Corporal Punishment
Is it out of date for the 21st century or does it remain a vital parental tool?
Imagine this scenario. A father smacks his two-year old in the grocery store. Before he even gets to the checkout counter a policeman arrives. Mom is called to take the child home and Dad heads downtown in cuffs, charged with child abuse. The charges are based on a new law banning any form of physical discipline of children. A bit far out? Think again. The country in which I currently reside, has just such a bill being drawn up by its Department of Social Services. The bill is in response to the rising rate of child abuse. If the proposed legislation passes, South Africa will be the first country in Africa to outlaw corporal punishment.
Members of the Children’s Bill Working Group will be tasked withy training parents in the use of alternative forms of discipline. The group recognizes that discipline in the home is essential, but it believes that it needs to be applied in strictly non-physical ways. They are currently developing a “culturally appropriate” manual that outlines what they call positive discipline.
Certainly the potential for serious child abuse exists in every culture. I question if this response is appropriate. Definitely a robust and active child welfare agency is needed to literally save some children’s lives. However, I think the banning of corporal punishment and the dictating of proper “positive discipline” begs for civil disobedience on the part of Christian parents seeking to bring up their children according to the Word.
Four passages in Proverbs clearly embrace corporal punishment:
He who withholds the rod hates his son. - Proverbs 13:24
Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; the rod of discipline drives it far from him. - Proverbs 22:15
You shall strike him with the rod and rescue his soul from Sheol. - Proverbs 23:14
The rod and reproof give wisdom…. - Proverbs 29:15
My concern, honestly, is that a national ban on corporal punishment, actively enforced, could see us raising a generation of terrorists, or at least, dysfunctional citizens.
From a personal perspective, I was spanked as a child (along with four other siblings). As a parent, I followed suit, and now my grown children are continuing what the government would call child abuse.
As on many other topics, the silence of the church is deafening. Now I am wondering — Am I just an old-fashioned fundamentalist who is out of touch with reality? I would appreciate hearing from some younger parents concerning the teaching they are receiving in their churches concerning this topic.