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The Law Against
Spanking
The news
from Massachusetts should not come as any surprise to our humanistic
society that continues to degrade the foundation of a belief in Jehovah
God. The principles of right and wrong no longer are determined by a
moral sense of what God says but rather the liberal view of freedom for
each to choose as they desire. The book of Judges concludes with an
observation that is very much likened to our day: “In those days
there was no king in Israel. Every man did the right in his own eyes”
(Judges 21:25).
God is not the center of the moral universe. His laws of right and
wrong are replaced with the decadent immorality of selfish desire.
Homosexuality, adultery, sexual perversion and evil thoughts are
accepted as a norm (as seen on television daily). Prayer is forbidden in
school, the Ten Commandments are rejected and God is slowly being
removed from every facet of society. Now from the state of Massachusetts
comes a bill proposing a ban on spanking.
The issue is clouded with an appeal to those children who have been
abused by parents who are unfit to be parents; who beat their children
in their anger and abuse them in unforgivable ways.
The humanistic agenda is ripe with language that refuses the rights
of parents to train their children. The government is seeking to step
into the family circle and determine how parents treat their children.
The early disciples of Christ were forbidden to teach in the name of
Christ and the apostles replied, “We ought to obey God rather than
men” (Acts 5:29).
Amram and Jochebed disobeyed the kings command to kill their infant
son (Moses: Exodus 1,2) because they were “not afraid of the
kings command” (Hebrews 11:23). Pharaoh decreed the death of the
infants and Moses’ parents withstood the law to obey the law of God.
Today, parents will need the same courage to stand against ungodly laws
that prohibit the God decreed law of training children in the
“nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
Children must have guidance. “The rod and rebuke give wisdom,
but a boy sent off causes shame to his mother” (Proverbs 29:15). “He who
fathers a fool does it to his sorrow; the father of a fool has no joy …
A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her who bore
him” (Proverbs 17:21, 25). Children must have discipline – not
abuse. “He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him
chastens him early” (Proverbs 13:24). “Chasten your son while there is
hope, and do not set your soul on making him die” (Proverbs 19:18). “You
shall strike him with the rod and rescue his soul from Sheol” (Proverbs
23:14).
The rod spoken of by God never suggests abuse. God abhors those who
would abuse children (Ephesians 6:4; Colossians 3:21). The rod is
the measure of discipline that brings about proper training. It does
inflict pain. Parents who do not discipline their children hate their
children. Read Hebrews 12:5-11 to see the clear purpose and
design of discipline. This is God’s pattern. Let us have boldness to do
what is right. “Therefore, those also who suffer according to the
will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing
what is right” (1 Peter 4:19).
----Kent Heaton
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