Geoff: please allow me to share a bit of professional and pastoral advice. Hate, anger, unforgiveness, the desire for revenge, are acids that eat away our soul (William particularly likes that one
)
I was REALLY angry when he claimed I had never gone to Guatemala (most trips are really hard and the ministry is almost totally financed from our investments, not by a church), but I realized that my anger was his goal, and didn't hurt him at all.
Anger and bitterness affect everything - especially our relationships; family, friends, work. I was disgusted at William's trolling in response to my sharing my pain at the death of my dog, and his joy and baiting when I discussed my dystonia in the flinching thread. But the absence of empathy, and esp. deriving pleasure from the suffering of others, is the hallmark of Antisocial Personality Disorder, often mixed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder ie. making fun of special needs kids as "window lickers". And the primary defense mechanism of both is playing the victim (ie ed) and projection (making his hate my hate, his lies my lies.) And unlike some of the faux psychologists here I am licensed by the state of Arizona to make those diagnoses
So I decided to start praying for William. I freely confess I wanted to pray Psalm 3:7 ("Arise, O Lord! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked") but that's not very Christ like.
It was not, and remains, not easy. But I do so every morning. Really. It is hard to hate someone you are praying for.
And I genuinely pray that he finds healing, which, IMHO outside of transformation by the power of the Holy Spirit is not going to happen.
Please keep all this in mind. He wins when you respond in kind to his hate. I freely confess that I let him get to me in the past and I could have handled it much better. Rebuking lies and responding with facts however is not a counterattack, but at some point it's better to let it go.
