Anyone Know What Happened to Maranatha and Matthew?

[nelliebelle1197]

Their Kindling Publications now leads to a web design company that is not obviously affiliated. Maranatha's blog is still up but has been neglected for nearly a year.

Here is our last thread on them:

viewtopic.php?f=227&t=21171

I know they were disinvited from a big homeschooling conference last summer after the age difference at marriage was made more widely known, but they seem to have disappeared.

[nelliebelle1197]

Just found Lauren's blog- new name:

heartunhindered.com/

[VodouDoll]

I know they were disinvited from a big homeschooling conference last summer after the age difference at marriage was made more widely known, but they seem to have disappeared.

They were? Oh wow! Did we have a thread about it, or are there links to any articles? Maranatha and Matthew and her batshit father were my first exposure to the idea of courting and betrothal instead of dating.

[salex]

They were? Oh wow! Did we have a thread about it, or are there links to any articles? Maranatha and Matthew and her batshit father were my first exposure to the idea of courting and betrothal instead of dating.

homeschoolersanonymous.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/matthew-and-maranatha-chapman-withdraw-from-2014-cheo-convention/

What I found just now

[VodouDoll]

Thank you!

[Firiel]

Just found Lauren's blog- new name:

heartunhindered.com/

Who is Lauren and how is she related to Maranatha and Matthew? Sorry-- I'm familiar with the story but haven't completely fallen into that rabbit hole yet. :)

[Koala]

Who is Lauren and how is she related to Maranatha and Matthew? Sorry-- I'm familiar with the story but haven't completely fallen into that rabbit hole yet. :)

Their daughter

[Firiel]

Their daughter

Thank you! I hadn't realized their daughter was that old. I guess when everyone starts young, generations just pile up...

[16strong]

You can read their blogs, but I find that they say nothing, aside from the heaping load of feel-good Christianese that every other Christian blogger posts. There is very little on their blogs that is personal and actually documents their lives. Many times I have read here about posts they have written, and when I go to look for them, I find they no longer exist. Those blogs are so whitewashed that they might as well have just written "God is good, don't fear challenges, God is great and will help you through!" on every single post. Considering how drama-filled their lives both have been, their blogs are the most boring I have ever read. They are truly the masters of sweeping the crazy under the rug.

[Bethella]

Thank you! I hadn't realized their daughter was that old. I guess when everyone starts young, generations just pile up...

Lauren got married at 16 to an older man (just like her parents)

[ILoveJellybeans]

Their relationship was the creepiest thing I had ever heard. Its disgusting. Matthew is a dirty pervert and Maranatha's father should never have condoned his interest in her. Most men would have kicked his ass for suggesting he should be allowed to marry their teenage daughter.

[DGayle]

I've heard of Maranatha many times, and it's always a disturbing story. I commented on that HA blog post about how any "man" interested in my children better run FAST.

How old was her daughter when her daughter's pederast started showing interest?

[roddma]

In all the craziness of the Duggars and Bates I give them credit for not marrying kids of at 16. The Maranatha story just creeped out beyond words and yet they think are the godly example of marriage.

[16strong]

I found this picture from around 2009, when Lauren would have been married about a year, probably aged 16 or 17 at the time:

She's the one on the left, and she looks like a BABY. :ew: Her parents suck.

[Firiel]

In all the craziness of the Duggars and Bates I give them credit for not marrying kids of at 16. The Maranatha story just creeped out beyond words and yet they think are the godly example of marriage.

And it'd be one thing to marry a 16 year old off to an 18 or 19 year old. Stupid as all get out, of course, but not predatory like marrying a 16 year old to a guy in his mid to late twenties.

[Cleopatra7]

I found this picture from around 2009, when Lauren would have been married about a year, probably aged 16 or 17 at the time:

She's the one on the left, and she looks like a BABY. :ew: Her parents suck.

How old is Lauren's husband? Was he a teenager too or another "godly" pederast? And who's the other girl? Whoever she is, both girls look like middle school students, and should not be married to anyone. :disgust: :angry-banghead: :ew: It's sad when you have to say, "Well, at least the Duggars aren't marrying their daughters off the minute they hit puberty."

[16strong]

The husband was another pederast, and the red-haired girl in the photo is one of her younger sisters.

[nelliebelle1197]

I am surprised, but Lauren still has only 2 kids, Caleb and Living Hope. The pair is about a year apart. I know at one point she had two under two but now I think one or both is school age. I haven't looked at her blog in a year most likely and figured she would have more kids by now.

