121. It gives my child "something against me."
Matthew 5:21-25
“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be[l]liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Therefore if you are presenting your[s]offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.
122. When my child "sins against me" it makes me angry and makes me think my child is "naughty" and "bad" and I'm not to have this attitude about anyone.
Matthew 5:21-22
You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be[l]liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be[l]liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
The spanking parent, according to Jesus, when they think, "My kid is SO BAD!" or, "Oh! He's such a brat!" is guilty enough to go into the firey hell.
123. I wouldn't hit Jesus.
You spank your child you're spanking Jesus.
123. I wouldn't hit Jesus.
Matthew 25:40,45
"‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’"
"‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’"
You spank your child you're spanking Jesus.
124. Spanking is only really supportable by a false doctrine about your children.
There is nothing about what type of infant, toddler, young child, etc., that Jesus was in the Bible except this:
Isaiah 7:14-16
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good. For before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken.
There's nothing about how Mary and Joseph discipled Him as He grew. But we do see that in agreement with the Jewish belief that we are not born sinful but reach an age where we know right from wrong when we become teens, Jesus also went through this same human process. So certainly, Mary and Jesus disciplined Him in the Lord.
But, we aren't told how they corrected Him. Do you suppose that they hit Him?
Most Christians are forced to try to answer this obvious truth by asserting that Jesus was just simply...never naughty. How could He have climbed the stairs after Mary said, "No!" or pulled the cat's ears if He was born sinless because of not having any sperm in the process? The ridiculousness of this seriously makes me wanna just bang my head against a wall!
This doctrine that's been forced into the Bible from the outside prevents Christians from understanding human development (and why Jesus even died!) It also promotes spanking because if you believe that if your 2 year old pulls the cat's ears because of "Adam in him" then you'll feel compelled to punish him to get that sin out of him. The doctrine of Original Sin makes parents misunderstand their children's behavior from day one and therefore deal with it completely inappropriately and send their kid down the road more likely to end up sinning when they're older.
If you do not believe that your baby, infant, toddler, is doing the things they're doing because of "Adam in them," you will have no other option but to believe the truth, which is that, they are developing the way God designed their little brains to develop. You'll have to abandon the belief that somehow those little sinners know that pulling the cat's ears is bad and you'll have to believe that they're experiencing life and curious about everything including the feel of a crumpled cat ear in their tiny fists and the reaction the cat has when they pull on those things. It's your job to disciple the child as in lead and teach the child that the cat's reaction is "pain" and "discomfort" and we aren't to hurt and scare animals...or people. Spanking a child for causing the cat pain and discomfort is a confusing message caused by confused parents.
125. Spanking does not make me or my child happy.
I've heard Christians sneer at the idea of the "pursuit of happiness" as though it's sinful to want to be happy? I guess again, getting back to that evil doctrine of Original Sin that has corrupted our understanding of these bodies that God's created for us, if you want to be "happy" it must mean you just want to gratify this sinful flesh of ours! But, this is a tragedy!
The way you can know God's touched your life is if it leaves you happy.
"The fruits of the Spirit" is Bible-talk for "how you know God's been somewhere and done something."
The evidence that God has touched your life (aka "the fruits of the Spirit") are, "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and self control," right?
Look up "happiness" in the dictionary...
a feeling or state of well-being and contentment
If you do not believe that your baby, infant, toddler, is doing the things they're doing because of "Adam in them," you will have no other option but to believe the truth, which is that, they are developing the way God designed their little brains to develop. You'll have to abandon the belief that somehow those little sinners know that pulling the cat's ears is bad and you'll have to believe that they're experiencing life and curious about everything including the feel of a crumpled cat ear in their tiny fists and the reaction the cat has when they pull on those things. It's your job to disciple the child as in lead and teach the child that the cat's reaction is "pain" and "discomfort" and we aren't to hurt and scare animals...or people. Spanking a child for causing the cat pain and discomfort is a confusing message caused by confused parents.
125. Spanking does not make me or my child happy.
I've heard Christians sneer at the idea of the "pursuit of happiness" as though it's sinful to want to be happy? I guess again, getting back to that evil doctrine of Original Sin that has corrupted our understanding of these bodies that God's created for us, if you want to be "happy" it must mean you just want to gratify this sinful flesh of ours! But, this is a tragedy!
The way you can know God's touched your life is if it leaves you happy.
"The fruits of the Spirit" is Bible-talk for "how you know God's been somewhere and done something."
