Kevin Swanson; Larry Nassar; Child Sex Abuse; Rachael Denhollander
-by Kathi with editorial comments by Julie Anne
Kevin Swanson’s February 9, 2018 broadcast on Generations covered the recent gymnastics and sexual abuse case by now-convicted sexual predator, Dr. Larry Nassar. Right Wing Watch picked up his broadcast and noted that he blames immodesty in the sport of gymnastics for Dr. Larry Nassar’s behavior.
Julie Anne texted me at work and asked if I would be willing to write a snarky post about Swanson [JA here = is it possible to do a Kevin Swanson post sans snark? Serious question.] As much I can’t stand to listen to him speak, I decided to listen to the whole broadcast. Kathi is a glutton for punishment. I only asked if she would be willing to write about the modesty part that Right Wing Watch reported on. In fact, here is where she tells me on Messenger:
My (unfortunate) experience with listening to Swanson over the years has brought me to the understanding that he is never sympathetic to victims of sexual abuse, so I wanted to see if this broadcast would be any different. My snarky side turned to my angry side as I realized that he hasn’t changed one bit.
***
Starting off feeling snarky…
Swanson starts by blaming the civil magistrate for not doing anything about this twenty years ago. Does Swanson not understand that Nassar did not stand before a judge until 2016 because of all the people who were protecting him?
Starting to feel the anger creep in…
He then moves on to blame the parents for not attending medical examinations with their children. Ok, this is ridiculous. Did he not read the news articles? He sexually abused many of the girls WHILE the moms were in the room. It’s in the court documents. He positioned himself between the mom/adult and the girl. With one hand, he massaged on the outside of the clothes, the other hand couldn’t be seen by the mom. It was abusing beneath a draped towel or sheet. He was that brazen! There were reports that he was talking to either the mom or girl during this time. Nobody would have had a clue.
Does Swanson not understand that much of the abuse happened while the victims were at training centers or in college? Did he stop to think for one moment the guilt that a lot of these parents must feel for the abuse that happened to their daughters? I sure hope no parent/survivor listens to his podcast. Swanson follows this by stating that a father’s responsibility is to teach his daughter that the world is a dangerous place.
This is where I tell Julie Anne, “Can you believe what he said?!”…
those 3 dots mean something not suitable for delicate eyes
Swanson shifts the blame to the women now and says:
Young women have a responsibility, and they need to be trained in this. Our daughters need to be trained that they have a responsibility before God to cry out when something shameful is going on. We don’t hide sin. We don’t hide our sin and we don’t hide other people’s sins.
He’s nuts once again, and did not read the reports. Many of the girls had no idea that he was abusing them. Of course they didn’t like that he was digitally penetrating them, but he had them convinced that this was medical treatment. Their coaches said he was the best. Everyone said he was the best. They trusted him. It wasn’t until they got older and started putting 2 and 2 together that they realized this wasn’t medical treatment. Sorry, Kathi, carry on. . . Swanson then brings up Deuteronomy 22: 23 – 24 “If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you.” He follows with the responsibility of the young woman:
She’s got to cry out! She’s got to cry out! She’s got to cry out! Absolutely, she’s got to cry out! Nooooooo, just no!
***
Starting to breathe again…
At the end of the broadcast Swanson commends Rachael Denhollander and praises God that she cried out, even if it was years later. I can’t believe he has the gall to commend her after criticizing the women for not crying out and hiding sexual sin.
Swanson then mentions Rachael’s interview with Christianity Today and commends her for speaking about the covering up of abuse/homosexuality at Sovereign Grace Ministries and by CJ Mahaney. (Specifically he states covering up instances of “homosexuality against little boys or fornication against little girls.”) Oh, for crying out loud!!! Again, Swanson gets it wrong. SGM and Mahaney are accused of covering up child sex abuse, not homosexuality. Is this guy living on our planet? He also adds that Rachael may be “overstating the facts” which leads him to his final thoughts.
Swanson’s final question asks whether or not churches should report abuse to civil magistrates. WARNING, WARNING, KEVIN SWANSON’S CHURCH IS NOT A SAFE PLACE IF HE ASKS SUCH A QUESTION. His answer is that churches should not take anonymous tips seriously, the church needs solid evidence that sin has occurred, and there must be two or more witnesses to the sin. Really? He is truly nuts. How many sexual abuse cases have 2 or more witnesses? I need blood pressure meds. Wait . . . do I have blood pressure meds?
Not once through this entire broadcast does Swanson blame Larry Nassar for his acts of sexual assault. Instead, he proves that he continues to remain unsympathetic to victims of abuse by heaping shame and blame upon them. Un-freakin’-believable. Wow. Kathi, I am never going to ask you to do a K. Swanson post again. This about did me in.
Spiritual Sounding Board 
It would not be overstating the case to say that supposed immodesty would NEVER be an excuse for molestation.
It’s just especially stupid for Kevin to draw those parallels with this case – I’m sure he did it simply because he wanted to rant about how he doesn’t approve despite its being irrelevant
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Serving Kids: what Bike Bubba said, especially his quotation from your post.
I don’t believe we should shield ourselves from what went on in the past, whether the Hitler dicatorship or Stalin and other tyrants. I’ve seen documentaries on this theme – in German and possibly not shown in the English-speaking world – that in the end even I couldn’t bear to watch any longer. Indescrible suffering on an industrial scale.
I’ve also had the privilege of listening to a Polish Jew, now a pastor in Israel, describe his experiences of the Warsaw Ghetto amongst other things. He found Christ after the war. Such believers have something I have never seen in anyone else.
Few things get my goat, but modern rich Westerners belittling such suffering is one of them, and I see this in incessant references to authoritarians actually being like Hitler. In Germany it is illegal, and rightly so.
I despise the misuse of authority just as much as you do.
Mark – I do not deny suffering at the hands of imo pseudo-christians in churches. Some perspective does no harm depending on what exactly went on, and John Piper (or other Big Name of choice) is not like someone who forced whole families into the gas chambers.
This correspondence is ended, as they say, but at least you know where I am coming from.
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It would not be overstating the case to say that supposed immodesty would NEVER be an excuse for molestation.
Agreed. Those who are tempted by certain states of dress or undress ought to keep themselves fairly away.
The overstatement I was referring to was bringing Hitler and the Taliban into the equation. Swanson said some demonstrably stupid things, but I’m pretty sure there’s no “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign at the door of his church, nor is there a crematorium next to the baptistry. If we drag in these absurd non-parallels, we inadvertently divert attention from the very real stupid things he’s done. It’s better to let his words speak for themselves.
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