TO smack children or not smack children; to discipline children or not discipline children.
This seems to be the great debate of the day and doctors, teachers, learned people and ordinary people all have l a different opinion on the subject.
Who is right and who knows the right answer?
There is one who knows and that it is God Himself.
He has given us mere humans a written manual with instructions on how we should handle things, so that we do not lean on our own understanding; that manual is the Bible.
Our opinions and decisions are right or wrong as much as they measure to what the Bible says. And this is what the Bible says about correcting children:
Proverbs 13:24 – He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.
Proverbs 22:15 – Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.
Proverbs 29:15 – The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.
The trouble is that people have distorted the ways of God and have taken correction in their own hands, abusing their rights.
We are told that smacking children will cause damage in their future, but we can see what not correcting them has done to them.
We have left the ways of God and now we are reaping the consequences in our children.
It is time that we took a hard look at ourselves and decided what we want for our children.
It is too late for some already, but not too late for the future generation.
Let us help them by following the ways of God.