I find it interesting our offence is often linked to how deeply we feel the things we share, and often if they are rejected we feel rejected.
I once shared about as a teenager, putting my hand out to Jesus and it being taken and led into His truths.
Someone suggested it was not Jesus's hand I got, but the enemy. Now I would never project such a thing on another, because it is their emotional expression of need and being met. The one who suggested such a thing, could not cope with the expression of dependency on Jesus and our vulnerability and fragility, so wanted to suggest such an expression was innately evil. It took me months to get over such a suggestion, because of the spiritual implications of it.
What I had not realised was actually the challenge emotionally I was giving, which was very powerful.
And yes they were right to suggest I could have been deceived. Except Jesus called us to be like little children who reach out and trust their parents, so likewise we should our Father. If one has had an abused and betrayed childhood, this is very painful and often is putting ones hands into an evil intending parent.
I have to confess I have had a very protected and privileged life, never been abused or assaulted, or had violence in my life. I have had to face mental illness and dysfunctional family relationships, but nothing compared to some you meet on the internet. So I am humbled by the diversity and often unintended responses people come with out of their darkness and lostness in the church and wider world.
To love sinners takes time. I had an experience with someone having a panic attack. They would come out with very provocative statements to define the world and make it safe. To me these statements were hurtful so I gave some push back. I just wanted a reasonable conversation. What happened was total rejection and worse abuse. It took me sometime to realise the difference between words as facts and words as emotional declaration and defence. If the individual was using words to protect themselves, my giving push back was actually making them more vulnerable and unable to cope. So I decided to rather ignore the subject matter, and reinforce support of the individual and their challenges.
Over time the issues will work themselves through, but love for the individual and standing by them no matter what they said was more important. This makes conversations on forums much more difficult because of peoples emotional history, hatreds and loves.
We tend to think of people as factual creatures when actually we are emotional creatures who hold on to facts to bring support and sense to the world. God bless you
