We are not called to protect our institutions, nor do we protect the God of truth by covering up sin and/or a crime. To do so is to “protect” a cancer – and cancer kills. We honor God by caring for the wounded and by dragging sin to the light and calling it by its right name.

God is ever and always, with no shadow or turning. He is truth. He is light. Light exposes the truth. It exposes beauty and horror. Clean and filthy. And truth always calls what is exposed by its right name.

The Bible does not support the assumption of an external cause. Jesus said that it is out of our hearts that evil proceeds. Abuse is an exposure of the abuser’s heart, NOT the victims.

One of the things both research and experience make very clear about those who abuse is that they deceive themselves about their actions, their motives, about the victim and about the impact of their behavior.  They have habituated deceit.

No system that carries oppression, silencing, dehumanizing, violence, abuse, and corruption within is healthy. Tolerance of such things, out of fear, disbelief, or self-deception, will not protect the system from the disease that will kill it if left untreated.