Talk 8: Let’s Not Forget About Spiritual Abuse
In the last few decades awareness of the effects of emotional, sexual, and physical abuse, particularly of women and children, has increased. What Orthodox Christians often overlook, unfortunately, is that these forms of abuse have spiritual consequences. There are many practises that the world around us sees as perfectly normal and beneficial but, from a spiritual perspective, are abusive.
Examples are: the unnaturally early school education of infants and toddlers; the encouragement of fantasy; early sex education; exposure of infants and toddlers to television; the promotion of interest in the occult; the upbringing of children using various psychological theories (praise, absence of punishment and reprimand, rewards, body image, self esteem, etc). These practises have become part of daily life. For a conscious Orthodox Christian, however, this constitutes the worst type of abuse: spiritual abuse. In this talk, spiritual abuse is examined, especially with regards to children. Many spiritual problems that adults experience stem from the spiritual abuse they underwent as children.
Among the topics covered in this talk are: the effect of monasticism on society; God’s chastisement as a means of love; bishops are not perfect; the devil as a supposed friend; society’s disdain for the upbringing of children; why jails and hospitals are full; the benefits of persecution; the Western mentality that “God loves us when everything is going well”; moral education as higher than secular education; Satan’s false promises; the emphasis on university education; the “can’t feel” syndrome; the appeasement of the devil through sins; the Antichrist and miracles; can the devil heal? are all sins forgivable? is all demonic possession bad? can language be an obstruction to salvation? are God’s judgements always fair?
Talk Duration: 124 minutes
2 CD set