Thursday, October 17, 2002 AD Schlissel Article, Part 2 I thought the article was dead on. I think it paints a pretty accurate picture of bad parenting. Of course what it neglects to say, but what I trust Pastor Schlissel would affirm, is that God can redeem people despite the best efforts of their parents to ruin them.
Here, then is where I want to take it: When God does bring about such a redemption, what does the Church do with the individual in question? Is it reasonable to expect some sort of instantaneous, automatic sanctification process to undo the damage? Do we expect such a befuddled mess of a human being to pull himself up by his own bootstraps (I mean, by the grace of God, of course, but pretty much alone other than that)?
I think that’s exactly what the Church expects. And I think it’s ridiculous.
Can the Church do something, instead? Can she offer him a remedy? Some sort of remedial parenting? Or is it not her responsibility? Is it just something the wretch is going to have to live with? Is he just going to have to muddle through as best he can?
Why do I want to know? Because I read that article and thought, “Yep. That’s a pretty good description of how I was raised.” But I am not in hell! I am in Christ! Yet my life in many ways looks an awful lot like it would if I weren’t in Christ. This is not some sort of “blame my parents for everything so I have an excuse” thing—I’m well aware of where the responsibility for my sin lies. This is me asking if I have any basis for asking, hoping, expecting the Body of Christ to play some significant part in undoing the damage, and wondering what that part might look like. All I know for sure is that I’ve been trying to fix it on my own for 20 years now, that it just isn’t working, and that I’m about at my wits’ end. Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 10/17/2002 11:33:00 PM
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