Over the coming weeks, maybe months, thousands of marriages around then world will be coming under immense pressure, and sadly many will break. The hacking of the Ashley Madison website has leaked the names and personal details of millions of men and women and the media has since broken down the numbers according to postcodes across Australia.
The postcode 3160, which is Belgrave, Belgrave Heights and Belgrave South has been identified with 425 Ashley Madison accounts according to the Sydney Morning Herald, which has mapped the data for Australia. The newspaper describes this as being 5.89% of the postcode. For some of the neighbouring suburbs the numbers and percentage are higher.
I can only imagine that for many people who have been caught up in this, that you are experiencing a range of emotions and thoughts including shame, fear, anxiety, and guilt. If you are thinking about self-harm please call now, Lifeline on 131114. There are trained people at Lifeline to listen and help.
Adultery is not easily fixed, but repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation is possible.
How we can help:
Belgrave South Baptist Church is a safe place for hurting families and for couples who are wanting to reconcile their relationships. You are welcome to visit, 10am Sundays. You can also contact the Pastor at office@bsbc.org.au
Ultimately, we want to point you to Jesus Christ, because in Jesus we know that God’s mercy and love is greater than our mistakes.
People may expect Churches to simply criticise and condemn people who have signed up to Ashley Madison but the truth is our churches are made up of people who’ve realised that they are broken and not perfect. We simply serve a God who loves to restore people.
I believe that Jesus enriched our lives with his teaching and his example. And that, he died on a cross for our rebellious ways and rose again, conquering death to show us that we can choose to live in the way, life is meant to be lived.
There is Hope beyond the fallout of Ashley Madison and I invite you to discover the God that I know, his name is Jesus. – Pastor Andrew Fisher.
