If I understand this story correctly, a man went over to Scotland to preach the Gospel there. Some people tried to pull out of him, his beliefs on homosexuality, to which he replied what the Scriptures taught. Well, he ended up in prison for his crime of 'hate speech'. His telling what the Scriptures said ended up being labeled as hate speech, and he ended up in prison. In the minds of his listeners, he was 'abusing' them.
Another scenario, which is quite common with teenagers, was a young girl who was in rebellion. The mom was a single mom and had the boundaries already set in place. The young girl did not want to live by the rules, so she left home. Then she wiggled her way into other people's homes by saying that her mother 'verbally abused' her. Of course, people felt sorry for her and took her in. They also tried to reason with the mom about her supposed 'abuse' of the daughter.
Today all a person has to do is live by the word of God, and others who are close will see the person's boundaries as a threat to them. Deep down in their hearts, they know God is true. They want to make God 'untrue' by believing a lie. So, all it takes is a person who knows what the Scripture says and live it out, and when an unbeliever comes by, while in a conversation together, the unbeliever can see that he, himself, is violating Scripture. The person who is living within the boundaries of Scripture will be accused of abusing the other person.
So, do not be offended when people do this to you, especially when sharing the Gospel with them. Your boundaries will be different than the other person's, and he may not like it.
But not every person responds this way. Boundaries provide security for us. If we know God, He places the lines of the boundaries around us, and they are placed in places of grace. Lost people think they know better than God, and they want to go against the boundaries that God has for them. If they only understood that the boundaries are good. God isn't trying to make us miserable.
You know how many times I have written about the devil's schemes. One of his lies to us, is that God wants us to be miserable. Many times, we believe his lies, and we turn away from God. But God wants us to draw near to Him. He wants to give us a new heart, with new desires. He wants to give us the power to live a Godly life, a life that will point to Him.
We want to set up our own boundaries, but we are not wise enough to do that. God's boundaries are laid out before us in His word. We might be able to go outside of God's boundaries while living our short life on earth, but ultimately, we will find ourselves in God's boundaries throughout eternity. We will either be bound in hell, or bound in heaven.
People can call any kind of hardship, 'abuse'. There is so much focus on child abuse that we have taken off with this concept and think that when we don't get our way, we are being abused. If we haven't figured this out yet, we will eventually figure it out; Life is hard.
If you are a person who knows God and have a relationship with God's Son, Jesus Christ, there are going to be hardships for you. But God promises His grace through the hard times. If you are a person who doesn't know God, and you don't have a relationship with God's Son, Jesus Christ, there are going to be hardships for you, as well. You won't have God's grace through them and will suffer many serious consequences for going over the boundaries.
There are no shortcuts to escaping boundaries. Boundaries provide protection from the devil and his tricks. Boundaries keep us safe in God's refuge. Boundaries help us see danger ahead. There is no kind of abuse in having these boundaries. If we break them, we give ground to the devil, and then he could abuse us. He certainly will deceive us.
Psalm 16:6
"The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance." ESV
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