Are Victims Better Than Abusers?
There is a dangerous trap in popular Christian thinking that subtly infers that only victims are qualified to experience forgiveness and salvation. We like to amplify our solidarity with victims, to show compassion to them, to assure them of God's grace and healing and power to restore. But at the very same time it is all too easy to fall into the trap of viewing victims as somehow more righteous or innocent or worthy of our compassion than we feel toward those we consider perpetrators or abusers. We indulge readily in prejudice, animosity and even outright hatred at times toward those we consider dangerous and ready to exploit other people. We garner recognition by showing sympathy for the victims but we do not share such magnanimity toward those who have abused them. Rather we are quick to judge, to label, to ostracize and to seek punishment for all who in our eyes are not as worthy of grace or in need of healing. Many know in their head that perpetrators are usually vict...