"Spare the rod and spoil the child" does not mean what we think it means

[Bucky]

The rod isn't meant to be an iron pipe that you beat your kids with. It's a reference to a shepherd's rod, which isn't used for beating sheep. It's used for nudging them onto the correct path.

Spoiling doesn't even enter into the biblical quote. The actual scripture reads "He who spares the rod hates his son: but he that loves him chastens him betimes."

That means you should chasten, scold, you kid sometimes. Set them right. Nothing about beating them there in that verse. There may be a couple of verses that justify killing your kid, but corporal punishment just isn't approved of in the Bible

[malthaussen]

1. Except that "chasten" or "chastise" also means punish corporally.

At least, when the verse was translated, it did. I don't know if the original language includes corporal punishment as one of the meanings of the verb.

-- Mal

[OriginalGeek]

2. NOW ya tell me.

After my stepfather asshole already beat the living shit out of me and my brothers. Usually for the sin of breathing wrongly or too loud.


I guess I'm over it. Still waiting for a funeral announcement. Need to pee.

[jmowreader]

3. I had an operator once...

who didn't know the difference between corporal punishment and capital punishment.

She was going through ads for child care agencies and came upon one that advertised "no corporal punishment." Oh great, she says, this one won't execute my daughter.