It is no secret that the Christian Bible can be used to justify a king’s ransom of deplorable acts, including murder, human servitude, and sexual slavery. A couple from Port St. Lucie, Fla. has been accused of the latter, using the Bible to justify the systematic sexual assault of a teenage girl who came into their care following the death of her mother.
Rob and Marie Johnson, according to a 21-year-old Indiana woman, were Biblical traditionalists who cited Old Testament scripture to justify their depraved sexual practices on her. The woman fell into their care when she was 13 and claims she was subjected to Rob Johnson’s depravity almost as soon as she first walked through the door.
To matters even more horrendous, the Indiana woman states that Rob and Marie Johnson played on her fears of abandonment as a means to force her to submit. They told her that if she wants to be part of their family, she had to have sex with them. The girl was ordered to call Rob “Master” and submit to Rob and Marie’s sexual advances whenever they propositioned her. According to Port St. Lucie Detective Daniel Herrington, if she refused to allow the Johnson’s to have their way with her, she “would be turned over to state custody.”
Despicable.
While I’m no proponent of the Bible, I understand that for many people, scripture is an important and integral part of their lives. However, much like how someone can use the Bible to justify their acts of kindness and charity, someone can also use the Bible to justify numerous antisocial acts. The Bible is an interpretive text and any piece of scripture is only as legitimate as the reader allows.
This is where social dictation comes into play. We have to understand that Christian folklore is over 2,000 years old in some cases and the way things worked two millennia ago are not the way things work today. In the 21st Century, mentally holding a teenage girl captive while sexually assaulting her for five years is frowned upon, regardless of what passages from Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Hebrews, or whatever is used to justify it.
It is pretty obvious how fallacious Biblical justification actually is.
Both Marie and Rob Johnson have been charged with two counts of sexual assault against a child. I wonder what Biblical passage can be used to justify that.
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