What The Bible Says About Gaslighting

Many of us who has faced abuse, and tried to bring closure to it with our families or those responsible for the abuse may have heard or may hear the following:

1.  "There is no way you can remember that!"

2.  "You can't remember things when you were 4!"

3.  "There is no way it could have had that kind of effect on you!"

4.  "You can't tell me you felt like that!"

5.  "It wasn't that bad!"

6.  "Why don't you just get over it!"

7.  "It's in the past, leave it in the past!"

8.  "If it had that kind of effect on you, there is something wrong with you!"

9. "You are not remembering things right!  There is something wrong with your memory!"

Let's compare these statements with the Bible.  I heard a sermon in church this morning where one scripture covers a lot of this.

1 Cor. 2:9-11
"9 But as it is written:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God."

Those who made the above 9 statements above, when compared to this scripture, is making judgments of what was going through your mind.  Those judgments are false, and they are claiming to know what is in your mind.  By doing so, they are calling 1 Cor. 3:9-11 a lie.  They are calling God a liar because it is His Word.

Many of those type of people may call themselves Christians.  Statements like the above 9 shows a lack of repentance.  What does true repentance look like?

A. Being genuinely sorry for your sin with godly sorrow.

B.  Accepting responsibility for the sin.

C.  Confessing the sin to God, and turning from it.

D.  Making restitution for the sin where restitution can be made.

E.  Asking for forgiveness from those they sinned against and from God.

F.  Accepting forgiveness from God through the sacrifice Jesus paid on the cross and resting on Jesus.

Making the 9 statements in the first part of this post is not practicing repentance as spelled out in A-F. 

The Bible says "unless you repent, you will all likewise perish!" See Luke 13:3, 13:5

The Bible also says "by their fruit you will recognize them" See Matt 7:15-20

"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.". See Matt 7:21-29.

People who make statements like the 9 at the beginning of this post and call themselves Christians are doing it in the name of Jesus, thus taking God's name in vain.  They prove themselves to be wolves in sheep's clothing. If they don't repent, they will perish in their sins.  They have no love, thus prove not to be disciples of Christ.  See John 13:35.  These are the kind of people who follow their father who is the devil himself.

I know what it is like to deal with this.  If you are dealing with this, I will be praying for you. 

Rodney Calmes