Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Teach Kids To Hate Evil

The Bible says to "Hate what is evil;  cling to what is good"  Romans 12:9.  So what do you think is the best way to teach your children to hate evil???  Spank them!  Yep, I am on that topic again...

I am reading a great book by Anne Ortlund and I think she has given a great reason to spank your children.  I am going to quote her because I think it is so good ~

Sin and pain must early be linked together in their minds.  During the two's and following, if "no no" is deliberately ignored, a short, quick spanking comes.  {Is there anything else as immediate and as eloquent?}  When they knowingly, willfully sin, then there must be pain - your pain, of course, but theirs, too.  Punishing is the deliberate infliction of hurt.

Of course we're not talking about child abuse.  Still, it's crucially important that children grow up convinced that sin and hurt go together.  That's how they learn to fear and hate sin!

But when they submit?  Reward them lavishly;  commend them, make over them!  When children learn that good and pleasure go together, that's how they learn to go after the good....They're beginning to learn that the righteous life is the good life!

Ken was traveling one time and was talking to a man from Singapore.  He was caught with drugs and had to spend many years in prison doing extremely hard, physical labor.  There is little crime in Singapore.  You can walk the streets at night feeling safe.

America has become soft on criminals.  We don't punish bad behavior much anymore.  If all parents would teach children to hate what is evil and cling to what is good, imagine what a better society this would be...Wait, it was that way when I was young...