33-year-old Rachael Denhollander has been nothing short of instrumental in spearheading the sexual abuse case against Larry Nassar. As both the first and last person to speak out about the former Olympic doctor’s sexual misconduct, Denhollander has been praised by the public, her peers, and the presiding judge alike for her boldness and bravery.
Over the course of seven days, 156 people gave victim impact statements—but none could quite compare to her unshakeable testimony chock-full of biblical wisdom.
With a call to repentance, a demand for justice, and a lesson in forgiveness, the former gymnast delivered a 36-minute speech that was appropriately met with standing ovation.
“You made this happen,” said Judge Aquilina upon the conclusion of her testimony. “You are the bravest person I’ve ever had in my courtroom.”
But although Denhollander has been hailed a courtroom hero in Nassar’s case that landed the former physician with 40 to 175 years in prison, her mission to speak out against the heinous crime of sexual abuse is far from over.
In an interview with Christianity Today, Denhollander expressed her concern over the church mishandling sexual abuse cases and the Christian media misrepresenting God’s justice by focusing wholly on “forgiveness.”
“One of the areas where Christians don’t do well is in acknowledging the devastation of the wound,” she said. “We can tend to gloss over the devastation of any kind of suffering but especially sexual assault, with Christian platitudes like God works all things together for good or God is sovereign. Those are very good and glorious biblical truths, but when they are misapplied in a way to dampen the horror of evil, they ultimately dampen the goodness of God. Goodness and darkness exist as opposites. If we pretend that the darkness isn’t dark, it dampens the beauty of the light.”
Denhollander says she spent the last 18 years poring over Scripture in search of God’s perspective on sexual abuse, which had been a big pain point for her.