David-A teen with a strict religious family, in a strict religious town

In all honesty, life is pretty shitty for me. My parents are probably the strictest people you could ever meet. My father his hardcore Southern Baptist Christian. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had the whole bible memorized. Calling him the man of the house would be like calling a demon an angel. He’s more like the slaver of the house. Step out of line, speak out of line, or don’t do as you told all lead to the same consequences, a smack on the back of the head. In this house, he’ll enforce any rule to the max, from rules made by him and his mom to rules made in the bible.

My mom, on the other hand, is strict in another sense. She more of the lawmaker/tradition maker. All our little traditions, do’s, and don’ts are all made up by her. Read the Bible before breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Go to church Sunday AND Saturday. Don’t watch TV because of the sinful people on it. Don’t go to the mall because of the ‘whorish’ models there advertising clothes. Yep, she even made some rules on how our clothes have to cover so much skin.

So, in summary, my family is quick to punish, make excessive amounts of rules, and carry life out to the exact word in the bible. Oh, did I ever tell you that the town we live in is pretty much the same? Yep, life is hell.

The only thing interesting in my life was when my great uncle was in town for my birthday. He had taken me aside, away from my parents, and handed me a bible, but what he said intrigued me the most.

“This book was passed down to me from my father, and before him, it belonged to his father and before then, his father’s father. This book has been in the family for many generations, and since I don’t have any kids, I wanted to give this to you. This bible is no ordinary Bible. You must keep it safe and away from the wrong hands, whatever someone changes to that bible will change the whole religion.”

I passed it off thinking he was just being crazy, but earlier today as I was reading my morning script, the words under my hands began to disappear like magic. Then it hit me, maybe this book really was all that my uncle was talking about.

Grabbing a pen, I began making little changes here and there, and I’ll be honest, my lust started taking over halfway through the changes… okay, maybe it started influencing my changes immediately. Soon the little changes grew bigger and more convoluted as other desires took over. Yeah, it was all coming together

Once I was done, I had grabbed another of my bibles to see if the passages I changed effected it. And to my surprise, every line word for word that I changed, was also changed in the different bible. Looking through the other ones, confirmed the change.

Now was the moment of truth.

Grabbing a bible off my shelf I started walking down the stairs to the living room. In there I could see that both my parents were there. My dad was in the middle of reading the bible, and my mom was reading some apologetic books.

Deciding the best person start with would be my father, I went over and sat next to him with my bible.

“Father, I had a question about a couple verses in the bible, could you help me understand?”

Marking his page and closing his book he turned to me. He looked proud that I was actually asking him about something bible related. “Sure, what is your question?” He asked

“Well, it starts on this verse.” I pointed to the spot on the page for him to read. “It says something about the head of the family?”

My father looked to where I was pointing, his face suddenly going blank as he stared at the page for a long while. At the same time, it felt like a gust of cold had blown through the house, and time had stopped. Soon everything returned to normal and the look on my father’s face was gone.

“Aw yes, the head of the family. The scripture speaks of how a man must lead the household and that man would be the father.” He sounded quite smug as he explained it to me.

“Yes father, but right here it continues on. ‘But in times of coming change, a son may taketh the mantel of the house and leadeth his people as is suitable for himself upon his 18th winter.’ See father, it says an 18-year-old son can also be head of the house.”

My father seemed to be a bit chocked up as I read the line. He quickly grabbed his own bible to check the passage. “It’s not possible.” He said. Your mother seemed to have stopped reading and was observing you both. While your father tried to think of something retort with your mom spoke up.

“Yes dear, it does say that but read further. It speaks of the grave importance and the impact of a son becoming the head of the house. It’s not a simple task and can be harsh on you. If any son could do it, then why aren’t there any other son’s declaring their new status. It’s not a lighthearted topic David.” Your mom had sounded very concerned and serious when speaking on the topic and your dad had almost a smug look as she finished.

In truth, mostly no one should be using the passage because you made it look like a horrible choice. In reality, it was the best option for a person like me to take.