“People make mistakes.” While it’s certainly true that people make mistakes, it’s a fallacy to imply that the fallibility of people is a justification for mistakes. Often, when folks err in a way that hurts people, it is rationalized to be okay because folks are only human and people inevitably will make mistakes. The “people make mistakes” fallacy can create a blame-the-victim mentality when people are hurt by folks.

“God is in control.” The phrase implies that no matter what happens, God is behind the movement, so any abuses are either justifiable or not worthy of further examination. “God is in control” is a fallacy. As Mary Alice Chrnalogar points out in her book, “Twisted Scriptures: A Path to Freedom from Abusive Churches,” there is a big difference between saying “God is sovereign” and “God is in control.”

A sovereign king doesn’t control the individual decisions of all those in his realm. If God didn’t allow free will, then we could say that God is in control. Saying that God is in control denies the existence of free will. The next time a disciple hit me with ‘God is in control,’ I asked, ‘Does that mean God is responsible for your sin? If God isn’t responsible for evil, then you can’t say God is in control, you are.’ God in his sovereignty allows evil as a consequence of free will, so don’t say he is in control unless you honestly believe that you don’t have free will.

In reality, folks have the ability to make correct or incorrect choices, and to behave ethically or unethically. It is fallacious to brush things off by saying, “God is in control.” If folks make incorrect choices or act unethically, it is not God’s error. God may be sovereign, but folks are in control.

Sovereign Lord,… you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them… Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.Acts 4:24, 29-30