Daily Text 12/6/2016

"If a man has a son who is stubborn and rebellious and he does not obey his father or his mother, and they have tried to correct him but he refuses to listen to them, his father and his mother should take hold of him and bring him out to the elders at the gate of his city and say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, and he refuses to obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of his city must stone him to death. So you must remove what is bad from your midst, and all Israel will hear and become afraid." - Deuteronomy 21-18:21

Are we not grateful that Jehovah resorts to threats whenever he doesn't get his way? As we can see, not only does he threaten children with death for not behaving, but he does it explicitly because he wants to freak people out so they fall in line. What a loving arrangement!

Can we imitate this kind, loving example? Just like Jehovah, we would do well to threaten our children with expulsion from their group of friends and browbeat them into submission. For example, we can do our best not to "spare the rod" by beating them with an actual rod. Other loving Christian parents report using wooden spoons, belts and other apparatuses. This is good and acceptable in the eyes of our God. If this type of punishment was good enough for Jehovah and the other faithful men of old, then surely we can agree that it is acceptable to us as well.