, acceptance and understanding of love, and only then they can create a harmonious and happy home. Therefore, it is necessary to effectively deter the acts of violence and maintain the authority and status of women.

From the ancient times, the domestic violence has been attached in the patriarchal culture and patriarchal ideology like a ghost.And the rules like "the three obediences and the four virtues","men are superior to women" and "do not wash dirty linen in public" appeared. The domestic violence is just a dispute within the family in some people's opinion, and it just is a moral issue rather than a criminal, as far as they are concerned. However, all of us should clearly know the domestic violence is a criminal. We should neither break the law nor connive at the domestic violence. The Christian women should try to improve their own quality, make their faith pure, strengthen their legal consciousness, and be self-esteem, self-confidence, self-reliance and self love. On the one hand, the battered wife should often pray and examine ourselves whether she is a good wife. On the other hand, she should abandon the idea like "wash your dirty linen at home" . People are all equal. When being treated unfairly, the wife should take actions wisely and report it to the Church, communicate with him and try to persuade him from doing violence again. If necessary, report the violence to the authority to maintain their dignity and rights.

Faced up with the domestic violence, some rural sisters are narrow-minded and have little legal consciousness. They not only mistake the domestic violence for just "home business", but also are deeply affected by the idea of " don't wash your dirty linen in public" and consider the domestic violence natural as "being persecuted for righteousness" and "taking up the cross for God". In order to "reform" their husbands unto God, they even let their husbands do whatever they want.However, if those who suffer from the domestic violence are always submissive, the perpetrators will become more and more fierce.So, when the domestic violence happens, we ought to fight against the perpetrators and do not give the perpetrators the chance to continue violence to prevent the tragedy from happening. And the perpetrators of domestic violence should know that the domestic violence is not just private business. Once they do the violence, they must be punished and bear the legal responsibility. The victims of domestic violence should know that they are not supposed to keep silent in the face of domestic violence. The well-wishers should not be silent on domestic violence prohibited by the law. In order to prevent and stop domestic violence, to protect the legitimate rights and interests of family members, to maintain equal, harmonious and civilized family relations, and to  improve harmony in the family and stability in the society, in the face of domestic violence, we should not be in silence!

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