Good News Florida

ENCOURAGEMENT 24 NOVEMBER 2017 Good News • Broward Edition Sexual Harassment: Changing The Narrative John D. Hawkins, Sr. Gateway Counseling Center Recently Harvey Wein- stein, one of Hollywood’s most powerful and successful pro- ducers, was accused of sexual harassment by several women over a 30-year time frame. This is not news, as sexual harass- ment has been going on since the beginning of Hollywood. It is a problem not just in Holly- wood but in many sectors of our society. The abuse of men and women by people of power has been going on since the beginning of time. Many have chosen to look the other way and plead ignorance. However, as Christians what should be our stand on this issue? People are not objects to be used by others To take a stand on any- thing, we must have a basis for the stand. As Christians we be- lieve the Bible is our sole au- thority for faith and practice (belief and behavior). Our ethi- cal and moral position on this subject comes from biblical principles. People are created in the image of God (Genesis 1.26). As such every person has value and dignity. They are not objects to be used by oth- ers to satisfy someone’s sen- sual pleasure. A fundamental teaching of scripture is we are to love God and love others. This results in living the “Golden Rule,” doing to others what you would want them to do to you. Sexual harassment is self- ishness in its most evil form. It is a perversion of God’s gift of sex to humanity. Sex is a gift to be used within the boundaries of a committed marital relation- ship between a man and a woman. It was created by God for procreation of the human race, for pleasure and for the bonding of a husband and wife into an intimate relationship of oneness. Sex also has a deep spiritual significance. It is de- signed to help us understand the deep intimate relationship God has designed us for with Him. Anything less in our sexu- ality is just a cheap and unful- filling imitation of the real thing. All forms of sex outside of God’s boundaries will never re- sult in true satisfaction. This is proven by the fact that sexual predators need to keep harass- ing and abusing. The leverage of power positions The harasser often occu- pies a position of power and trust disguised as a person of healing or help. In reality they are a wolf in sheep’s clothing. This debate about sexual ha- rassment often results in blam- ing the victim. Common ques- tions are asked - “Why were they alone with the person? Why did they dress that way? Why didn’t they speak up be- fore?” Yes, there have been false accusers and unwise or naive decisions made. How- ever, it is never right to blame the victim for the wrong or crim- inal actions of an individual against their person. Usually the predator has a pattern of harassment and sexual abuse. This needs to be the focus so they can be stopped from hurt- ing someone else. What is not often under- stood is the impact of a power differential and the psychologi- cal advantage it gives one per- 7KH *RRG 1HZV ‡ *RRG1HZV)/ RUJ ¹ ¹ (Continued on page 25)