How do those who follow the Bible's teachings and believe that it is the word of God explain this scripture?

Question

Proverbs 23:13-14 "Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell."
God and his word are forever and unchanging. Where is my rod?

Answer 1

"The rod of discipline is not easy to use." They didn't beat their children... they loved their children.

Why is it that those that don't understand scripture automatically assumes this passage is speaking about "beating the livin tar out of a child"? Shows those that believe this is what this passage says, is without wisdom, the Spirit is not within them.

1 "But what happens - what happens when we understand the rod in this Proverb as the same kind of rod and staff that comfort in Psalm 23? "Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." The rod and staff are the shepherd's tools for comforting the sheep. It is for caring and protecting, never for beating them to death. A good shepherd delights in his flock. The shepherd will go to whatever lengths necessary to provide the finest grazing, the rich pastures and clean water. The shepherd will do whatever is necessary to provide shelter from the storms and protection from enemies and diseases that sheep are susceptible to."

Parents are to control their children and teach them the correct ways of God.

Answer 2

It means what it says and says what it means, if you spare the rod you spoil the child, like the couple that had to get off of an airplane cause they couldn't make their kid mind, and set in a seat. They held up 112 ppl for 15 min. and still complained against the airline. What should the pilot have done, waited a few hours till the brat fell asleep. No THEY SHOULD HAVE SPANKED HER AND SET HER IN HER SEAT AND WENT ON WITH IT.

CRAZY, NEXT THEY WILL BE CALLING IT THE S WORD.

Answer 3

A look at the Amplified Bible gives a little more info on the original meaning of the text...

Withhold not discipline from the child; for if you strike and punish him with the [reedlike] rod, he will not die.

Physical punishment, like spanking for instance, was indeed encouraged to prevent children from doing things that were truly destructive (and lead to death). However, beating them with a metal rod is not what this implies...

Answer 4

Unfortunately you don't know what love is, true discipline is a result of love. the most unloving thing you could ever do would be to not discipline a child when they commit an offense that warrants it. Discipline comes in many forms and a smack on the butt is not always warranted. Abuse is never condoned and is an altogether different matter. If you automatically equate a spanking with abuse you have some serious problems.

Answer 5

A rod is one of the tools that a shepard uses. The staff, the thing with a crook, redirectes the sheep. The rod, a shorter heavier stick, is used to drive off something trying to injure the sheep.

but the world begins and ends at your doorstep

Answer 6

Yes, God is condoning spanking here. A child, when it does evil, must be chastised just as God chastises us for doing evil. This is a necessity for as long as sin exists. We can see the results of permissive parents who do not spank their children - spoiled children. "Train a child up in the way that he should go, and when he is grown, he will not depart from it." "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction will drive it far from him." Proverbs 22:15

Answer 7

Have you ever noticed that the worst criminals are often the ones whose parents said "Its wrong to belt my child" now the same parents are wishing that they had taken stern measures with their children many of whom ended up on death row. The Lord holds all parents accountable for the manner in which they bring up their children which will certainly be taken into account on judgment day. Parents who fail to correct their children always end up with deep regrets which means that not only are the lives of the children ruined but the lives of the parents also. I have a relative who has a 13 y/o son. now the father is at his wits end because the son never comes home and is off doing whatever. When we tried to counsel the father a few years ago about the importance of correcting his son he simply shrugged it off. Now as always when a child goes without correction both the father and son are paying dearly for the fathers lack of proper parental control over his son and it seems that now both lives are heading toward ruin. Parents who fail to correct their children are total failures and should never have had children in the first place as their lack of due care and concern only further burdens society.

Answer 8

Ok, this is not totally literal this verse is saying that if a child misbehaves you should spank them he doesn't mean u should beat them to death, you should just spank them a few times not trying to bruise them. Otherwise they will never learn to do the right thing. Besides it's just illogical to think that the verse is saying we should beat our children to death, is it not? Anyways IF you believe there is a God he would have to be reasonable and intelligent because EVERYTHING natural is very complex and a non-intelligent God would not have the capacity to create all the complex things in this world and universe.

Answer 9

Just because something is in the Bible, doesn't mean that we need to mindlessly obey. Besides, some people translate that "spare the rod, spoil the child." You could read that as the imperative, in other words, do spare the rod, do spoil the child. Granted, that probably wasn't the point THOUSANDS of years ago when that Proverb was written. The Bible was written by humans, and is full of very human stuff. We can read it for inspiration, instruction, and edification, but we can apply our minds and reason to it. Not all Christians/Jews read the Bible literally and believe every word is meant to apply to us.

Answer 10

Jewish Law provided for the stoning of incorrigible children; so a beating with a rod was considered a merciful alternative. I don't know where your rod is.