How do you know he did not ask upon encounter? And was snubbed in a violent rage?
Also the father has to know that his fatherhood is a mere stewardship and has to be exercised in the fashion that his Master in heaven specifies or it is sin. He cannot be wallowing in the original sin of believing that good and evil are all his to manage.
Re: “How do you know he did not ask upon encounter? And was snubbed in a violent rage?”
Come on. Are you serious? Just how sincere do you think the molester’s request for forgiveness, if it happened, would be right at the point he is caught? Jesus asks us to be willing to forgive, not be saps who allow themselves to be violated and abused. This man was in the act of molesting his child!!! You would have to have a heart of stone to condemn this father.
Should the father have done what he did? Probably not, but if I were on that jury I would have a very difficult time condemning him. Especially when I read Jeusu’s own words about how serious God takes offenses committed against children:
“It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.”
It is not a violation of God’s law to protect and defend one’s family - especially the little ones and the helpless.