Revisiting the Chapman's Wedding

[Duggarlicious]

Jonathan Lindvall's sickeningly praise-filled account of the whole Mathew and Maranatha saga is worth googling

Lifeandlibertyministries.com/archives/000151.php

[Jana814]

Jonathan Lindvall's sickeningly praise-filled account of the whole Mathew and Maranatha saga is worth googling

Lifeandlibertyministries.com/archives/000151.php

Oh my!! I just read this. The whole thing is soo creepy!

[uber frau]

It seems one of the daughters, Lauren did. She was sixteen when she got married. Her blog is surprisingly well-written and thoughtful.

Based on some retellings of the the story (versions written by the family, not just random ppl on the internet), I get the impression that Lauren was actually 15 when she was married off unofficially and then they followed up the paperwork and legalised it at a later date.

No matter what her actual age was, it's all pretty sick. Her husband is much older than her-I'd like to say more than ten years, but don't quote me on that one.

[fiery redhead]

biblicalbetrothal.com/thoughtsmc.htm

Here is Matt talking about their story. It's kinda sick how often Stan is mentioned. That's what is so strange about these courtship stories, it's all about the Dad. Kind of a mood killer, right? This guy is so obsessed with freaking Stan. On their wedding night (or "feast" night) while they were getting it on there was probably murmurs of Stan. Seriously that guy talks about the weirdo dad so much. :disgust:

[Peas n carrots]

Da Fuq?

So let's list all that is wrong with this:

1) Girl married to a man at 15 who had been interested in her since she was pubescent

2) Father having fun mindfucking his daughter and her suitor

3) Girl - now grown - and much older husband marry off one of their daughters at about the same age.

RAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What is wrong with these people?

[fiery redhead]

Da Fuq?

So let's list all that is wrong with this:

1) Girl married to a man at 15 who had been interested in her since she was pubescent

2) Father having fun mindfucking his daughter and her suitor

3) Girl - now grown - and much older husband marry off one of their daughters at about the same age.

RAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What is wrong with these people?

I found the girl's blog, she seems just like another mainstream evangelical with A bad case of word vomit. They all are insane and psycho. :nenner:

[scc12]

it sounds sort of Jewish,what with the waiting and all,like they were following the biblical custom of the bride waiting for the groom day after day (no man knows the day or hour) and not knowing for sure when he would come to take her back to the house he had prepared for them. (parable of the 10 virgins also).

altho by no means am I not saying the whole thing wasn't whacked...it was!

[bumblebee]

Oh its all supposed to be ultra biblically based, just look at all the citations in the account. But it's all to mask a father on a giant mental, emotional and physical (since they were legally married its all about the consummation at this point) a power trip over his daughter.

[Jana814]

How were they able to get married by a justice of the Peace. Didn't the person see how young she was & old he ways.

[scc12]

I wonder,too. I thought the female had to be at least 16 in most states,even with parental permission?

[Palimpsest]

I wonder,too. I thought the female had to be at least 16 in most states,even with parental permission?

This is being discussed in other threads too. New Hampshire wins for the youngest age you can get married with parental consent. 13 for girls, 14 for boys.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_mar ... of_America

[happy atheist]

There was not a single mention of Maranatha's mother in that whole longwinded story. Was she dead before the betrothal nightmare, or does she just not matter?

[RachelB]

At least she got plenty of use out of her wedding dress! :cracking-up:

Totally superficial reaction I have every time I read about this family:

Can you imagine how much sweat a nervous adolescent girl being jerked around by adult men must have deposited on that wedding dress, during the nine hours a day (for however many days) she was wearing it? Unless the dress was selected for ease and speed of laundering, that sounds miserable for SO MANY REASONS.

[hoipolloi]

There was not a single mention of Maranatha's mother in that whole longwinded story. Was she dead before the betrothal nightmare, or does she just not matter?

Looks like the mother walked out at some point in Maranatha's childhood. Here is an excerpt from a post at her website (livinglifeloudly.com/i-met-him-on-my-bike/):

It was in the late 70’s on a very cloudy, sad afternoon that I got on my Schwinn Stingray bicycle for girls and peddled like I never had before, hoping to find that destination where I didn’t feel so alone and misplaced. Block after block I talked out loud, I sobbed, I sang whatever I could think of, I pleaded, I yelled, and I apologized for the yelling. For that moment in time, it was the only place I felt I could go and feel that I was going to be okay. It wasn’t the fastest or brightest bicycle in the neighborhood but it was safe, and, at the time, was the only place that felt like my home.

In a matter of a few weeks I had become an “orphanâ€! My dad had been sent home to die from severe muscular atrophy due to having a very bad case of polio when he was 3 years old and the neurological disorders that followed, and he had to stay down in bed or he would go quicker. On top of that, my mom was gone. She was troubled, scared, and confused, and at the time no one could tell me for sure if I would ever see her again. So many people loved on us, taking in my siblings and I, cooking for us, and taking us where we needed to go. But I honestly felt like an orphan and didn’t know if I was going to be okay.

This sheds some light, perhaps, on the father's uber-controlling ways although it doesn't excuse them and it definitely doesn't excuse him from marrying off his 15-year-old daughter to someone more than 10 years her senior.

