Post by Nutcase on Jun 14, 2009 23:54:20 GMT -5
Okay, so I was reading a very interesting blog called No Longer Quivering when a new-to-me name was mentioned: Jonathan Lindvall.
Turns out Lindvall is a ‘patriocentrist’ so extreme in his views that neither his wife nor daughters are permitted to leave the house without a male escort.
I searched for more information on this guy, wondering just what other bug-eyed insanity he preached, and came across his website.
Through his site, Lindvall approvingly relates the "betrothal" story of Mathew and Maranatha Chapman. (Alas, they were married in 1988, so there’s no point in calling child protective services now.)
It’s a truly sick, convoluted tale that shocked even me. I had a hard time processing it, and I can barely comment on the thing without frothing at the mouth about what a manipulative, power-hungry, game-playing sicko Stan Owen must be.
Nonetheless, I wanted to share this story - yet another cautionary tale about the female slave trade otherwise known as "Christian Courtship."
Because of its overwhelming length, I'll spare you all the bullshit flotsam and relate the basic tale in bullet points:
(Direct excerpts are in green.)
Stan Owen capitalized on a gross power imbalance - Matthew was his acolyte; and Maranatha, his daughter - to set up arbitrary, capricious rules everyone else had to follow. He did this not for any discernible reason, but merely because he could - to demonstrate he had that level of control over the situation.
Further, he identified himself with either God or Jesus (depending on the day) through the various roles he adopted during the games he himself arranged.
And, in his lust for control, it never even occurred to Owen there was something wrong with Matthew showing even the slightest interest in what I assume to be a seriously under-aged minor. Aw, hell no: instead, he let his 'spiritual son' marry the girl, but forbade him to touch her because, while she was old enough for legal marriage, she was still too young for sex.
In what universe is this shit even remotely okay? Who the fuck reads shit like this and thinks, "Wow, I hope I get to play mind games like that with my own kids someday'?
Turns out Lindvall is a ‘patriocentrist’ so extreme in his views that neither his wife nor daughters are permitted to leave the house without a male escort.
I searched for more information on this guy, wondering just what other bug-eyed insanity he preached, and came across his website.
Through his site, Lindvall approvingly relates the "betrothal" story of Mathew and Maranatha Chapman. (Alas, they were married in 1988, so there’s no point in calling child protective services now.)
It’s a truly sick, convoluted tale that shocked even me. I had a hard time processing it, and I can barely comment on the thing without frothing at the mouth about what a manipulative, power-hungry, game-playing sicko Stan Owen must be.
Nonetheless, I wanted to share this story - yet another cautionary tale about the female slave trade otherwise known as "Christian Courtship."
Because of its overwhelming length, I'll spare you all the bullshit flotsam and relate the basic tale in bullet points:
(Direct excerpts are in green.)
- A troubled young man named Matthew went to a preacher named Stan Owen for help getting his life turned around.
- After a couple of years, Matthew, presumably in his late 20s by this time, expressed an interest in the pastor’s under-aged daughter – maybe 13 or 14 judging by the description of her as being far younger than Matthew, and the multiple mentions of her extreme youth.
- Young Maranatha Owen meanwhile, had also noticed her father’s protégé – and being as he was probably the only marriageable guy allowed anywhere near her, she took a liking to him.
- Unbeknownst to each other, Matthew and Maranatha both entered into "negotiations" with Stan Owen over the possibility of marriage.
- Stan toyed with the two love-birds for a couple of months, claiming to consider the will of the Lord for their lives, before he finally told them both to “put their urges to death” because Maranatha was still too young for marriage. (But not because it was gross that Matthew, an older guy, was interested in banging the pastor’s minor daughter.)
- Sometime later, Matthew found himself thinking of the girl, and the intensity of his feelings convinced him he was receiving a message from God.
- He approached Stan Owen again, and the older man mulled over it for several months without telling Matthew one way or another whether he had “heard a word from the Lord.”
