Posted by:
Gordon B. Stinky
(
)
Date: April 15, 2023 07:25PM
Just a couple thoughts after reading all the way through:
IIRC from Sunday school, leaders getting the boot because of their children's "bad" behavior comes from the Bible verses about "requirements for leaders": that they must manage their household well and their children must be submissive and faithful, or words to that effect. Many fundamental churches adhere to these rules too (i.e. not just JWs).
In fact, this was an issue for Billy Graham, because his son was reputed to be rebellious. And when I say for Billy Graham, I mean it in two ways: from his ultra fundamental detractors, but also, to his credit, he wrestled with it himself (practice what you preach, right?) But, as with all double standards, his handlers rationalized away that he wasn't really part of the household, or was an adult on his own, yada yada yada.
The other thought is, yeah, creepy to expect kids to rat out their parents, or vice versa.
And a memory: a good friend of mine married a girl who grew up in an ultra conservative independent church. They're so off the beaten path that they print their own Bibles: King James, since it's in the public domain, and they strip out the chapters that they don't like...err, I mean that aren't "authoritative" enough.
By the way, her dad was a "preacher" in this non-denominational denomination, but in the same way that everyone in NYC is an actor but has a day job (the church couldn't pay, so he had a nine-to-five job of some sort).
Well, she couldn't take it, and at 16 she ran off with a guy and had a baby. At some point, he ran off, and she went home. The "church" required her to apologize for what she'd done, but after she did, some stump jumper pointed out that she really hadn't sinned "against" them (her parents had moved states, and this wasn't the church she grew up in), so her parents drug her back to Pennsylvania, or Michigan, or wherever they were from, and she apologized to them too.
Anyway, she "rebelled" again and married my friend (who is ... GASP ... not only a Catholic, but not white (and delightsome)).