WASH LINE - Fall 2006

By Peggy Harris, W.A.S.H. Board Chair
Women and Men Against Sexual Harassment and Other Abuses
www.tagnet.org/wash

Editorial – by Peggy Harris

The Lingering of Abuse

Often times when anyone writes or comes forward about abuse, there still is a notion that it should not be confronted and dealt with.  The victim may be advised to keep quiet so as to not ruin personal careers or blacken the name of the organization or church.  The victim is then victimized again and again.  Indelibly, the abuse becomes ingrained in the mind to haunt and cripple the survivor of the abuse.  Does this save the organization or church?  No, because it allows the abuse to continue to be perpetrated on some else in the future.

This might be one meaning author Ellen G. White, describes in Selected Message Volume 1 Chapter 25 Pages 205 and 206.

      “An Iceberg! ”Meet It"

Shortly before I sent out the testimonies regarding the efforts of the enemy to undermine the foundation of our faith through the dissemination of seductive theories, I had read an incident about a ship in a fog meeting an iceberg. For several nights I slept but little. I seemed to be bowed down as a cart beneath sheaves. One night a scene was clearly presented before me. A vessel was upon the waters, in a heavy fog. Suddenly the lookout cried, "Iceberg just ahead!" There, towering high above the ship, was a gigantic iceberg. An authoritative voice cried out, "Meet it!" There was not a moment's hesitation. It was a time for instant action. The engineer put on full steam, and the man at the wheel steered the ship straight into the iceberg. With a crash she struck the ice. There was a fearful shock, and the iceberg broke into many pieces, falling with a noise like thunder to the deck. The passengers were violently shaken by the force of the collisions, but no lives were lost. The vessel was injured, but not beyond repair. She rebounded from the contact, trembling from stem to stern, like a living creature. Then she moved forward on her way.  {1SM 205.3}

Well I knew the meaning of this representation. I had my orders. I had heard the words, like a voice from our Captain, "Meet it!" I knew what my duty was, and that there was not a moment to lose. The time for decided action had come. I must without delay obey the command, "Meet it!”  {1SM 206.1}

That night I was up at one o'clock, writing as fast as my hand could pass over the paper. For the next few days I worked early and late, preparing for our people the instruction given me regarding the errors that were coming in among us.  {1SM 206.2}

I have been hoping that there would be a thorough reformation, and that the principles for which we fought in the early days, and which were brought out in the power of the Holy Spirit, would be maintained.  {1SM 206.3}”

Certainly, abuse describes the efforts of “the enemy” to undermine the faith of victims when the abuse is not confronted and healing allowed to take place.  I can think of several meaning to this significant vision and they all may apply.  Certainly these “icebergs” can cause a person to crumble.  Is a person any less important than an institution?  If God sees the flower of the field and the sparrow that falls, is He any less interested in an individual?  That was the whole point of Jesus’ stories. 

“…Look how the wild flowers grow:  they do not work or make clothes for themselves.  But I tell you that not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers.”  Matthew 6:28 & 29 Good News Bible

“For only a penny you can buy two sparrows, yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father’s consent.  As for you, even the hairs of your head have all been counted.  So do not be afraid; you are worth much more than many sparrows!”  Matthew 10:29-31 Good News Bible.

New Book Review: “Ten Miles From The Nearest Sin”
Reviewed by Peggy Harris

The author, Norma Koester Bork, has captured in this riveting book, the compelling disastrous effects of hiding abuse under a carpet of denial and subterfuge.  Sadly this story, though fiction, has many of the aspects of the many chronicles of abuse told to me over the past years.

I received an announcement of the book and ordered it because I am familiar with the locations where the story takes place.  My husband read the book before I did and it made him angry.  Angry at the indifferent attitudes of church officials when confronted with the rape of a college student.  Angry at the all too familiar ignoring when objections are raised at the cover-up.  Angry at the results of not dealing with abuse when it occurs and letting it go on to harm so many other individuals.

This book should be used as a tool to help us prevent making the same mistakes over and over again. 

As the author points out – if background checks are in place and used, if the procedures that have been put in place are followed when an accusation is brought forward, then many of these problems could be avoided today.  But only if church leaders and school administrators use the tools available.  Otherwise they will continue to bear the responsibility of the lives destroyed, the life potential lost and victims re-victimized.

TEN MILES FROM THE NEAREST SIN, 2006, ISBN 1-57021-842-3 Norma Koester Bork, Winepress Publishing, PO Box 428, Enumclaw, WA 98022, 877.421.READ, www.winepressbooks.com  ($19.95 + S&H) A powerful Christian novel that vividly contrasts the benign settings of conservative Christianity with evil incarnate.  This fictional story, set in Takoma Park, Maryland, and in Angwin, Napa Valley, California, describes – with careful sensitivity – the abuse of a small boy and the chilling consequences on his life and on the lives of those he touched.

This page last updated on Saturday February 17, 2007 10:47 AM

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