Recommended

To Spank or Not To Spank –Truth, Myths & Lies

And again Pearl states, "Opponents of the biblical use of the rod support their position by pointing to its occasional misuse. It is our contention that all authority is misused from time to time, but that misuse does not negate the legitimacy of the office itself, rather of the ones who abuse their sacred authority. When the courts are unjust or dishonest, we do not abolish the office of judge or the administration of law. When a law enforcement agent is corrupted by money or a desire for power, we do not fire all the policemen. When a president of the United States is hedonistic and sells favors, enriching himself through crooked deals, we do not resort to a dictatorship. When state social workers molest children and abuse them, we do not stop all social work."

Wrongly Linked to Abuse

In his Q & A, Wendell E. Miller writes, "Rearing children in our materialistic and humanistic world
demands more than a strong human resolve on the part of parents. It requires knowing and applying basic biblical principles … Of course, negative incentives are biblical; and spanking is taught specifically in the Scriptures (Prov. 13:24); but there are at least two things to avoid – spanking out of frustration or anger, and the tendency to spank for every type of offense. God has not said that you must spank for every type of offense, nor has He specified which offenses require spanking."

Get Our Latest News for FREE

Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.

Creationists.org gives this instruction regarding the false accusations of abuse when administering biblical discipline, "Many secular 'experts,' including most pediatricians, psychiatrists and psychologists have come out strongly against the use of corporal discipline in homes and in schools. Unfortunately, many well-meaning parents have been deceived by the foolish advice of the 'don't spank' crowd. It has been my personal experience that people who consider all forms of corporal discipline to be 'abuse' or 'hitting' or 'violence' mislead others in the following ways:

1. They often quote studies where actual abuse is occurring, not ones where biblical corporal discipline was administered out of love for the child. In fact, I have never seen a study of the latter.
2. They always ignore what their Creator has to say on the matter, or are ignorant of it. If they claim to be Christians, they approach their Bible study on this matter doing eisegesis instead of exegesis. As a result they end up engaging in all kinds of flawed Bible interpretation in an attempt to try to force the Bible to support what they believe.
3. They place a higher value on secular studies and fallible doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists instead of obeying the advice of the infallible God who created all of them, and who demands of us that we do things His way.
4. They misrepresent what the Bible says on the topic, often because they don't really know what it actually says. When they do quote Christians in an effort to prove the Bible supports them, they will often quote misguided liberal Christians instead of quoting orthodox Christians who don't agree with them." 

Indeed, from the liberal courts that are practically anti-Christian in nature, to the secular worldview where denying every lust and desire from a child is almost considered hate-filled abuse, there is a viable war raging against those who spank and those who do not.

Playing the "Abuse" Card

It should be an obvious thing, but we are compelled to say this to avoid misrepresentation or accusation of such incredulous ignorance – We do not, nor should any Christian support, condone or allow any abuse, whether child, spousal or church/spiritual. We have held certifications for being Mandatory Abuse Reporters. That being said, let's proceed to the antithesis of abuse – the abuse of manipulating Christians using "abuse" and an "excuse."

Not too long ago we learned of a secret marketing strategy by Abercrombie & Fitch to increase sales, and how almost nobody that shops there even realizes what's going on behind the scenes.

They expressed how they purposefully create a "party atmosphere" to cater to the young and push out the older customers. The main reason is because they are trying to drive up sales by "impulsive shopping." And to do this, they pump up the volume, usually have some fragrance going, and have their lights and décor setup to attract the young buyers.

In doing this, with loud, bold pumping party music, they found that this actually desensitizes their reasoning factors, therefore lessening their ability to think. This in turn, allows the loud atmosphere to appeal to their emotions and senses. And, of course, they are in tune with it all and buy more and spend more.

This is how the secular, liberal crowd uses their strategy by loudly, boldly pumping their beats by using the "abuse card." It hits home with caring parents, especially mothers, and drives it deep to where they are desensitized to reason and biblical understanding.

While real abuse does happen, unfortunately all too often, even in Christian homes, the opponents of spanking almost always try to somehow link any form of discipline to the actual crime.

This grabs the emotions of the audience, reels them in, and plays off their sympathy while shredding their God-given reasoning ability. And they do this loudly, boldly and with emotion and passion. And unfortunately, it works – a lot.

Columnists Ned and Maria of Christiandomesticdiscipline.com has this to say about our emotions being manipulated by the world and it's perspectives, "We need to renew our minds first by reading and understanding the Bible and turning away from a nonchristian culture. Until our mind is renewed, we cannot trust our emotions 100% since they ARE at times wrong. Some people will be lost forever because believing in Jesus did not 'feel' right. Christians sometimes do blatant evil because it 'felt' like it was ok. Be careful!"

When it comes to the abuse factor, Bible.com's author and columnist Betty Miller has this to say, "Some people say that all spanking is child abuse, but this is totally wrong. The real abuse to the child is not to spank them when they need correction."

Dr. Bill Maier, vice president and psychologist in residence with Focus on the Family, reports on OneNewsNow, "Appropriate disciplinary spanking, done in the context of a loving parent-child relationship, is not abusive." He goes on to say, "If it's done in a loving context, if it's followed up by an explanation, there is no evidence that it would harm their self-esteem," he explains. "In fact, we have some evidence that kids who grow up in an extremely permissive environment, in which there are no boundaries, no limits, and no guidelines, ... have a great deal of difficulty with their self-esteem – and particularly later on in life, because they have such a sense of entitlement that basically the world owes them everything on a silver platter."

Dr. Maier actually reports that the American College of Pediatricians agrees that disciplinary spanking of young children is actually an effective tool for parents.

What Does the Bible Really Say About Spanking?

A lot, actually. We recommend reading "8 Misconceptions about Biblical Spanking" on Learnthebible.org by Author David Reagan.

The following are Scriptures that absolutely clear any question if biblical training and discipline is scriptural. And while there are those who oppose, argue or wrongly divide the Word, it is what it is. The only time to "reinterpret" scripture is when it is not literal, but figurative – and Scripture will give its own interpretation, not man.

Proverbs 13:24
Whoever refuses to spank his son hates him, but whoever loves his son disciplines him from early on.
GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)

Proverbs 23:13
Don't fail to discipline your children. They won't die if you spank them.
New Living Translation (©2007)

Mike and Trisha Fox are Christian marriage coaches and authors of Marriage For Today: A Practical Guide for Couples. foxfamily238@yahoo.com To find out more visit: http://www.marriagefortoday.com/

Was this article helpful?

Help keep The Christian Post free for everyone.

By making a recurring donation or a one-time donation of any amount, you're helping to keep CP's articles free and accessible for everyone.

We’re sorry to hear that.

Hope you’ll give us another try and check out some other articles. Return to homepage.

Most Popular

More Articles