People and cultures have very different ideas about what constitutes abuse of children. Some cultures would consider it abusive not to cut off parts of their children’s genitals.
I don’t feel bound by any part of the system of violent punishments that Jesus rebuked. Especially not one line which wasn’t even from either listing of the Jewish law in the Torah.
OTOH, there is something to be said for actually teaching children to behave. Using a rod to spank children is a failure of patenting, but so is letting your kid run around the restaurant making a mess because you can’t bear to rebuke them.
(And, again: Proverbs is a pre-Christian work that was incorporated by the gentike Christians when they formalized a canon for the Roman empire.)
So how much child beating is necessary for it to not be hating a child? How much/little is abuse?
Beating children is not an effective way to get them to behave. But people didn’t know that (and still don’t) so they thought/think they need to beat good behaviour into their kids.
People and cultures have very different ideas about what constitutes abuse of children. Some cultures would consider it abusive not to cut off parts of their children’s genitals.
What’s your relationship with proverbs 13:24?
I don’t feel bound by any part of the system of violent punishments that Jesus rebuked. Especially not one line which wasn’t even from either listing of the Jewish law in the Torah.
OTOH, there is something to be said for actually teaching children to behave. Using a rod to spank children is a failure of patenting, but so is letting your kid run around the restaurant making a mess because you can’t bear to rebuke them.
(And, again: Proverbs is a pre-Christian work that was incorporated by the gentike Christians when they formalized a canon for the Roman empire.)
So how much child beating is necessary for it to not be hating a child? How much/little is abuse?
Beating children is not an effective way to get them to behave. But people didn’t know that (and still don’t) so they thought/think they need to beat good behaviour into their kids.