May 26, 2002Dear Mr. Riak:
I have been communicating with my father on the internet through e-mail. My father believes that God's laws permit parents to beat their children to death if they feel it is necessary. He is upset because our government does not obey his definition of what God's laws are. My father believes (even though I am 44 years old) that I should still obey him. He is upset with me because I am against the punishment of children, especially spankings. Because of my belief, he feels I am disobeying him. If I do not agree with what he says, I am dishonoring him and disobeying him. If the law would permit, without his getting punished, I do believe that he would put me to death.
My father says the world is getting worse than it was in his day because of people not spanking their children. Do you have any surveys which show that this is not true, or if it is true, what do you say is the cause of it? I do not agree with my father, but sometimes I don't know how to answer his questions.
Below are a number of paragraphs which I have copied and pasted from his e-mails to show you what I'm dealing with:
...You are no different. If you thought the government would catch you and punish you for dishonoring your father against the law of God, and do it every time, you wouldn't do it! And that's why you and that pack of perverts you call modern human psychologists lobbied the government to do away with the laws of God and kick modern human psychology up everyone's ass!I know you are busy, so if you don't have time to answer this letter, it's okay....
You don't tell me what I hear and what I don't, and you don't tell me what I see and what I don't! I have eyes and ears of my own, and I know how to use them! I could see and hear 22 years before you were born, and I still can! I can read too, and I know exactly where the Bible commands parents to spank their children, and it doesn't say parents have to be perfect to know when their children need an ass kicking! And no, the "rod" is not "symbolic", and when you insist it is you only demonstrate your ignorance! (or is it stupidity?). When the Bible said to beat your children with the rod, the rod is an instrument of chastisement (punishment), and the word "beat" means to "strike" them, and I have the Hebrew and Greek Lexicon of Strong's Exhaustive Concordance to prove it! God did not authorize you to change the definition of the words of the Bible to suit your philosophy of psychology, then kick it up everybody's ass! He only gave you the privilege (not the right) of accepting His word or rejecting it, and you've chosen to reject it!
I believe the Bible, and God commands parents to spank their children if and when they need it, and when you insist it doesn't, you are a liar!
...
I never once said a four or five year old child should be beaten to a bloody pulp for accidentally spilling their milk at the table, or for doing something they didn't know is wrong! But by the time a child reaches 14 years of age (if they haven't been raised by a modern human psychologist), and he/she is told to stop doing something WHICH THEY ALREADY KNOW THEY SHOULDN'T BE DOING ANYWAY, BUT CONTINUE DOING IT SIMPLY OUT OF HATEFULNESS AND SPITE, THEY SHOULD HAVE THEIR ASS KICKED SO FAR UP BETWEEN THEIR SHOULDER BLADES THEY WOULD HAVE TO TAKE OFF THEIR SHIRT TO SHIT!
...
No, my poor psychologically damaged baby, the world was not the pig sty it is today, when I was a child! But of course you know more about how the world was before you were born than I do, don't you? That's because you're a wonderful modern human psychologist, who knows more than God!
You should have been beaten to death as a child then (WHILE YOU STILL HAD A CHANCE TO ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD), because you're damned sure not any more righteous than I am now! ...
Sincerely,
Charlene
From Telephone communication between Charlene and Jordan Riak: Charlene [not her real name] tells that when she was two, she was beaten on the head and face and severely injured. Her father was charged and convicted of the crime, and spent 7 months in prison before being released early for good behavior. Charlene does not remember the event, but was told the details by family members. She suspects the true perpetrator was her mother, not her father. "My father was exclusively a buttocks beater, but my mother mainly hit us on the face and head, pinched and pulled hair." Charlene describes life at home for her and her older brother as being one constant terror due to beatings by both parents. "At school my brother would tremble uncontrollably, couldn't concentrate on lessons, did poorly and didn't socialize. Then, at home he'd get beaten more for poor grades. We were both so shy we hardly ever spoke. Somebody should have noticed something was wrong. Today, my brother still can't function. He's on disability. I've put my life together pretty much, but have obsessive compulsive disorder. Some day I'd like to write a book about my life."