A caller recently tried to persuade me that corporal punishment of children is wrong because you must always reconnect with the child after it is administered. The discipline causes a rupture in the relationship which must be healed. There are two mistakes here. The first is in thinking that the rupture was caused by the discipline when it was actually caused by the disobedience. Spanking is simply the other half of the equation the child has already imbalanced.
The second error is failing to see the wonderful theology symbolized here. Sin separates us from God, and though God very much wants to reconnect with us, making that relationship with Him right again requires a sacrifice. To declare that punishment does nothing to heal the relationship is to imply that Christ didn’t need to die to redeem us.
People think that corporal punishment is a kind of deterrence, and it may be. But it’s real value is that it prepares children to understand the nature of and need for their own salvation in Christ. Unspanked children are understandably baffled by the Cross.
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