Is It Abuse?

A Biblical Guide to Identifying Domestic Abuse and Helping Victims

By: Darby Strickland

Narrated by: Sarah Zimmerman

Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

For years, biblical counselor Darby Strickland has served women in oppressive marriages. Now she writes to anyone who wants to help, regardless of their level of experience.

You will learn how to identify the toxic entitlement that drives abusive behavior and to better understand its impact on victims - including children who are raised in a home with domestic abuse. Ultimately, you will become equipped to provide wise and Christ-centered counsel and to empower and advocate for victims while navigating the complex dynamics of oppression in a marriage.

©2020 Darby A. Strickland (P)2021 eChristian

Must Reed for the church!

Tuis book is practical, informative, and so important in the thesis days we are living in right now.

A must read for church leaders

Too many church leaders have failed women and children caught in the cycle of abusive marriages. Worse yet sometimes it is the pastor himself abusing in his wife. This is an egregious affront to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. May this become required reading in seminaries. May pastors who have heard the cry of the oppressed read this book and promote its message in their congregations. Having lived it there are no easy solutions but the church can and should learn how to support these women as they navigate through and out of the turmoil of these toxic relationships either through leaving safely with support. Or in the rare case of genuine repentance should SHE choose reconciliation to offer ongoing support and accountability after a long pattern of genuine repentance has been confirmed.

Amazing insight

So helpful and concise. Wonderful resource that validated my experiences. So helpful as support. Thank you!!

Excellent book very afformative!!

As an advocate this book has been my go too. I LOVE how Darby talks about sitting with the oppressed! And we need to approach the church with prayerful, gentleness.!!

A sexiest approach to the topic

The author makes it absolutely clear that they chose a definite “gendered approach” in writing this material, which means the author makes a literal argument saying that because men only suffer 15% of physical abuse, this means the book will make women synonymous with the term “victim.” The author is deliberate in describing women as the victim in all examples given, and men as the oppressors or abusers.

I, a man, bought this book because the author was praised by someone at the gospel coalition as having incredible insight to all forms/variations of abuse, and not just physical abuse. Before even getting into the very first chapter it is explained that this book is gender by design.

To say I am heartbroken by this is an understatement. To be so focused on making men that bad guys, based on one aspect of abuse, is so obtuse that I found it hard to even make it through this book entirely. To seemingly absolve women of their own sinful capacity to abuse in a wide variety of ways is incredibly jarring and inexcusably wrong, damaging, and divisive. The author should really rethink this approach.

In the end, the author is continuing a narrative that men are not victims, that women are to be taken more seriously than men, which results in few men ever being taken seriously in these circumstances.

The quality of the audiobooks production is the only reason this has more than 1 star.