A man of the cloth was talking to a relative about domestic violence. He asked what to do when a women comes to you beaten and battered? How do you counsel her?
The reverend replies, "Well, I have three choices."
The friend says, "three choices, how can that be for a man of the cloth?"
The reverend says, "Well I can tell her a lie, I can tell her the truth, or I can tell her what she wants to hear."
The friend shakes his head in confusion.
The referend says, "Okay I will explain. A woman comes to me beaten and bruised and says, 'My husband gets drunk and beats me, what shall I do?'"
I tell her, "When he goes to sleep tonight get a kitchen knife and run it into his heart." Now that is the lie, although in some cases it might be the truly!"
A few weeks later, she comes to me again bruised and battered and says, "He got drunk and beat me again, what shall I do?"I tell her, "Leave him, get away and make yourself safe." Now that is the truth!
A few more weeks go by and she comes back battered even worse and tells me, "He got drunk and beat me again, what shall I do?"
I tell her, "He is really a good man, just love him and be a better wife and stay with him!"
She says, "Reverend, that is what I wanted to hear."
Of course, this confirms what we already knew and what keeps the victim going back to a bad relationship. They don't know how to leave.
Eventhough it is discouraging as we work with family and friends in bad relationships, we must realize that we cannot make the decisions for the victim. We have no right to contro
l that person. That is what the abuser is trying to do. We must keep trying to encourage and assist those loved ones in a way that lets them know that they will always have someone to turn to and that we won't be judgmental!John says,
Did you ever notice that the Roman numeral for 40 is XL?
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