Rhonda Shoffner, the Middletown, Pennsylvania woman who was accused of assaulting her daughter after she failed to correctly recite bible verses was sentenced on October 25. The incident happened on March 14 at Shoffner’s home located along the first block of Genesis Court. She was pleading guilty to aggravated assault, strangulation, endangering the welfare of a child and terroristic threats.
Shoffner, 41, slammed her daughter’s head into the bathroom wall and kicked her multiple times after failing to precisely repeat the verses, the criminal complaint states. She faces two and a half to five years in state prison — she will also serve a consecutive five years of probation, according to the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office.
The victim told police that Shoffner had been drunk for three days prior to the assault. She added that Shoffner strangled her during the attack and stated she was going to kill her, the criminal complaint says. Once the girl was kicked out of the house, she ran to a nearby fast food restaurant for help. The victim’s father took her directly the police station.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. The Bible certainly has very controversial methods for disciplining the kids. Problems arise when someone literally interprets them as indeed the whole Bible. Then they make more evil than good. Great examples for this are Proverbs 13:24 - “Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them” and Proverbs 23:13 - “Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish them with the rod, they will not die.”
That last part isn’t completely true. In 2012, a 7-year-old boy was beaten to death by his parents after failing to read the Bible or do his homework. Police claimed the boy’s stepfather beat him with a spatula, belt and possibly a wooden paddle. Dina Palmer allegedly struck her son on his buttocks with both a belt and her hand.
Parents who can do something like this to their kids must be properly punished in order to send a message to anyone else that might follow their path.
Photo Credits: Pixabay
