Monday 3-14-16
(La Lucila, Buenos Aires)
Scripture reading:
Deut 25-27 Gal 5
S. Deut 25:1-3 "If there is a dispute between men, and they come to
court, that the judges may judge them, and they justify the righteous and
condemn the wicked, then it shall be, if the wicked man deserves to be beaten,
that the judge will cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence,
according to his guilt, with a certain number of blows. Forty blows he may give
him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above
these, and your brother be humiliated in your sight. NKJV
O. When God set up a judicial system he did not
include prisons. If it was murder, the
sentence was death. No sentence of two
years in jail for stealing a sheep or whatever.
The judge arrives at a proper sentence... how many blows. The guilty man is apparently laid out on the
floor face down and beaten with some type of a whip or rod. But knowing how cruel, angry men might whip a
man to death, Moses quotes God as placing a limit on the number of blows. But the reason given us for the limiting of
40 lashes given here is not physical, but the possibility of humiliating or
degrading the man before his peers.
Justice! God is seeking justice.
A. Why does our system of justice today consider
two years in prison as more merciful y less heathen than a good beating that is
very painful? If applied with care it
could be done with no permanent physical damage and the man is up and going
again in the few days? It is probably
because beating seems cruel... and of course it is. But it is not intended to be a dish of ice
cream. Why are parents considered cruel
if they punish their children with a spanking?
It is because the tendency of many parents is to become angry with a
child and release blows that are dangerous and damaging. I believe that parents should never ever strike
the child when angry, but only with tender love and with self-control. Reasonable physical punishment can be applied
on the natural pillow on their butt where there is no danger of permanent
damage... only temporary pain. And if
this is done it must be done without humiliating the child before others. I still feel that this is the most effective
and the kindest way of applying discipline.
And if I, as an adult, had stolen something of value, I
think I would prefer a good healthy beating to two years in prison. And knowing another one is coming if I were
to do it again... I might take a job and start working for a living. Okay, now you have my opinion.
P. Heavenly Father; Oh how cruel we can become
when we lose our temper in anger! In
that state we are not fit to apply discipline.
Our judgment is warped. Little
helpless children, even babies are shaken to death or lose their hearing or
eyesight. Yes, Lord, my days of
parenting are long years behind me. May
I teach Christian parents to never apply discipline while angry. May I influence them to consistently apply
the proper discipline that they feel best, but always with a huge dosage of
love!
I thank you God, for a praying, loving daddy that only had
to spank me once. He took my down in the
basement and did it with a flat slat of light wood on my rump. It hurt, but what hurt me most was that I had
failed my loving daddy... and I didn’t want to ever do that again. Amen.
Ralph
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