- Christmas time rolled around, and Stan gave Matthew a card containing a picture of Maranatha and permission to ask for her hand in marriage on New Years Day. (This kind of odd specificity would become a hallmark of how Stan handled both his daughter and his future son-in-law.)
- Matthew and Maranatha discussed the subject and obtained further assent from Old Man Owen, who then went on to decree that he himself would set the wedding date and not tell either one of them when it would be. His excuse: that “no one but the father knows the day or the hour when Christ will return.” (Well that, and he worried that Maranatha was still too young. I’m not kidding.)
- Stan signed the appropriate papers and had his daughter legally marry Matthew in front of a Justice of the Peace. He did this 'because betrothals in the Ancient Near East were as binding as marriage,' but he still forbade them to touch each other until such time as he conducted a suitable religious ceremony.
- About six months later, Stan gave Matthew at least some idea of when the wedding would be, after which, this happened:
After dinner Mr. Owen abruptly and unexpectedly announced that they would play a game. Matthew had already been coached on what was to transpire. Mr. Owen quickly had Matthew sit on one side of the room and Maranatha on the other, with himself in the middle. First he turned to Matthew and asked, "Do you have anything you want to say to Maranatha?"
Matthew immediately responded, "I love you, Maranatha."
Then Mr. Owen turned and pointed to Maranatha and asked, "Do you have anything you would like to say in response to Matthew?"
She was puzzled and the only thing she could think of to say was, "I love you too, Matthew."
Mr. Owen smiled in satisfaction and pointed back to Matthew, saying, "Do you have anything else to say to Maranatha?"
Matthew repeated, "I love you Maranatha." Then he added, "Be ready for me when I come!"
Now Maranatha was getting excited. Mr. Owen then pointed back to her and asked, "Do you have anything else to say to Matthew?"….
Immediately the other members of her family surrounded Maranatha and quickly led her away out of the house. From that moment until the actual time Matthew went to get her for their wedding, they did not see or talk to one another. Maranatha was taken to stay at the home of a Christian family where she was to wait until Matthew came to claim her as his bride. She was only told that the wedding would be some time within the next three weeks.
Her father did make it somewhat easier for her by assuring her that Matthew would come to take her sometime between 3:00 p.m. and midnight on the appointed wedding day. But Maranatha wasn't told what day that would be. She was instructed to keep her bags packed, her hair fixed, and her wedding dress on every afternoon and evening until midnight, until Matthew came for her. Day after day passed and Maranatha yearned for her bridegroom.
- Maranatha’s father took her out to dinner one night – presumably while she donned her self-made wedding dress – and congratulated her on her patience. He also cautioned her that soon she would have a new master.
- “Finally the day came when Stan Owen notified Matthew that everything was ready and it was time for the wedding feast. He also explained that from the time Matthew claimed Maranatha they would be married. He was giving his daughter to his spiritual son/disciple.”
- “After this, Matthew and Maranatha spoke forth their vows to one another, and then everyone began worshipping the Lord together for some time. This wedding had continued on for over four hours, and would have continued on for longer, because the presence of the Lord was so sweet.”
- “As everyone departed, Matthew and Maranatha went to a nice hotel and began their married lives together kneeling by the bed and committing their marriage to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Stan Owen capitalized on a gross power imbalance - Matthew was his acolyte; and Maranatha, his daughter - to set up arbitrary, capricious rules everyone else had to follow. He did this not for any discernible reason, but merely because he could - to demonstrate he had that level of control over the situation.
Further, he identified himself with either God or Jesus (depending on the day) through the various roles he adopted during the games he himself arranged.
And, in his lust for control, it never even occurred to Owen there was something wrong with Matthew showing even the slightest interest in what I assume to be a seriously under-aged minor. Aw, hell no: instead, he let his 'spiritual son' marry the girl, but forbade him to touch her because, while she was old enough for legal marriage, she was still too young for sex.
In what universe is this shit even remotely okay? Who the fuck reads shit like this and thinks, "Wow, I hope I get to play mind games like that with my own kids someday'?
