How to Raise Children, According to the Bible

[MineralMan]

Proverbs 22:15 ESV
Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

Proverbs 13:24 ESV
Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.

Proverbs 23:13-14 ESV
Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.

Helpful advice for children:

Exodus 20:12 ESV
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Hebrews 12:5-11 ESV
And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? ...

And, for those children who do not learn...

Deuteronomy 21:18-21 ESV
“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

Exodus 21:15 ESV
“Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.

[Major Nikon]

1. Just talking shit to your parents is an automatic death sentence

Exodus 21:17 (ESV)
“Whoever curses[a] his father or his mother shall be put to death.

Don't forget about god killing all the first born in an entire country, or murdering a few dozen kids for making fun of his prophet's bald head. You can also eat your kids if you want, or sell them into sexual slavery.

[MineralMan]

2. Well, I'm sure glad my parents didn't read the Bible, then.

Sheesh!

[Girard442]

3. And then there's this little charming divine order to Jacob in Genesis 22 (KJV):

2 And [God] said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

Spoiler alert: Jacob is going through with it and is about to whack (literally) Isaac and God relents at the last second.

[IphengeniaBlumgarten]

4. You mean Abraham. Jacob is Isaac's son, not his father. nt

[Girard442]

7. I plead plain ol' messing up. I had the whole thing right in front of me.

[Mariana]

5. God intervened and saved Isaac.

He did no such thing for Jephthah's daughter, though. God accepted that human sacrifice.

[Igel]

11. That's one reading.

The actual text is a bit murkier.

[Mariana]

13. What other way is there to read this, then?

And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD: "If you give the Ammonites into my hands,whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering." - Judges 11 : 30-31

After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. - Judges 11 : 39 (in part).

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. It's stuff like this that makes me completely

reject the Bible as a guide for anything.

[MineralMan]

8. That's true for many people.

[gtar100]

9. Explains a lot about the last 10,000 years of history.

War, war and more war. Take what you will by force. Dehumanize your enemies and get your way through violence and threats. The powerful get what they want by controlling others. This is what we teach our children as a culture. Bible verses like the above perpetuate these beliefs.

When a priest or minister kisses a Bible, it helps me to remind myself that these passages are in the content of what they are worshipping as the word of God. Whatever this Bible is, it is certainly not the voice of the creative force that shaped this universe. Unless it's a test to see who can be discerning of good and evil without getting too hung up on cultural and familial pressures to conform. Even if not intentional, it kinda works out to be just that.

It has become a lot easier to stand up and question the authority of the church and the Bible thanks to many brave souls who have gone before us who had greater risk and much more to lose by speaking out. If there's any truth within the Bible, it will stand up to the scrutiny...or it ain't the truth, period. But for christ's sake (pun intended), I wish they'd cut the bullshit out, such as the examples above. For the record, I don't really hold out any hope of anything like that happening in the churches or synagogues. In general, they regard it as a complete tome, regardless of content that is contradictory or horrifically bad advice by modern standards.

[MineralMan]

10. I can't disagree with any of that.

[keithbvadu2]

12. Christians who teach how to beat babies.

We have Christians in America who teach how to beat babies.

These must be some lovely people (sarcasm).

Beating Babies in the Name of Jesus? The Shady World of Right-Wing 'Discipline' Guides

https://www.alternet.org/story/153006/beating_babies_in_the_name_of_jesus_the_shady_world_of_right-wing_'discipline'_guides

They even recommend what type of plumbing tubing to use.

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/lovejoyfeminism/2013/04/some-quotes-from-michael-pearl.html

This Christian is Selling Child-Beating Sticks (But He Doesn’t Want the Internet to Find Out)

(easily fits in a ...diaper bag).

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http://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2016/08/31/son-had-36-bruises-mom-quoted-bible-defense/88998568/?hootPostID=05bee88b4178c6162714e1226bb770b7

Son had 36 bruises. Mom quoted the Bible as defense.

'Religious freedom' of course

[MineralMan]

15. Yes. I've been aware of that movement for quite some time.

It's a particularly ugly use of Scripture to justify terrible behavior.

[Cartoonist]

14. Totally indefensible

The Roman's were just disciplining Jesus.