Spiritual Abuse

The basic concept of Spiritual Abuse is that we use our perceived spiritual or religious superiority or our interpretation of Scripture as it pertains to others as a weapon with which to harm or abuse our Brothers and Sisters. More often than not, we are not even aware of commiting this evil on one another, and so the cycle of abuse tends to aggravate over time, rather than decrease, and we end up with more wounded sheep.

The term 'Spiritual Abuse' is fairly new, the concept sadly is not. The New Testament especially is full of passages which warn us against different aspects of Spiritual Abuse, showing plainly that the problem is not a new one.

Our hope and often our assumption would be that the Household of Faith was the last place where such Spiritual Abuse would be found. Sadly, the opposite is true. There are so many different ways in which we can spiritually harm our fellow believers. Below are just a few examples of the outworking of such abuse:

• Ecclesial Blackmail by Bro. C. C. York

Other Christian Related Sites

• Bullying and Spirituality - a good, thought-provoking article by BALMNET - Bullied & Abused Lives in Ministry - A Christian Support Group for Damaged Ministers, International and Inter-Denominational:

  "... something ... that crosses the denominational boundaries ... is a near-universal misunderstanding of the nature of psychiatric illnesses and injuries. All too often wounded Christians are further hurt as churches force on them spiritual diagnoses and spiritual solutions totally inappropriate to the problem."