Despite the pileup of churches wrecked by domineering leaders—not to mention the merry-go-round of abuse scandals in just the last decade—some churches and pastors still take a posture of defensiveness. Rather than a response of humble self-reflection, they develop a spirit of self-justification designed to minimize the concern over abuse: maybe these church members are just resentful when someone confronts their sin, or maybe they have a particularly sensitive personality, or maybe they are the products of our modern “woke” victim culture, easily offended by any expressions of authority, and
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