I am not sharing a featured image with this blog post because I don’t think this is something that should be taken lightly or viewed for the aesthetics.
This is something serious and very close to my heart.
On Friday I found out as I was hanging out with a group of friends that the province of Ontario passed a law declaring intoxication as a valid defense against rape claims.
…
If this does not disgust you it should. If it doesn’t make you angry than you do not understand.
In my group of friends, the great number which I will say is 20 or more, over half of the people have had some kind of history with a sexual assault of some kind. Whether continuous abuse or a one-time occurrence or the full act of rape or a passing touch.
That is fifty percent of the people I see at least twice a month.
That’s disgusting.
This is not okay. It is not okay to give rapists an excuse to do what they know is wrong. This is not a valid defense, it is an excuse for something inexcusable.
NO ONE has a right to force themselves onto anyone else. Girl, boy, woman, man, father, mother, wife, husband.
I am shocked and appalled by a country that calls itself modern and progressive passing a law like this. Specifically when everyone is lock down and there is already a pandemic happening. As if what we need is to take a step back and allow harsher punishments for people who are breaking the law.
More than that, they are breaking people.
It disgusts me that I have to tell my little sister about rape. How to avoid it by not going out at certain times or certain places. Having to talk to my friends about self-defense and where to punch or kick. Having in-depth conversations about how mace is not allowed in Canada but hey, bear spray is.
This should not be okay.
Drunk driving is against the law and everyone knows how awful it is and you would never hear in a court “well yes I destroyed public property but I was drunk”. You are admitting guilt. No one would go “oh well, they’re drunk so it’s fine.”
NO! Because everyone knows it is wrong to drink and drive. People who drink and drive know getting into that car that they are not supposed to. Sure they make excuses to themselves about how ‘they aren’t really that drunk’ or ‘they can see just fine’. But those are excuses.
No police officer would look a family who’s kid just got killed by a drunk driver in the eyes and go ‘well he was drunk’.
So why is rape any different????
Because somehow you think it isn’t life changing? You think people want to be raped but they don’t want to die? Seriously, what part of this is not being communicated.
People don’t just go ‘oh I’m going to rape this person’ out of nowhere. It is premeditated. It is decided. Most of the time it comes after a couple tries that are denied by the person in question. Drunkenness, getting stoned, anything that alters the perpetrators state or the target is just an enabler for something we know on a cellular level is wrong.
As Christians, men, women, HUMANS, this kind of law cannot be allowed to pass. There is no valid excuse for rape. It is always wrong.
I do believe as humans we need more compassion and mercy but not like this. It is not merciful to let someone go when the person they hurt is going to have that shadow follow them forever. It is a kick to the stomach against someone who is already on the ground struggling to breathe.
Consider it mercy as the rapist that you are given a second chance to continue to breathe and not sentenced to something worse than jail time. I hope for your sake that you are willing to repent and be redeemed.
To those who are struggling with something like this having happened to them or still happening, I’m here for you. I’m praying for you. Even when the world/government pulls some stupid crap like this, I am still on your side. Take comfort in the fact that even if the human government will not exact justice, that you have the Judge on your side.
I think that’s what always comforts me in times like these. Sure, on earth, they may get a free pass but that’s not always going to be the case. One day, that person is going to come face to face with your loving Father, and they are going to have to answer for what they did.
Vengeance and justice is the Lords. I so look forward to seeing Him exact it.
While we are still on earth though, please do your part to change it.
This is a link to a petition to the Supreme Court. Sign it please. If not for you, than your friends, for me, for women, for men, for girls, and for boys. For every little girl who has her world shattered when she is told all the things she needs to avoid doing so someone doesn’t get the chance to force themselves on her. For every girl who has already heard ‘well what were you wearing, what did you do’. So no one has to hear ‘he was drunk though so it doesn’t count’.
Change.org petition to Supreme Justice Nancy Spies. You’ll find it.
God my heart is breaking.
You know me God and you know your children. You’ve seen every hurting child who has had a piece of them torn away and broken forever. You have watched this world descend further and further into sin. Thank you Lord for giving us the chance to be redeemed. For waiting to destroy the world so people can hopefully turn to you.
God I look forward to the day when I can bury my head into your shoulders and finally be home.
For those who are hurting and struggling Father, I pray you would be their comfort. Fill them with the peace and love only you can bring. Take their sorrow and pain, grow from it strength and resilience. Break the victim-mentality and shame, fill them instead with a renewed sense of identity and strength in you God.
For the rapists and abusers God, I pray you would break through their perverted minds. Like Paul open their eyes to the real world.
For those who are not going to God, I commit them to your hands. I know you will be just and you will be firm. Thank you. I don’t have to worry about bitterness, unforgiveness, and revenge because Lord you are the one who takes my vengeance for me. You are my Avenger.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
God bless, and let’s pray the world ends before the fools really take over the world.
~ Ashley
P.S. Yes this was a rant, yes I am passionate about this subject, I will not apologize for anyone who’s feelings may have gotten hurt because honestly if anything I said hurt your feelings than you’re part of the problem.
P.S.S. the problem with a law like this is that it focuses on what is going to happen to the rapists life and not the person who they hurt. A rapist should have to face the consequences of the law they broke; the survivor should not have to pay double for the choices someone made. Stop focusing on the way it ‘destroys’ the rapists life and see the way that CRIMINAL destroyed their victim’s life.
A Light in The Darkness 