[nokidsmom]

Looks like the mother walked out at some point in Maranatha's childhood. Here is an excerpt from a post at her website (livinglifeloudly.com/i-met-him-on-my-bike/):

This sheds some light, perhaps, on the father's uber-controlling ways although it doesn't excuse them and it definitely doesn't excuse him from marrying off his 15-year-old daughter to someone more than 10 years her senior.

Agreed it does shed some light on why her dad was so controlling though I still have to say that's some big power trip for Daddy. Marrying off your minor teen daughter to someone much older and making both of them go through Daddy's extreme approval process, well let's just say Daddy had some major issues, mostly likely stemming from his serious illness and his wife leaving at the same time.

[SunnyAndrsn]

Totally superficial reaction I have every time I read about this family:

Can you imagine how much sweat a nervous adolescent girl being jerked around by adult men must have deposited on that wedding dress, during the nine hours a day (for however many days) she was wearing it? Unless the dress was selected for ease and speed of laundering, that sounds miserable for SO MANY REASONS.

A quick check of Marantha's blog shows that she considers July 22 her actual anniversary date. So, if the engagement occurred Jan 1st, the legal wedding (betrothal to the Owen/Chapman folks) occurred in February of the same year, she got gussied up in the wedding dress, waiting with the suitcase from 3-midnight for nearly FIVE months.

IIRC, someone over at the yuku board referred to her father as the Jigsaw (from the Saw movies) of fundie courtship.

[16strong]

A quick check of Marantha's blog shows that she considers July 22 her actual anniversary date. So, if the engagement occurred Jan 1st, the legal wedding (betrothal to the Owen/Chapman folks) occurred in February of the same year, she got gussied up in the wedding dress, waiting with the suitcase from 3-midnight for nearly FIVE months.

IIRC, someone over at the yuku board referred to her father as the Jigsaw (from the Saw movies) of fundie courtship.

Ohhhhhh, grrrrooosssss!!!!!! 5 months! :ew: :ew: :ew: :ew: :ew: :ew: :ew: :ew:

[fiery redhead]

How weird it was at someone else's house, too! What must the kids have thought? Some chick sits in their living room all evening (9 hours?) in a wedding dress? It's like something out of a eccentric BDSM vid

[happy atheist]

Agreed it does shed some light on why her dad was so controlling though I still have to say that's some big power trip for Daddy. Marrying off your minor teen daughter to someone much older and making both of them go through Daddy's extreme approval process, well let's just say Daddy had some major issues, mostly likely stemming from his serious illness and his wife leaving at the same time.

Mom sounds like an awesome person, abandoning her children with a man with major health problems. Not to mention the control issues. I wonder how she feels about how it all worked out.

[Katydid]

This whole story is sick. I don't usually care about age gaps (BETWEEN CONSENTING ADULTS) but oh my effing goodness. I can't even. And then the sicko father made her wait in a wedding dress? FOR DAYS? What the hell?

[Katydid]

This is being discussed in other threads too. New Hampshire wins for the youngest age you can get married with parental consent. 13 for girls, 14 for boys.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_mar ... of_America

No f****** way. There is no way that my country allows child marriage. THE ACTUAL F***. And Massachusetts allows marriage at 12... I have lost my faith in government.

[Katydid]

I would also like to know why, in this day and age, the age of consent is not the same for both men and women.

[Palimpsest]

No f****** way. There is no way that my country allows child marriage. THE ACTUAL F***. And Massachusetts allows marriage at 12... I have lost my faith in government.

These laws are so antiquated and need updating badly. MA law technically allows girls to marry at 12 with both parental and judicial consent. You will be relieved to know that no halfway competent MA Judge would give consent to a girl marrying at 12 because it would be in conflict with the Child Abuse Statute. I don't know why they don't just fix it.:cray-cray:

[nausicaa]

A quick check of Marantha's blog shows that she considers July 22 her actual anniversary date. So, if the engagement occurred Jan 1st, the legal wedding (betrothal to the Owen/Chapman folks) occurred in February of the same year, she got gussied up in the wedding dress, waiting with the suitcase from 3-midnight for nearly FIVE months.

IIRC, someone over at the yuku board referred to her father as the Jigsaw (from the Saw movies) of fundie courtship.

In some recountings of this story it seems she didn't go to the family friend's house right after the legal wedding, but went home to her father and lived there, and some time after that (another choice Dad gets to make!) Maranatha's father told her to go to the other home and wear her wedding dress every night and wait for her future husband. It sounds like it was a few weeks at most (granted, still a few weeks too many of this fracking crazy train).

Again, that's what I got from it. The "whadafuq?" that kept screaming across my mind as I read the story could have affected by inference skills.

[gibbsgirls]

A quick check of Marantha's blog shows that she considers July 22 her actual anniversary date. So, if the engagement occurred Jan 1st, the legal wedding (betrothal to the Owen/Chapman folks) occurred in February of the same year, she got gussied up in the wedding dress, waiting with the suitcase from 3-midnight for nearly FIVE months.

IIRC, someone over at the yuku board referred to her father as the Jigsaw (from the Saw movies) of fundie courtship.

According to lifeandlibertyministries.com/archives/000151.php after Maranatha and Matthew were legally married (betrothed) in Feb it wasn't until Stan decided in late summer that the wedding would be approaching. Stan was the one who did all the wedding planning. It was during these month prior to July that she prepared her dress and Matthew's task to "prepare a place." Yada Yada Yada.....