MONDAY THOUGHTS

Takeaways:

1. The way a thing or situation is named or framed, will determine whether anything will be done about it.

2. Somebody always knows something. When they choose to tell it, and who they tell, matters.

3. “You always have to consider the source” of information.

4. Many people, who possess power or authority, don’t care who they harm, as long as their own reputations and interests remain unscathed. Sometimes, they enlist opportunistic, gullible people, equally void of morals, who are only too willing to help, and defend them. The cronies' response, when the you-know-what hits the fan, is too often, "I was just doing my job."

5. Photographs often camouflage dysfunction. You never know what’s going on behind closed doors.

6. Some people do ask for help. they DO speak up--repeatedly. Unfortunately, they get ignored, punished, ostracized, and retaliated against, instead.

7. Pay attention to how poorly people treat others—not just how well they treat you. It’s an indicator of what may happen, should you step out of line, say "no", disagree, or prioritize yourself.

8. It's easy for people, being enriched by a situation, to become oblivious, willfully ignorant, and complicit in the destruction of others.

9. What people "always knew" was going on, isn't a bragging point. Why not be more forthcoming? The keenness of one's intuition means nothing after a tragedy occurs. The time when credible information can change an outcome, is now.

10. "Study to show thyself approved…" YOU study. YOU read. The goal of neither church attendance, nor Bible study, is to make you confused, stupid, and unable to think critically.

11. God’s reputation is solid. Truth and Accountability don’t bother Him at all. Why do people link the exposure of their blunders, to how people will subsequently feel about God? He didn't mess up!

12. It’s amazing what and who people blindly defend and protect.

13. Abuse is neither holy, nor acceptable. The “Shock, shame, and fear” of victims, are used against them, to silence them. “Trauma, results in delayed exposure”. 

14. How many people, in communities, are “parading as a pastor” and “twisting the Bible to use it against” others, yet everyone remains silent?

15. A person's own words can be “central to an investigation”. Being consistent and honest, matters. Some things and people don't need protecting. If an abused person is always saying everything is fine, when it clearly isn’t, what can others to say when their testimony is sought?

16. Legislation, designed to fill in gaps in broken systems, often comes after a tragedy that could have been easily prevented.

17. God is intelligent and wise. He wants you to be, as well. 

18. Sometimes, dysfunction is normalized by the very people affected by it.

19. If anyplace should be safe, a church tops the list. Sadly, it's the scene of many people's origin stories of abuse.

20. Want to know whether a philosophy is biblical, or of God? Read his book.

#DeathOfThePastorsWife