"The church has done too much harm; I can't believe in a God who let that happen."
How it sounds in your head: Crusades, colonization, abuse cover-ups, purity culture trauma—if God were real and good, His people wouldn't have caused so much destruction. Maybe the whole thing is just a tool for control.
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'"
-- Matthew 7:21-23Source: The enemy using human sin to slander God's character, and religious institutions that prioritized power over people.
She's processing her own church hurt or watching documentaries about abuse, and the gap between 'love your neighbor' and historical atrocities feels unbridgeable. If the fruit is rotten, maybe the tree is too.
David committed adultery and murder, and God said through Nathan that David's sin caused 'the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme'—proving that God's people sinning has ALWAYS given ammunition to mockers. Yet God didn't abandon David or His plan; He redeemed the mess and brought the Messiah through that very lineage.
I REFUSE the lie that human sin invalidates God's goodness. IT IS WRITTEN that Jesus Himself warned that many would use His name for evil and He would say, 'I never knew you'—the abuse wasn't FROM Him; it was a betrayal OF Him. The Father I see in Jesus—healing, liberating, defending the marginalized—is the real one, not the distortion religion created. IT IS WRITTEN in 1 John 4:8 that 'God IS love'—not was, not tries to be, but IS. I am blessed with the BARAK of Abraham, a covenant of LIFE not death, and I trust the God who died for His enemies over the institutions that killed in His name.
The Father is heartbroken over what's been done in His name, and He's not asking you to defend it—He's inviting you to know Him as He actually is. He's been waiting for you to separate HIM from the people who misrepresented Him, and He's ready to show you the real thing.