"Christian Evangelism Justifies Abuse!"

Image Credit: Media from Wix

In the face of Christians asserting the fact, and backing it up with Biblical exegesis, that scandals in the Christian community aren't results of Christian doctrine, many opponents of Christianity try to come up with as many logical leaps as they can in order to try to obscure the fact that they are literally basing their messaging on the logical fallacy of judging a belief-system by the hypocritical behavior of its self-professed adherents. That brings me to a new talking point I recently heard by one of the deconstruction-type apostates, which talking point can be essentially boiled down to this: since the Bible teaches that the greatest good for human beings is salvation through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, nothing should stand in the way of successful evangelism, including exposing scandals that occur in churches and other Christian communities, so the Bible justifies covering up such scandals since doing so reduces, or even eliminates, the risk of unbelievers being inoculated against salvation through the negative perception of Christianity that arises from such exposures.

Yes, justifications or excuses like this are often used to cover up scandals in the Christian community. But this argument isn't taking into account a vital fact: the Bible not only prescribes what the good ends for a Christian are (in this case, the salvation of souls) but also the means that Christians are to take to achieve this goal (in this case, what to do to save souls). For this argument to make its case, it needs to demonstrate that the Bible, the authority for Christian belief and practice, teaches that covering up scandals is a justifiable (or, at the very least, permissible) means to achieve the end of saving people. So, does the Bible indeed give ethical permission to churches to cover up or ignore abuse? Well, in Romans 13:1-7, the Apostle Paul commands Christians to submit to the governing authorities that God, in His providence, has placed over them. So, from a Biblical perspective, not complying with the proper authorities by failing to report abuse or other crimes that occur isn't a badly-conceived damage-control strategy; it's a godless act because it's an act of disobedience against God Himself. But what about cases where the government fails in its God-ordained role of punishing evil (Romans 13:3-4) by not legally requiring people to report abuse and/or not punishing abuse? Our answer to that question comes from Isaiah 1:17, which reads: "Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow" (KJV). Here, God is calling on disobedient Judah to turn from their wickedness, and this wickedness includes failure to "do well," "seek judgment," and "relieve the oppressed." In other words, where no justice exists in society, the godly are to do all in their power to establish justice through the proper channels (see Romans 12:17-13:10). In addition to that passage, Jeremiah 22:3 says: "Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place." (KJV). Since sexual violence is a form of oppression in which the oppressor sexually "spoils" the victim, seeking justice for victims of sexual violence (in all its forms) means delivering them from the hands of those sexually oppressing them. The same principles apply to other types of abuse and scandals as well.

I've only given a summary treatment of the Bible's teaching on this issue, but it's sufficient to prove wrong the argument that the priority of saving souls Biblically justifies or excuses failure to report scandals and protect abuse victims. And it also proves false a dilemma I heard used to bolster the argument: namely, if Christian parents were forced to choose between 1) having their children either being Christians and suffering sexual abuse in the church all the way up until they go to Heaven after their deaths or 2) being unbelievers until their deaths while suffering no sexual abuse but suffering eternal punishment in Hell, which would they choose. Thus, the argument and the aforementioned false dilemma accompanying it can both be proven to be false from the aforementioned Bible passages and accurate exegesis of those passages. To put it another way, covering up sexual abuse and other scandals in the church isn't a legitimate application, in Christianity's own moral framework, of the primary goal of saving people. So let's ensure we all as Christian individuals and as local churches are doing all we can to provide justice and healing for abuse victims! And yes, it's stupid that I even have to respond to this talking point, but many Christians have been slow in rightly and effectively utilizing Scripture to combat anti-Christian propaganda, so it's time we rectify that defect for God's glory and the eternal benefit of mankind!