"Christian" dad denies he justified his child abuse through selective cherry picking from the Bible (United Kingdom)

RIIIGHT. Just everybody is lying except UNNAMED DAD.

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/Christian-father-denies-using-passages-Bible/story-21093515-detail/story.html

Christian father denies using passages from the Bible to justify caning of children

By Exeter Express and Echo | Posted: May 14, 2014

A Christian parent has denied using the cane or belt on his children or using passages from the Bible to justify his punishments.

The 46-year-old father told Exeter Crown Court that his ex wife and three children have all lied about his allegedly violent and controlling behaviour.

He said he did not believe in the Biblical proverb that to spare the rod is to spoil the child and his interpretation of the Scriptures led him to be a caring and patient parent.

The jury had earlier heard from a Plymouth based Pentecostal Pastor who described how he had urged the man not to use physical punishments on his children but thought his message had not been accepted.

The father, from Devon, denies two counts of cruelty against his step-daughter and oldest son from when they were aged three or four to 15 or 16.

They allege they were beaten with a belt or cane, made to take cold showers, kicked, and made to sit cross legged staring at a wall for days on end.

The youngest daughter said she was not abused but witnessed other punishments and recalls her father reading verses from the Bible about sparing the rod before he started using the cane on her older brother.

Rev Michael Symonds, who was the family’s minister at a Pentecostal Church before taking up his present post in Plymouth, told the jury how the father had asked his advice about discipline.

He said:”We spoke about discipline and he told me he had been advised by a man from his last church that to spare the rod was to spoil the child, which to my mind is taking the Scriptures out of context. “It comes from Proverbs, Chapter 13. I spoke to him about the importance of disciplining children but said it should not be with physical violence. He kept referring back to what he had been advised before.

“I felt he was not taking on board what I was saying. I gave him examples of how I disciplined my own children and told him that hitting children is simply not acceptable.

“I felt it was one of those occasions when you speak to people but you feel your words are not taken in. The fact he kept going back to the other man’s advice meant he was not taking in what I was saying.”

The father told the jury he had smacked the two older children when they were young but never beaten them with a cane or belt or enforced the wall punishment for more than a few minutes.

He said the allegations only surfaced after his wife told him their marriage was over and she wanted him to leave the house.

He said:”I did not use any form of violence towards the children. They are telling lies. I was not a bully in any way.”

He denied ever reading the passage from the Bible about sparing the rod.

He said:”There is no such scripture I asked Rev Symonds about how he brought up his children but he is mistaken about that.

“I did used to sit regularly at the kitchen table with the children and read the Bible but it was always a message of love, peace and patience.”