[LilMissMetaphor]

Yeah, Lauren's posts are all vague religious allegorical shit lately. I've also thought it's odd that she and Nathan still only have the two kids. She's what, 22/23 now and they've been married 7 years? Could have squeezed out a few more crotchfruit, as we used to say back in the day?

[LilMissMetaphor]

I just found this lovely bit online from three years ago, Lauren on meeting Nathan:

"It was at a home church meeting that we first met. I noticed a guy walk in and take a seat a few minutes after it started…. I had seen him a couple of times but didn’t pay too much attention at the time. I was caught up in worship and little did I know that there was someone across the room feeling a sudden shift in feelings. I didn’t know then as I sang my heart out but seated just feet away was my future husband who felt a spark as he watched me worship. A kindred spirit…

So was it love at first sight? Not quite. But it was the love at the sight of our precious Jesus that we both shared that connected us then and still connects us now…

Of course it didn’t take long before both of us felt a deeper connection than just brothers and sisters in Christ… ;) We fell deeply in love with each other as the months passed and that passion hasn’t wavered in the past four years we have been married or through the journey of bringing two precious children into this world.

We love to laugh together, go on adventures together, and we still have butterflies float up at the sight of each other but still the greatest connection of all is that spark that was struck that first night… The kindling of a common goal and purpose, a shared mission to follow Jesus – and I pray that the years will make that into a flame… A light that will shine before men so that God may be glorified."

Gross...a 26 year old man felt a spark as he watched a 15-year-old (at the most!) worshiping?

[VodouDoll]

It was pretty disturbing how many people on that blog entry and others about M&M were like, "Who cares if they were 13 and 26 when he first was attracted to her? Don't judge! My grandparents married young!" Ick.

[DaffyDill]

Yeah, Lauren's posts are all vague religious allegorical shit lately. I've also thought it's odd that she and Nathan still only have the two kids. She's what, 22/23 now and they've been married 7 years? Could have squeezed out a few more crotchfruit, as we used to say back in the day?

Seeing as he as a 26 year old felt "a spark" when watching a 15 year old worshipping in Church, and she is now actually an adult....she has umm, aged out of his interest. If you get my drift... :pink-shock:

[Cleopatra7]

It was pretty disturbing how many people on that blog entry and others about M&M were like, "Who cares if they were 13 and 26 when he first was attracted to her? Don't judge! My grandparents married young!" Ick.

Young marriages are ill-advised for a number of reasons. For starters, a teen girl's body is not sufficiently developed for childbirth or pregnancy, and many girls die in the developing world because the baby gets stuck during labor:

http://girlsnotbrides.theideabureau.net ... -950px.jpg

(link not broken, because this is an infographic that explains the societal and individual impact when you marry girls who have no business being married)

Many young girls who are married aren't even ready for sex on a physiological level, much less an emotional one, and are badly injured and even die on their "wedding nights." Even in developed nations that have the medical facilities to help teen moms deliver safely, babies born to such young girls tend to have lower birth weights and tend to be premature:

http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclope ... tID=P02382

(link not broken because it's from a medical web site)

In other words, just because a teen girl can get married/have a baby doesn't mean she should. :penguin-no: It's better for everyone involved if a wife and mother is an adult.

[DaffyDill]

Young marriages are ill-advised for a number of reasons. For starters, a teen girl's body is not sufficiently developed for childbirth or pregnancy, and many girls die in the developing world because the baby gets stuck during labor:

http://girlsnotbrides.theideabureau.net ... -950px.jpg

(link not broken, because this is an infographic that explains the societal and individual impact when you marry girls who have no business being married)

Many young girls who are married aren't even ready for sex on a physiological level, much less an emotional one, and are badly injured and even die on their "wedding nights." Even in developed nations that have the medical facilities to help teen moms deliver safely, babies born to such young girls tend to have lower birth weights and tend to be premature:

http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclope ... tID=P02382

(link not broken because it's from a medical web site)

In other words, just because a teen girl can get married/have a baby doesn't mean she should. :penguin-no: It's better for everyone involved if a wife and mother is an adult.

Re the bolded: That is it in a nutshell. Perfectly put. :clap:

[NotALoserLikeYou]

So, Lauren doesn't look fundie at all. Are they vision forum types or what? Her fb seems to indicate a more modern religious (Christian music, coffee shop meetings) lifestyle. Are they baptists? What about the parents?