The evidence that God has touched your life (aka "the fruits of the Spirit") are, "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and self control," right?
Look up "happiness" in the dictionary...
a feeling or state of well-being and contentment
Synonyms: beatitude, blessedness, bliss, blissfulness,felicity, gladness, joy, warm fuzzies
Related Words: elatedness, elation, exhilaration, exultation, high, intoxication; ecstasy, euphoria, glory, heaven, nirvana,paradise, rapture, rapturousness, ravishment, seventh heaven, transport; delectation, delight, enjoyment, pleasure;cheer, cheerfulness, comfort, exuberance, gaiety (also gayety), gladsomeness, glee, gleefulness, jocundity, jollity,joyfulness, joyousness, jubilance, jubilation, lightheartedness, merriness, mirth; content, contentedness, gratification, satisfaction, triumph
Wikipedia defines "happiness" as:
Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy
I am not inspired to spank my child by feelings of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, or self-control. Spanking my child does not result in me feeling love, joy, peace, patience, or kindness. It does not put me into a feeling or state of well-being and contentment. It does not put me in an emotional state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment or intense joy. There is no evidence (or fruit) of God (the Spirit) being at work in me when I spank my child.
Spanking my child does not make them feel love, joy, peace, patience, or kindness. It does not put my spanked child into a feeling or state of well-being and contentment. It does not put my spanked child in an emotional state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment or intense joy. There is no evidence (or fruit) of God (the Spirit) being at work in my child when I spank my child.
There is no evidence (fruit) of God being at work in the act of spanking in either the parent or child. If we're told we'll be able to identify things by their fruits and these are the fruits of God...the absence of them means it's not God's way!!!
Matthew 7:14-16
“Beware of the false prophets (people who teach you to spank), who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits (unhappy and "rebellious" children.) Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?
126. It can make your child grow up into a person who says, "Give me just one verse that says not to spank your child," and apart from one single spelled-out verse against it, won't be able to understand any of the arguments against it.
Children raised in obedience-focused spanking households don't encourage their children to think. In fact, "thinking" can often get the children a spanking.
Think of this situation...
"Bobby! I want you to clean your room this instant! Your grandmother is coming over tonight and I do not want her to see your room a mess!"
Bobby thinks, "Hmmm...I am watching a TV show right now that I like very much and it will be over in 1/2 hour. After that half hour I have no more shows to watch so I'll watch my show now and then clean my room when I don't have anything to watch."
Bobby's mom finds him watching TV 15 minutes later and not cleaning his room and he...gets a spanking.
Think about kids who are not free to say, "No..." to their parents or they get a spanking.
Think about kids who are not free to say, "But???" or they get a spanking.
Think about kids who are not free to ask, "Why?" when they don't understand why they've been told to do something or they get a spanking.
Think about all the double standards and hypocrisies that children in all families see in their parents and being a child of one of those parents who will not allow them to voice those views or encourage such thinking?
Basically, a household that's obedience-focused and uses spanking as punishment teaches their children over and over that do what you're explicitly told to do...word-for-word...and do not attempt to think about it or you will be punished...and do not do what you think you should do but always obey what's given to you as a direct command.
Kids raised this way will become adults whose fear responses will be triggered in any situations in which they might think to disagree with a command. Kids raised this way will become adults who read those 5 verses in the Old Testament and are afraid to really think about them because to do so as a child would have gotten them punished. And, not being able to really think about, challenge, or investigate the common view of those verses or their authorities who promote the wrong interpretations...these adults will be stuck (fight, flight, and freeze) in their beliefs.
They will fight with you if you attempt to tell them that these verses do not mean to hit their kids.
These people will hit and run/fly (bail out of conversations once backed into a corner.)
These people will (freeze) keep repeating the same things over and over, "See! You can't just give me ONE verse!"
Spanking raises up kids who are afraid to do anything they do not have a clear command to do.
It's sad, really. And, dangerous.
The Bible warns us to think to protect us from false doctrines...
1 John 4:1
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Acts 20:28-30
Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
Matthew 7:14-16
“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?
It's not atheists or "the world" that's coming to us as false prophets, but, it will be wolves in sheep's clothing who have entered into the church. A child taught to obey authorities without questioning or arguing "or else" has no protection against these people...
Book recommendation:
For Your Own Good by Alice Miller
127. So your child can discuss politics and religion someday without a fight.
People who have been trained that when they are wrong they get "hurt" will develop a sensitivity to being disagreed with. They won't be able to tolerate being argued with without going into "fight or flight." Getting into an intense discussion with friends who disagree will lead these types of people to fight or to just bail out of the discussion altogether. Either way, the relationship they had with that person is not encouraged but is hindered or even broken.
