Christians putting on the kink

By Dave, the WM

Valerie Tarico, author of "The Dark Side: How Evangelical Teachings Corrupt Love and Truth," pointed me toward an interesting website this week. Here's a quote from that site:

A Christian Domestic Discipline marriage is one that is set up according to Biblical standards; that is, the husband is the authority in the household. The wife is submissive to her husband as is fit in the Lord and her husband loves her as himself. He has the ultimate authority in his household, but it is tempered with the knowledge that he must answer to God for his actions and decisions. He has the authority to spank his wife for punishment...

Though this seems unusual in today's United States, this kind of marriage has been practiced throughout history and is still practiced in many parts of the world today. (LINK)

That's right, it's Christian Domestic Discipline (CDD)!

And if you wonder if these people consider themselves "True Christians™," read this:

The Bible is God's inerrant Word and we will honor it as literal and valid for all time.

The wife is to submit to her husband, and the husband is to love the wife.

CDD is practiced between a man and a woman.

In CDD, the husband has authority to spank the wife. The wife does not have authority to spank her husband.

We believe the Bible gives a husband the authority to use spanking as one tool in enforcing his authority in the home with or without his wife's permission...

In all fairness, the site includes a disclaimer that since in today's world non-consensual physical abuse is against the law, it's not recommended. However, they clearly believe the Bible allows non-consensual wacks on the butt, or wherever. Oh well, paradoxical ideas like this are rife in Christendom. I suppose this is no different.

More:

By its very nature this subject can be erotic...

Now there's the rub, or spank, as it were.

While I would agree that there is nothing wrong with two consenting adults being creative in the bedroom, I find it interesting that some Christians crave this type of adventuresome play to the point of finding a way of supporting the kink with scripture — as stated on this page:

Many Christians believe that a wife is supposed to submit to her husband. If you talk to most evangelicals they will tell you that the husband has authority over his wife and household. But if you say that a man has the right to spank his wife if needed to maintain that authority in the home, very often you've got a fight on your hands.

A man is supposed to love his wife as himself! How could he discipline her if he loves her? That is degrading to his wife! The arguments are seemingly endless.

However, up until the middle of last century, it was generally thought that a man did have the right of enforcement in his home. Could it perhaps be our culture rather than anything to do with the scripture that causes such an outcry against CDD? I think so.

Of course a man IS supposed to love his wife as himself, but that does not rule out discipline. In fact, the Bible has only good things to say about discipline.

Discipline is associated with love:

As many as I love I rebuke and chasten...Revelation 3:19

He that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes…Proverbs 13:24

It is associated with wisdom and understanding:

The rod and reproof give wisdom… Proverbs 29:15

...but a rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding... Proverbs 10:13

And it is associatd with peace and righteousness:

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby… Hebrew 12:11

Since there is no scripture whatsoever that speaks poorly of discipline, and seeing what good things the Bible tells us come from discipline begs the question:

How can a man say he loves his wife and not discipline her when needed?

Maybe it's just me, but after seeing this, I think I might visualize a different sort of "rod" whenever I see those passages.

So what do you think all this means? Is Christianity simply returning to that old time religion? Is this a completly "new thing" inspired by the holy spook? Or is the bad old devil involved, somehow.

Or, is it just plain funny?

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