Steele: Southern Baptist abuse list prompts question: Are there signs of rot in our own house?
Recently we had to replace some siding and soffit around our house. It was showing signs of damage and I thought it best to pull it out and replace the troubled spots. What I didn’t know, however, was just how bad the damage really was. The facia board was covering the real extent of the rot. Only when the exterior boards were removed, was the true cost of the neglect revealed. Clearly, the problem had been going on for years.
Over the past couple of weeks, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, has topped news feeds and headlined news reels across the country. For some, the news of covered-up sexual abuse came as a shock, but the recently released report of an independent, third-party investigation, commissioned by Southern Baptists themselves, revealed just how long and far the rot had gone. And now a day of reckoning has come.
Read More: Top Southern Baptist Convention committee approves abuse reform funding recommendations
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I don’t intend here to rehash the report. Scores of other articles have already been done this. Nor is my purpose to air dirty laundry. The stench of those garments has long reached the heavens. And the last thing I propose to do is to minimize or defend the egregious wickedness of these abuses or the willful neglect of covering them up.
Instead, I hope to offer a few reminders for Christians who are seeking a way forward following such horrific news.
First, we must stand in solidarity with survivors of abuse. Too often those who have suffered unthinkable violence have done so in silence either for fear of not being believed or out of unsolicited shame for what has been done to them. We must indeed grieve with those who grieve, lamenting the pain they have experienced and the injury they have endured. We must bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill Christ’s law of love.
Additionally, we must remember all that is done in the darkness will be brought into the light (Luke 8:17). This is why it is essential for followers of Christ to support those bringing into the open anything that has been covered up. There is a tendency within the human heart to sweep things under the rug, reasoning somehow that what is done in the past is past. However, Christians — of all people — ought never fear the truth, no matter how inconvenient, more than we fear the one who is called Truth, Jesus himself.
Another clear reminder is that the institution is never more important than the individual. One of the repeated refrains of the report detailed how a very small but powerful circle held a greater regard for the legal protection of the entity, to the neglect of the injured. Any time we offer individuals on the altar of greater good, we have sacrificed to a false God.
Each person is made in the image of God, male and female (Gen. 1:27) and thus should be valued and protected, whatever perceived potential fallout of an institution there may be.
It would also do us good to remember that ignoring signs of rot only leads to greater damage in the future. We do not have the luxury of burying our heads in the sand, nor should we want to. When we are made aware of sin, especially of an abusive nature, it must be dealt with immediately, not ignored. And when that sin is abuse, legal justice should also be pursued. If it is not, the rot will spread. Indeed, a little leaven, leavens the whole lump.
Finally, we must ask, are there signs of rot in our own house? News like this ought to serve as a sobering reminder of our own vulnerability. This is not to say every sin rises to the level of abuse. Nevertheless, every wickedness starts somewhere. Have we overlooked sin or, worse yet, harbored it? Should the surface of our hearts be pulled back, what personal rot might be exposed? It behooves us then to watch diligently over our souls lest we also be overtaken in sin (Gal. 6:1).
One thing is clear, a greater personal and corporate vigilance, integrity and accountability are needed for one day every one of us will give an account before God (Rom. 14:12). In light of this ultimate day of reckoning, let us then “live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world” (Titus 2:12).
The Rev. Kevin Steele is the pastor of National Hills Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Southern Baptist sex abuse list shows signs of rot were ignored: Steele
