Love Letters from Schaap: "That is exactly what Christ desires for us. He wants to marry us + become eternal lovers!”
Alex,
I’ll make this distinction and then back out, since you and I have clear differences on this and I have no desire to get into a extended debate.
Predatory behavior requires intent. If Schaap had been driving this girl home from church and parked with her and repented and made it right, or if he had parked with her and ‘gotten carried away with his lust’, the story would be much different.
This is a story of a man that knew that the woman was vulnerable and then structured the relationship and the circumstances to sleep with her. I do not, at any point, believe that this was just a tragic accident or tragic mistake on his part. The whole case demonstrates intent on his part, and that’s predatory behavior. It’s that simple.
"Our task today is to tell people — who no longer know what sin is...no longer see themselves as sinners, and no longer have room for these categories — that Christ died for sins of which they do not think they’re guilty." - David Wells
One of the differences between a sex offender/predator and a murderer is that you can only kill a person one time. With sex crimes, the same victim can be attacked again and again.
I don’t care if a lion eats one antelope or five, it’s a predator. With Schaap, there are aspects of predatory behavior and a documented pattern of sexual abuse, even though at this point there is ‘only’ one victim.
There is also a difference between pursuing a relationship and grooming a victim, especially since we are talking about a minor child here, not an adult woman. And while phone calls can be made, and cards and flowers can be sent by both a gentleman and a Jack the Ripper, obviously their motives are different, and will be reflected in the ongoing nature of the relationship and the eventual outcome.
We have the outcome of the Schaap case, and I think it is reasonable to assume that if this girl had been removed from his grasp, he would have found another victim.
[Susan R] We have the outcome of the Schaap case, and I think it is reasonable to assume that if this girl had been removed from his grasp, he would have found another victim.This is the part I have wondered about. If that’s so, you would think there would have been others before as well, but the extensive investigation has not uncovered anything else.
Why is it that my voice always seems to be loudest when I am saying the dumbest things?
[Chip Van Emmerik][Susan R] We have the outcome of the Schaap case, and I think it is reasonable to assume that if this girl had been removed from his grasp, he would have found another victim.This is the part I have wondered about. If that’s so, you would think there would have been others before as well, but the extensive investigation has not uncovered anything else.
I’ve wondered about that too. One of the initial news reports mentioned “another young woman coming forward” in addition to the first victim. Predators like Schaap usually have multiple victims before they are caught.
"Our task today is to tell people — who no longer know what sin is...no longer see themselves as sinners, and no longer have room for these categories — that Christ died for sins of which they do not think they’re guilty." - David Wells
When reading about all the shenanigans involved in getting this girl transported from place to place with the cooperation of other adults, it seems to me that there must be a significant amount of brainwashing and fear-mongering.
I’ve seen this in other churches, one with whom I have been very personally acquainted. People are not only silent about what they see and experience, they stay in spite of it, because they think the price of leaving (being shunned and slandered) is too high. I’ve also seen people admit that they’ve been attacked and abused, only to recant later in fear of repercussions when I tried to get them some help.
[Susan R]Spare me the selective use of the redundant “minor child” narrative. The fact is the state understands she was not a “child” the in sense you are seeking to communicateate but sophisticated enough as a teenager to make poor decisions and she did just that. This does not justify Schaap’s poor boundary failures but it does mitigate the context which it appears many with an ax to grind simply do not wish to hear about but that is nothing new.One of the differences between a sex offender/predator and a murderer is that you can only kill a person one time. With sex crimes, the same victim can be attacked again and again.
I don’t care if a lion eats one antelope or five, it’s a predator. With Schaap, there are aspects of predatory behavior and a documented pattern of sexual abuse, even though at this point there is ‘only’ one victim.
There is also a difference between pursuing a relationship and grooming a victim, especially since we are talking about a minor child here, not an adult woman. And while phone calls can be made, and cards and flowers can be sent by both a gentleman and a Jack the Ripper, obviously their motives are different, and will be reflected in the ongoing nature of the relationship and the eventual outcome.
We have the outcome of the Schaap case, and I think it is reasonable to assume that if this girl had been removed from his grasp, he would have found another victim.
Jack the Ripper? Again, save me the melodrama.
Schaap has no history of paramours or even teenaged paramours. The reasonable and rational response isn’t invoking Jack the Ripper but noticing this as an anomaly. Why and how did this happen. Schaap was arrogant and narcissistic to say the least but many arrogant and narcissistic are quite bounded and so was Jack Schaap.
So to assume he would have moved on to someone else actually speaks against his history. But let’s not that get in the way of things, eh? The assumption isn’t that he would have found someone else, rather the facts of the case speak to a unique event where the combination of his immaturity, arrogance and narcissism met with a teenager who was willing to form an immoral relationship with him. Did he exacerbate his failure with other activities? Yes but that should not be surprising, most people who believe they are to be discovered for a significant or lesser indiscretion reasonably seek to avoid that. Sure, they might distastefully and unethically use certain means to cover it up but simply doing that does not somehow make them a predator, it makes them desperate to not be discovered whether it be having broken mom’s vase or doing something immoral and/or illegal.
Finally, as to trying treat their repeated dalliances as predatory is certainly an argument that a prosecutor might make and understandably so, they wish for the worst descriptions of every law-offender whether they are true or not. It is a prejudicial use of the context of both the relationship, immoral as it was.
to disagree, Alex. But spare me the mischaracterizations of MY character while you seek to defend Schaap’s. I think the evidence points to a predator, and you don’t. Done now.
“…you have not grasped the essence of my assertions…” ~ Alex Guggenheim
I didn’t get what you said to me either.
Maybe you’re just hard to understand — rather than the rest of us being, well, a bit dim.
Discussion