People who have not been taught from their earliest days of life that being wrong = pain won't be afraid of anyone else's opinions or being told they're wrong. And, if the person telling them, "You're wrong!" is actually the one who is wrong...they won't feel the need to "punish" that person for being wrong in telling them they were wrong. Follow that. ;)
128. Because spanking is like building your child's house on the sand. We're told that the wise build houses on rock and not on sand, and we understand this that the house we're to live in that is to protect us, our families and everything we have in life needs to be on a completely solid and stationary foundation. The foundation we build our lives on must not shift, move, flex, or sink. It must be solid.
In order for "spanking" to be solid, unshifting, inflexible the parent would have to spank 100% consistently and until the child is grown. To be consistent there would need to be a specific list of "laws" that, if broken, would have to be punished with a spanking. The spanking would have to be consistent also. The same paddle, same place, same way, same intensity, same length of time, etc. It would have to be 100% consistent like rock. Always the same.
But, we know it isn't. Spanking even in the strictest and most consistent home is inconsistent. Mom sometimes isn't "in the mood" for certain things. Dad sometimes is extra tired from work and has "no patience" for certain behaviors. Sometimes, a child is told "no!" two or three times before they get hauled off for that spanking. Sometimes, mom is feeling impatient and has just read an article about doing what you say and saying what you mean and so they decide not to tell their child "twice" but bring the punishment swiftly. The next day maybe mom isn't feeling so inspired and lets the same matter go entirely.
When the child is little they're more apt to get a quick swat on the butt for many little things and by the time they're a teen the get the car keys taken away instead of a spanking. Sometimes the spanking has to happen in the car with a wooden spoon. Sometimes it happens at home in a certain room with a belt. It shifts. It sinks. It moves. It blows in the wind. It's like sand...and the wise parent doesn't build their child's house on the sand.
130. Spanking is banned in Israel. You'd expect that if the Old Testament, written in Hebrew by Jews...in Israel...would best be understood in 2013 by Jews...in Israel. Wouldn't you?
131. The top 30 countries with the highest percentage of their population in jail are all countries that spank. In fact, the US is the country is by far the highest and some statistics say 90% of Americans confess to spanking their children.
132. The Good Shepherd is our example how to lead sheep...
In John 10 (1-20)...Jesus says that if you are truly the shepherd that you will enter the right way and entering some other way makes you a thief and robber...
1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.
Jesus says that the sheep are called by name and that the sheep know their shepherd's voice and willingly follow Him...as He (leads) sets the example of where and how to go...
3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
Jesus says that the sheep will be disobedient to and run away from someone who is not their shepherd...(children will disobey and flee from people who are not shepherding them the right way as they are not designed to respond to them)
5 A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”
Jesus says that those who no matter what simply won't understand this...
6 This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.
Jesus says that He...His life recorded in the New Testament...is the door into the sheep's pen...and that all the "law" that came before Him had no power to save the sheep...(focusing on a few verses in the Old Testament to try to raise your children is missing the truth)
7 So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
Jesus says that He...His life recorded in the New Testament...is the door into the sheep's pen...and that all the "law" that came before Him had no power to save the sheep...(focusing on a few verses in the Old Testament to try to raise your children is missing the truth)
7 So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
Jesus says His life is the way you should shepherd your sheep...
11 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
Jesus says that you're not truly the shepherd of the sheep if you fail to protect the sheep from predators...
12 He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.
Shepherd's Rod
Jesus says He shepherds the sheep God's way...
14 I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.
Jesus says the type of shepherding (parenting) that is pleasing to God is the one in which the parents center their lives on the welfare of their children and lay down their own lives for the children...and that they do this willingly...
17 For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18 No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
Jesus says that there are those among the church who will find this offensive...and will attack...(Christians who believe that "spanking" is wrong...get called lost, led-astray, liberals, leftists, non-Christians...basically "demon possessed.")
19 A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?” 21 Others were saying, “These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?”
19 A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?” 21 Others were saying, “These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?”
Interestingly enough...directly after Jesus said all this, we're told that this happened:
John 10:24-31
"The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him."
So, how about you?
Do you understand what Jesus means? Or, do you feel ready to "stone" this message against spanking?
I guess if you know His voice...you'll follow Him...
John 8:30-32
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
1 John 4
"By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
So much for coming up with 20 reasons...
;)
