Stone your disobedient teenagers....

While I was researching heaven knows what on line, I came across an article written by William Einwechter an elder at Immanuel Free Reformed Church in Stevens, Pennsylvania.  He is the vice president of the Christian Reform Association which advocates "Explicitly Christian Politics." Their mission?

The mission of the National Reform Association is to maintain and promote in our national life the Christian principles of civil government.

And for twenty bucks you can get the book which explains in detail just what explicitly Christian politics entails.  Hint, hint...it is some pretty scary stuff....

Christians who are tired of the compromise of evangelicals in the political sphere will find this book to be a wonderful breath of fresh air. Here is a vision for politics that the faithful servant of our Lord Jesus Christ can get excited about. The days of retreat for Christians in the political sphere are about to end, and Explicitly Christian Politics points the way!

The article that caught my eye while surfing was entitled "Bible Requires Death By Stoning For Rebellious Teenagers Says PA Preacher"  and it was on a site called Positive Atheism.  

Einwechter says the death penalty should be applied to "a grown son (and by extension to a daughter as well) who, for whatever reason, has rebelled against the authority of his parents and will not profit from any of their discipline nor obey their voice in any thing."

Writes Einwechter, "[T]he execution of the rebel in view is just, merciful, and preventive. Just, in that the transgressor deserves to die; merciful, in that his quick death prevents the destruction of the family, society, and others; preventive, in that it strikes fear in the heart of other would-be rebels and restrains them from taking a similar ruinous course."

The Chalcedon Report is the leading publication of the "Christian Reconstructionist" movement, the most extreme contingent of the Religious Right. Reconstructionists reject democracy and believe Christians should take "dominion" over American society. Under their version of "biblical law," the death penalty would be required for over a dozen offenses, including adultery, homosexuality, witchcraft and spreading "false" religions.

I told you it was scary stuff. 

The original article was published in The Chalcedon Report and later reprinted in The Christian Statesman.  Einwechter is editor of the publication.  As if the first time around was not disturbing enough....like a bad horror flick, there was a sequel; Stoning Disobedient Children Revisited.  Don't expect a retraction.  It simply defends the first article....although he does clarify the method of execution he advocates, since his original article was misunderstood:

......state that I say the Bible requires "death by stoning for rebellious teenagers." As I have noted already, death only would be imposed in the most severe cases of rebellion. Furthermore, as one who holds to the "general equity" of the law, I do not believe that cultural items such as elders sitting in the gates as judges and stoning by the men of the city as the means of execution are essential elements that need to be reproduced today to have the justice of this law upheld. These are peripheral matters, and justice would be served by our courts using more modern methods of execution in those cases that might warrant death.

I've included lots of links within this post for anyone who might want to rubber neck a bit....like when passing an accident.  You don't want to look...but you do in spite of yourself.  And for those who might be interested in a hard copy....the following snippet can be found at the bottom of The Christian Statesman.   

A six month subscription to The Christian Statesman is FREE on request. Renewals are FREE on request.
POBox 8741-WP Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15221

Oh...and one more thing.  When I clicked on the link to read more of Pastor Einwechter's writings, there were no other articles....only a notice that explained the site had been hacked and links to 58 articles ended up at a site where everything was written in Turkish.