to spank or not to spank

[markdohle]

6 minutes ago, Yowm said:

Funny how the Lord (hopefully) continues to 'spank' us...

And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
(Heb 12:5-11)

...the same should hold true for children albeit imperfect in comparison. 

To have God chastise and man chastise are two different things all together.  God is perfectly just and loving, no man or woman is that.  So to take responsibly and to out God's justice on a child is a scary proposition.  Parents can torture and brutalize their children in such a way that they are scared for life......and christian children as well.  Parents have used scripture in such a way that their children have died.  The use of doctors for instance, or trying to beat the devil out of them.

I doubt either you are enoob57 would go to such lengths.  You are both God fearing men and I am sure loving as well.  However religion and scripture can be used to cover over many serious inner problems that children and spouses have to pay a heavy price.  Yes God does prune us, but I don't see him telling us to pull down our pants so he can spank us.....everything the Lord does is out of love or true justice, so all of the Lords judgements are absolute truth, I doubt any parent can say that.  Restraint is always the better road to go.  Discipline yes, for it has made me a better person, but beatings, well no.

 

[Guest Robert]

2 minutes ago, shiloh357 said:

No one said that child abuse is minuscule.   What I was saying was  that people who get some kind of sadistic gratification from spanking a child (if any do), are minuscule in number.   You  could at least try to frame my remarks correctly.

Well, we stopped largely with spankings in this country; in doing so, we have severely "dropped the bar" for what we expect in our children as they transition to "adulthood". The consequences of doing so are now being realized, as we see we have not raised adults,  but perpetual children. We see the rise of: "safe zones", people who have no personal responsibility, manners or sense of right and wrong, and entitled "adult" brats who think everything should just be given to them. This has become a "Peter Pan" society that caters to youth and leaves everyone else to pay for the wants and whining of a spoiled generation of malfunctional emotional imbeciles who cannot even hold a conversation without the aid of a "smartphone" or other electronic media venue. And when we challenge the whole idea of not including corporal punishment, Liberalism claims we are "stifling creativity", are "being cruel and barbaric" or some other nonsense.

The only thing spanking a child (not beating them bloody) stifles is bad behavior.

This country needs to lose the conceited view that elevates a child to the status of demi-goodhood and circulates everything around youth and attractiveness, and return to the concepts oft:

- Age and experience are valuable and need to be respected and recognized, not stigmatized, mocked and relegated to ignominity.

- Hard work and determination are prerequisites for building anything of lasting value.

- Solid moral foundations, self-discipline and personal responsibility are the basic minimum  requirements for being considered an adult in this society.

- Civilized behavior, the ability to articulate an idea and discuss it without screaming or "shouting down" an opponent, the ability to accept criticism without an emotional "meltdown", and not being personally threatened by someone disagreeing with your views are hallmarks of adulthood.

But the worst is yet to come: when this newest generation of "young adults" begin to raise their own offspring, it will decline even moreso from where we are now. The momentum of this situation will continue until we have essentially returned to a land of barbaric savages that operate purely on instinct (which I am convinced we are not far from at this point). The kind of cruelty and savagery we see in third world nations will quickly overtake what will be left of this country.

 

One aspect of the End Times I am seeing now, and one reason I believe the Lord's coming and the Tribulation are not too far off.

 

 

[markdohle]

32 minutes ago, Yowm said:

Yes, that is why I ended my post with..." ...the same should hold true for children albeit imperfect in comparison.  "

Yet, though our discipline is imperfect, it is no excuse for parents to slough off their responsibility.

Exceptions, such as bad apple parents is not a very good basis to formulate our theology of child rearing.

The road of discipline with restraint is the more diffiuclt one, for then the frustration of the parent must be separate from what the child needs......we are not in disagreement my friend.....probably a first LOL.

[markdohle]

29 minutes ago, RobertS said:

Well, we stopped largely with spankings in this country; in doing so, we have severely "dropped the bar" for what we expect in our children as they transition to "adulthood". The consequences of doing so are now being realized, as we see we have not raised adults,  but perpetual children. We see the rise of: "safe zones", people who have no personal responsibility, manners or sense of right and wrong, and entitled "adult" brats who think everything should just be given to them. This has become a "Peter Pan" society that caters to youth and leaves everyone else to pay for the wants and whining of a spoiled generation of malfunctional emotional imbeciles who cannot even hold a conversation without the aid of a "smartphone" or other electronic media venue. And when we challenge the whole idea of not including corporal punishment, Liberalism claims we are "stifling creativity", are "being cruel and barbaric" or some other nonsense.

The only thing spanking a child (not beating them bloody) stifles is bad behavior.

This country needs to lose the conceited view that elevates a child to the status of demi-goodhood and circulates everything around youth and attractiveness, and return to the concepts oft:

- Age and experience are valuable and need to be respected and recognized, not stigmatized, mocked and relegated to ignominity.

