Post by Admin on Feb 10, 2014 15:56:04 GMT -8
Punishment of children is one thing; child abuse is another. And, unfortunately, many biblical verses can be easily used to justify the former by means of the latter:
Prov. 23:13-14 ("Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell"),
Prov. 22:15 RSV ("Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him"),
Prov. 20:30 RSV ("Blows that wound cleanse away evil; strokes make clean the innermost parts"),
Prov. 13:24 RSV ("He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him"),
Prov. 19:19 ("Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying"),
Prov. 29:15 ("Thy rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother"),
Prov. 26:3 ("A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back <children are often foolish>"), and
Deut. 21:18-21 ("If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they chastise him, will not give heed to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city...and they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard. Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall purge the evil from the midst").
And, then, there are those verses which demean and degrade children by looking upon them as little more than beings to be punished for the misdeeds of others:
Ex. 20:5 ("I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me"),
Lev. 26:22 ("I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children...."),
Hosea 13:16 ("Samaria shall become desolate: for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up"), and
Isa. 13:16-18 ("Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished.... Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the first of the womb; their eyes will not pity children").
Prov. 23:13-14 ("Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell"),
Prov. 22:15 RSV ("Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him"),
Prov. 20:30 RSV ("Blows that wound cleanse away evil; strokes make clean the innermost parts"),
Prov. 13:24 RSV ("He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him"),
Prov. 19:19 ("Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying"),
Prov. 29:15 ("Thy rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother"),
Prov. 26:3 ("A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back <children are often foolish>"), and
Deut. 21:18-21 ("If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they chastise him, will not give heed to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city...and they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard. Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall purge the evil from the midst").
And, then, there are those verses which demean and degrade children by looking upon them as little more than beings to be punished for the misdeeds of others:
Ex. 20:5 ("I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me"),
Lev. 26:22 ("I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children...."),
Hosea 13:16 ("Samaria shall become desolate: for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up"), and
Isa. 13:16-18 ("Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished.... Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the first of the womb; their eyes will not pity children").