...then why do so many Christians believe that "spare the rod, spoil the child" means: punish the kids, or they'll never learn.
"The rod, as I have been led to believe, was meant to be a code of laws, to guide the faithful along their way.
It's a shame that so many people have come to interpret it as a stick to set the wicked back upon the beaten path.
Anonymous
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The simple fact is we always have to distinguish between the "eternal verities" and the "localized behavioral" in scripture.
Your question illustrates why it's impossible to understand scripture without substantial interpretation. And anyone who says that you have to take all of it or none of it is quite simply foolish.
The Bible has much to say that was strictly limited within a certain historical, social context (the localized behavioral). For example, it has no real problem with slavery, allows parents to stone incorrigible children to death, and it prescribes death for planting different crops, wearing dissimilar fabrics together (and a whole raft of other things).
These were obviously historical in context, and we have to move beyond them. But then there are certain eternal verities that do not submit to time or place...
Don't Murder.
Don't Steal.
Don't Lie. etc.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
These and other statements do no whither with age, and are eternal. But there can be no question about it, we have to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Hope this helps.
papi_aka_papi
Well, if a man wrote it or said that God said it and then wrote it down into paper and called it a bible. As much sense as it make make to some, men are wicked creatures that are capable of greatness but fall into darkness with great ease.. so to answer your question, it doesn't matter because it is all open to interpretation since almost everything in the bible has a double meaning. So the people that are in your words "The rod, as I have been led to believe, was meant to be a code of laws, to guide the faithful along their way" can be twisted in any way shape or form. If there is such a thing as a supreme creator/being and we are crested in his image, then he is a flawed "father" thus more than capable of bad judgment and not the perfect being we would believe he is.....
blackshire
Believers on the instant shouldn't under the previous testomony regulation (Romans 10:4; Galatians 3:23-25; Ephesians 2:15), effective attempt besides the reality that. make certain upon up a bible and little question benefit expertise of it. EDIT: considering homosexuality remains suggested in the recent testomony as a sin. a million Corinthians 6:9 declares that gay “offenders” won't inherit the dominion of God. Romans a million:26-27 teaches specifically that homosexuality is a results of denying and disobeying God.
Anonymous
The quote from Proverbs 13:24 is " he who spares the rod hates his son,but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.
The rod is a stick, used for herding sheep or whacking the wayward. The point being it is better to learn right from wrong from a loving parent, with something that seems harsh, than not learn it and run afoul of society who will be less sparing with the punishment.
It was in English boarding schools that the spare the rod BS came into use. It is always better to teach a child with love, but it is better to get the concept that there are harsh penalties from parents than society.
SunnyD
Lets look to the primary intent. The word of god was to be eternal and so it is because it is the first book. If changes have entered the word then it will remain so . Who can now say beatings were intended in the verse. So it remains as a general idea to use a motivator for errors in a child's thinking. I am totally supporting that for single parent families.