Parents that say follow rules or be punished... do they not love you???

Question

When your parents punished you because you didn't follor their rules, did you think to yourself, they must not love me, because if they did, they wouldn't have punished me?

I hear people say, if God loves us, why would he send some to hell to be punished?

But isn't that the same philosophy? God loves you and knows and wants whats best for you (just like your parents). He has rules. If you do not follow the rules you face the punishment.

If your parents can use that system and still love you, why can't people believe God can too?

Answer 1

If the rules are just, then you must follow them, out of love for and obedience to your parents. You are in their charge, so they have a right to demand obedience of you.
If you obeyed them (your parents), out of love for God and your parents, there would be no need for punishment. (Fear of punishment is an inferior motive, for doing what is right.)
Punishment for children is usually used as a reminder of why parents and others in authority must be obeyed--but the punishment must be light, not severe.
Punishment is not necessarily a sign that your parents don't love their children. Just as God occasionally corrects us with some punishment, so do parents. God loves us, in the sense that He wishes that we follow His commandments; He has promised that, if we do, we can reap an eternal reward. He sends no one to hell--people refuse to do His will, and condemn themselves to eternal punishment.

Answer 2

Hi Katrina,

I totally agree with what you say. God surely does love us and, being a loving Father, he wants what's best for us, but that isn't always what we believe is best for us either! He loves us unconditionally and never actually stops loving us, even when we break the rules! But, when we break the rules we do suffer, but only because God set the rules from the very beginning of time and that's the way it is and will always be. When he created the heavens - the sun and moon and stars he gave them rules as well and they all obey those rules. If the sun suddenly decided it wasn't going to rise any more, all the worlds in our solar system would die. So, to preserve our life God wants us to listen to those rules, otherwise we will destroy ourselves, spiritually and very probably physically as well. God loves us, as any loving Father and so long as we learn to know ourselves, love God and everyone else as well, in that order of things, we will live and be happy always. Our parents were given charge of our lives when we were born, so they must obey God's rules as well.

One last thing, God doesn't send those he loves to hell to be punished. We punish ourselves by the things we do wrong. God is merciful and kind and loving and so long as we pray and try hard to do well with Him, he will be with us always, ever trying to help us come closer to Him.

From a friend

Answer 3

Many non-Christians focus on the "love" aspect of God while avoiding the fact that God is perfect and this means in judgement as well. Sin has a penalty and God must allow that penalty to be handed out, although he would obviously rather not have anyone suffer that penalty:

1Ti 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Answer 4

Fool, God isn't bi-polar; Not both merciless & merciful.
Only the Law is bi-polar; Both good and evil, ends evil.
Both good & evil produces evil concupiscence in priests.
Pst: "another law" made Paul feel "wretched": Romans 7.

The exhortation to parents is: "forbid(law) them not".
Reason: parents who law, get a "millstone" funeral.
Mt19:14; Mk10:14; Lk 8:16; Mt18:6; Mk9:42; Lk17:2.
Pst: "millstone' in Rev18:21,22 shld ring a bell for parents.

Both the man and the woman are told: "sin(law) no more".
The reason given is: lest a worse thing happen unto you.

Legalism is OLD & FAULTY, "ready to vanish": Hebrews 8.
Law(legalism) is both "natural" & "spiritual" abuse: Abusive.

Parents often say: I know it's NOT FAIR, but it's the LAW.
Dah, if parents "know" law's unfair, why don't they Flush It.
http://www.godshew.org/RevelatorySermons23.htm

Law is accuser of brethen, ministration of condemnation;
Not to mention is also the "ministration of death" to ALL:
By the using of ordinances (laws) all perish: Col 2: 20-22.
True God's Son didn't law anyone: John3:17; 5:45; 8:3-11.
False God's Son lawed(cursed) EVERYONE: Galatians 3.

"Law worketh Wrath" is Destructive, not Constructive.
"Grace is sufficient" is Constructive, not Destructive.

The GRACE(ONLY) of our Lord J->C with you->all. Amen.

Answer 5

Of course they love you and I agree that this applies to God’s punishments, also.
When parents punish their sons, they do it because they don’t want their son to end up in a bad situation later, so it’s a way to avoid the worse.
When God punishes humans, it’s because He doesn’t want our eternal death, He loves us. So He tells us when we’re doing the wrong things, that we need to repent and change our ways for the better, so that we won’t suffer eternal death.

P.S.:Guys, I don’t think you mom hates you if she punished you not to watch TV for a week, if you’ve broken the rules.

Answer 6

But what lesson do we learn when we cannot escape eternal punishment? What is the point?

There is a vast difference between an eternity of hellfire and torture and punishment for doing something wrong. It worries me that you do not see the distinction.

Answer 7

Because if they have to admit there is a god and He has rules, then I might have to rethink the way I live my life and thus be accountable for my actions.

and no one will be eternal punished in hell...
Eternal life is only for those that believe in Him...
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, the whosoever BELIEVES in Him shall not parish, but have EVERLASTING LIFE.
John 3:16

Answer 8

You make me think of Hebrews 12:11
"No discipline seems for the present to be joyous, but grievous; yet afterward to those who have been trained by it, it yields peaceable fruit, namely, righteousness."
An undisciplined child is an unloved child.
However, God's punishment does not include a fiery hell.
He is against burning people.
When He saw His own wayward people burning their children in sacrifice, God said:
"They have built the high places of To′pheth, in order to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, a thing that I had not commanded and that had not come up into my heart.’
Jeremiah 7:31
......."never commanded."
........"not come up into my heart."

Answer 9

Because no loving parent would punish their child for eternity.

Answer 10

I raised two children and did have to punish them on occasion. I don't remember them doing anything so wrong as to torture them for even a week or so let alone eternity.