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seems lo be speeding ever more
swi flly lo its own self-inflicled
deslruction .
But Why?
Why is there so much fami ly
abuse? Why do husbands beat lheir
wives? Why do parents beat their
children?
To a man who has never had
even a slight passing thoughl about
hitting his wife, it is unfathomable
to think of s triking her. In the mar–
riage ceremony he promised to
"love her, provide for her and pro–
tect her." How can any man abuse
his wife in any way?
1n reviewing one of the above
mentioned books on family vio–
lence, one book critic observed:
"The book is compelling, though
almost too much to bear in sorne
places. One stays with it to get
answers to the questions that go
unanswered: How can they do it?
And
why
do they do it? The
authors admit little is known
about batterers, just 'armcha ir
speculation' and the unclear pic–
tures of them from the victims."
That review demonstrates the
frustration nearly everyone feels .
Even experts in the field of sociol–
ogy really don't yet have enough
information to d raw clear-cut con–
clusions.
What research has brought to
light, however, is dispelling the
many myths that the public in gen–
eral presupposes about battcred
women a nd those who do the bat–
tering.
Sorne of those myths are pointed
out by Lenore Walker in her book
The Battered Woman.
pages 18 to
30:
Myth 1: Battered women are
only a smaJI percentage of the pop–
ulation. (The truth is millions of
women and children are abused all
over the world.)
Myth 2: Battered women are
from minority ethnic groups and
from a lower socioeconomic status.
(The truth is battered women come
from homes in every social st rata
and elhnic group.)
Mylh 3: Battered women deserve
to be beaten and even get a mas–
ochistic pleasure from it, otherwise
they would leave. (Again the truth
is a self-respecting woman would
not want to be beaten. Pain doesn't
Aprll 1984
feel good. And most women who
are abused don't leave for severa!
reasons: not having financia! sup–
port, fear of being hunted down
and even more severely beaten, and
the fear of what would happen to
the children.)
There are many other myths Dr.
Walker dispels. These listed are
only sorne of the more common
misconceptions.
Can We Know the Real Cause?
Family violence has been going on
for about as long as mankind has
been on the earth. The first
recorded family violence was Cain
rising up to kili his brother Abe!.
The society that followed was
"corrupt in God's sight and was
Only those who are
committing the
sin can stop it, and
perhaps put
together again a family
imbued with love
for wife and children.
full of violence" (Gen. 6:11, New
International Version throughout).
God observed "how great man's
wickedness on the earth had
become, and that every inclination
of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil all the time" (verse 5).
But why such violence then and
now?
The answer goes back to the first
humans in the garden of Eden. Edi–
tor in chief Herbert W . Armstrong
has written on this subject for
The
Plain Truth
many times. But the
story bears repeating in this con–
text.
When the first humans were
placed in the garden of Eden, God
instructed them. Included was a
warning not to eat from one tree in
the garden-the tree of tbe knowl–
edge of good and evil. You know
the story well. Deceived by Satan
the devil, Eve took of the trce.
Adam followed suit.
What did the t ree symbolize?
Not merely knowledge of good and
evil. They chose the way of
decid–
ing for themselves
what was right
and what was wrong. In other
words, they chose the way of
human experimentation. Tria! and
error. They rejected revealed
knowledge from God.
That's what mankind has been
doing ever since. God has permit–
ted it, of course. But God has not
left mankind without knowledge.
His written word, the Bible, con–
tains the revelation of his will--of
how we ought to live. But most
people have rejected this revelation
of essential knowledge.
Don't Dlscount the Devil
I realize many skeptics, doubters
and agnostics will ridicule the
existence of a very real s pirit
being called Satan or the devil.
Nevertheless, his influence is a
powerful force behind family vio–
lence.
When J esus described the devil
he said : " He was a murderer from
the beginning, not holding to the
truth, for there is no truth in him.
When he lies, he speaks bis native
language, for he is a liar and the
father of lies" (John 8:44).
The Bible further describes the
devil as "the god of this age [who]
has blinded the minds of unbel iev–
ers" (11 Cor. 4:4). And in the book
of Revelation, "The great dragon
was hurled down-that ancient ser–
pent called the devil or Satan, who
leads the whole world astray" (Rev.
12:9).
Satan has tried to pervert or
destroy family life as mucb as any
part of God's great creation. The
reason should be apparent.
Through marriage and the resul–
tant human capacity to reproduce,
human beings are given physical
life. Each human has the potential
to be born into the family of God,
to serve in God's government for all
eternity and even to be part of the
government that will ultimately
judge Satan and the rebellious fall–
en spirits who followed him ( I Cor.
6:3).
Small wonder Satan has at–
tempted to destroy family life, to
pervert child rearing, to demolish
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