- Hard work and determination are prerequisites for building anything of lasting value.

- Solid moral foundations, self-discipline and personal responsibility are the basic minimum  requirements for being considered an adult in this society.

- Civilized behavior, the ability to articulate an idea and discuss it without screaming or "shouting down" an opponent, the ability to accept criticism without an emotional "meltdown", and not being personally threatened by someone disagreeing with your views are hallmarks of adulthood.

But the worst is yet to come: when this newest generation of "young adults" begin to raise their own offspring, it will decline even moreso from where we are now. The momentum of this situation will continue until we have essentially returned to a land of barbaric savages that operate purely on instinct (which I am convinced we are not far from at this point). The kind of cruelty and savagery we see in third world nations will quickly overtake what will be left of this country.

 

One aspect of the End Times I am seeing now, and one reason I believe the Lord's coming and the Tribulation are not too far off.

 

 

Yes children need strong guidance, if not we get what you have so concisely presented.

[1to3]

There was a  t.v.program called the nanny that aired several years ago, perhaps still does?.

This program would teach parents how to implement rules and discipline in children without having to resort to corporal punishment.

I am all for this type of discipline.

There has been way to much abuse done by way of corporal punishment.

There are far better and more effective ways to bring up a child than resulting in corporal punishment.

 

As for the Holy Spirit of God?

I have always found Him to be gentle of Spirit even when coming to convict me of my sins. He has always done so in a very gentle but effective way of making me see my wrongs and where I need change in order to walk better with Him.

If my Father in heaven treats me, a sinner by way of a gentle yet effective Spirit, I see not why I would go and treat and discipline my own child with lesser love than a merciful yet effective one that God my Father has done to me.

Edited September 23, 2016 by 1to3

[Sum1]

I've seen that show, the nanny, man, the state of the kids b4 the nanny showed up was unbelievable…

[Woman_At_The_Well]

8 minutes ago, 1to3 said:

There was a  t.v.program called the nanny that aired several years ago, perhaps still does?.

This program would teach parents how to implement rules and discipline in children without having to resort to corporal punishment.

I am all for this type of discipline.

There has been way to much abuse done by way of corporal punishment.

There are far better and more effective ways to bring up a child than resulting in corporal punishment.

 

As for the Holy Spirit of God?

I have always found Him to be gentle of Spirit even when coming to convict me of my sins. He has always done so in a very gentle but effective way of making me see my wrongs and where I need change in order to walk better with Him.

If my Father in heaven treats me, a sinner by way of a gentle yet effective Spirit, I see not why I would go and treat and discipline my own child with lesser love than a merciful yet effective one that God my Father has done to me.

Agree

[StanJ]

On 9/22/2016 at 1:51 PM, creativemechanic said:

What your stance on people spanking their kids. Some countries see it as a horrific act, making it illegal, other (like mine) see it as a perfectly acceptable  means of disciplining their kids so long as its not excessive. The Bible itself endorses it in several verses

As the Bible does endorse it then I think our opinions have to be in line with the Bible, don't you think?

Not all children need corporal punishment but having raised four children, I remember that there were very few times I had to spank them and it was usually because of defiance not just disobedience. I guess the point is that if a child is trained up in the ways of God then this is just one small part of the overall training.

[SHINY4UJESUS]

One of the great tragedies in modern day America is that society and legality have severely limited a parent's freedom to reasonably discipline our children. Some states do not allow "spanking," while others do. Some states do not allow giving a child a "time-out," even speaking to them in a stern manner can constitute verbal and child abuse in some states. Grounding a child to their room is considered child abuse in some cases. If a child refuses to eat, a parent can neither "force, " the child to eat, nor allow them not to eat...a bit of "catch 22," is it not? As such, society has contributed to the moral decay of the world by simply giving the child the power within the family dynamic. If a child or another does not agree with the punishment, the parent can be in danger; and especially savvy children quickly learn how to manipulate this system to their own benefit. Praise God for the intelligence of these children,lol; but shame on society and the justice system for causing this issue. Regardless what society says..these folks are correct-the bible clearly states that reasonable physical discipline is not only allowed but is promoted; that the child's welfare and furute potential for success within society may benefit. The only thing I would advise: rather than simply spanking, or doling out other reasonable discipline; let it be followed with a period of explanation. We as parents have a duty not simply to discipline, but to educate our children not only that it is wrong; but why its wrong, and what impact it can have if allowed to continue unchecked. I think some of us neglect this second part more than we probably should. Let us keep this in mind when we discipline, so that our children have a fuller understanding of the critical nature of proper behavior. 

[RustyAngeL]

I grew up when parents spanked.  Believe me it never hurt me.  My parents firmly believed that is why God put extra padding on the backside.  My mom and dad never hit in the face.  They never needed to, I knew better.