Bible Verse For Sunday 10-26-08

And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

What the hell?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary gives the first definition of the word chastise as: “to inflict punishment on (as by whipping).” And scourge is a synonym for whip; “especially: one used to inflict pain or punishment.”

How many, if any, children deserve punishment? How many deserve painful physical punishment? At what age should this punishment begin? What must the child do to deserve such correction so that the child may then be reverent to his/her father?

Ah, the Bible, the handbook for child abusers everywhere.