The Abuse Of Women: A Blight On Our Culture

Once again the social evil of abusing women has come into focus with the recent stories of football players in the news. Football is not the issue here, but these accounts are a small picture of this greater “social epidemic” within our culture when it comes to some men having distorted thinking about how to treat women. I am writing this article with a degree of “righteous anger.”

Let me be very blunt from the beginning. There is NO reason for a man to physically abuse a woman. Period! What part of this do some men not understand? Plus, it is equally sad when a woman defends a man for doing it. Women don’t deserve to be abused. Why defend a man who has problems that affect their health and safety?  Then there have been television and radio hosts who have made a debate about it, or some sociology expert has been brought into the discussion to analyze it!?   All of this is nonsense! Call it what it is. It’s wrong!  The men who are doing it need to stop.

If a man has anger issues he must seek help. There are plenty of ways to do this. He can go to counseling, take an anger management class, get an accountability partner, or talk to a member of the clergy. Through these resources it is possible to identify the causes of anger and develop strategies to overcome it. Men need to take ownership of their problems. It is interesting that the word “grown-up”  can be broken down into two phrases: grow, and own-up. If a man refuses to own up he may never grow up.

However, there is a deeper, underlying problem. It is called having a sin nature. It began in Genesis when Adam blamed Eve for choosing to partake of the forbidden fruit. A little further in the book we read about the first recorded domestic violence episode when Cain murdered his brother Abel, caused by unresolved anger. Men must master their anger, as it says in Genesis 4:7, before it gets the best of them. This is very practical wisdom for all men today. Don’t misunderstand me here. I am not saying that ALL men have anger issues; not all men do. Anger is, however, the underlying problem behind domestic violence and the abuse of women, and this will not stop until the men who are doing it deal with their anger problem. 

To any men who are involved in domestic violence and the abuse of women I will say this to you. You need to stop doing this. The women in your life do not deserve it, and you need to get help to overcome it. You also, however, need a transformed heart and character. You can have a new nature by the power and grace of God that will not only give you the ability to overcome anger but will help you become a better husband and father. You will be able to “…act like men…” (I Corinthians 16:13).