This week from the land of Oz, which apparently has its own share of Bible-thumping perverts, comes news of a pastor who found a creative new way to teach his teenage daughters their scripturally-prescribed duties to their future husbands… by having sex with them on multiple occasions. Yes, according to the article on news.com.au, this inventive educator took it upon himself to instill the required traits of subservience and acquiescence into his 13- and 15-year-old offspring by nailing them to the ol’ Meat Cross on at least seven occasions in locations ranging from the back of a vehicle to a shed to their grandparents’ house.
(He must be from one of those denominations which hasn’t yet officially recognized altarboys as the approved receptacles for the Holy Seed.)
One could certainly argue that this guy is just a pervert who twisted scripture to provide an excuse for acting out his perversion, and his actions do nothing to invalidate any particular biblical tenet, and I would agree. (Half of what’s in most holy books invalidates itself without any outside help, but that’s another argument entirely.) It is certainly possible that this man would have found some other way to justify his behavior had a close-enough line or two from some religious text not been available.
There is of course the larger question of how he might have behaved in a society free of the sexual repression that religion has foisted on us, but that, too, is outside the scope of this writing.
What really bothers me about this event – beyond that outrage at the actions of one individual, beyond the frustration at seeing God (in whatever form you care to choose) invoked once again to justify blatant wrongdoing, is summed up near the bottom of the article (emphasis mine):
Judge Lovell gave full credit for the man’s guilty pleas, saying he was genuinely remorseful and had a good chance of rehabilitation as his wife and the church remained supportive.
Supportive? Does that mean they just think he made a simple mistake and it’ll be okay now that he knows better? Or do they really believe he was doing God’s work?