The names, characters, places and events in this story are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. All characters are over the age of 18. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations are purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
Thank for reading and I hope you liked this tale. Please do leave a comment as I read all of them and take them all onboard.
***
Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. 1 Timothy 11-12 (KJV).
***
"We believe in the old-time religion at this church. Bible teaching is front and center here. Old-fashioned teaching and old-fashioned values. That's what this great country was founded on," Deacon Jedediah Stearns declared, thumping his fist down onto his desk. A pile of paperwork tottered but stayed in place.
Samuel Wolford and Cora Miller looked at the pastor of the new church they were joining. They were living together and due to get married in a few months time. The Deacon was a big, heavyset man of about fifty with tattoos snaking up both muscular arms and a biker's mustache. However, he now wore a pressed white polo shirt and gray slacks instead of club leathers. His only jewelry was a large stainless steel cross on a chain around his neck. He noticed Cora's gaze upon him.
"Yes, ma'am, I used to be an evildoer, one of the worst of all sinners, but now I have been saved. Praise Jesus!" he declaimed, thumping his desk once again and making the papers bounce. "I was in jail and running with the Aryans when the Lord came to me one dark night and turned my life around."
Cora looked away, wanting to avoid his intense, almost hypnotic gaze. They sat in the Deacon's office of his new church. Some years ago, the previous denomination had closed down and the old whitewashed wooden building had stood empty until this new pastor had taken it over and reopened it. Since then, despite its location far out in the backwoods of southern Ohio, it had prospered and numerous new people had joined, including many younger folks, so it wasn't just pensioners who worshiped here.
Deacon Stearn's office was a wood paneled room with one wall lined with books and papers in boxes. It smelled of old paper, wet dog and vaguely of furniture polish. A stack of old hymnals moldered in a corner while a row of white vestments took up another. To Cora's eye, they looked almost like Klan robes but she knew that wasn't the case. His old wooden desk was also covered in paperwork, lit by a green-shaded banker's lamp. Behind him was a framed copy of the constitution. Before his desk, on a nubby brown rug, Sam and Cora sat on two wooden chairs. More chairs were stacked up against the rear wall.
"So you don't allow women to preach here?" Cora asked.
"No, ma'am. That is expressly forbidden by scripture," he said. His voice was gravely from years of cigar smoke and whiskey. "If a wife has questions, then she should wait until she gets home and seek further instruction from her husband."
Cora was about to open her mouth and say more but she was struck by the rapt attention her fiance was giving the Deacon. But all the same, what era was this man living in? Hadn't he ever heard of women's lib and equality?
"Also, in our church, we believe that God has ordained that the man is the rightful head of the household and has the right and duty to instruct and, if necessary, correct and discipline his family."
Cora opened her mouth. "You can't mean that a man can discipline his wife?" She looked over and saw that her fiance was hanging on the pastor's every word.
The Deacon grinned. She didn't like that smile but she couldn't tear her gaze away. "Of course. We read in the Good Book, 'They are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.' That's in 1 Corinthians 14:34, ma'am. Also, it states in 1 Peter 3:1 'Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands'. Thus, as God punishes the world, so a man must punish his wife when she errs. This should be done in a loving way, of course, as God loves the world."
"Punish?" she blurted out.
"When needed, yes. In this church, we believe that corporal punishment is most effective at keeping disobedient wives in their place. A short shock followed by loving tenderness shows a woman that she has been reproved for her behavior but is still loved. It would be very wrong to punish her by withholding affection, for example."
"This cannot be right," Cora said.
She was shocked when Sam leaned forwards and asked, "What sort of corporal punishment do you recommend?"
"Perhaps I should demonstrate? I was going to do this later but if it would help, I will do it now." The pastor stood and opened his office door.
"Libby, could you come here, please," he called out.
A minute later, a plumpish woman in her mid-forties came in. She was of average height with brown hair which Cora thought came from a bottle. She had a round, apple-cheeked face with a trace of lipstick as her only make-up. She wore a blue denim shirt which swelled over her large breasts with rolled-up sleeves and blue K-Mart jeans. Over her jeans was an apron and soap suds clung to her arms.
"You called, Jed?" she asked. She smiled lovingly at her partner.
"Yes, I was just explaining to Samuel and Cora here about our church's policy on the man being the head of his household with the right to discipline his family."
