Corporal Punishment: It Is Effective

Steve Harvey performed one of his stand up shows in front of church folks.  It was titled “Don't Trip... He Ain't Through With Me Yet!”  There was a part that had me in stitches.  He was describing a visit to the mall, and a lady wanted an autograph for her son.  He was willing to oblige her, and when she called to get her son’s attention, the son said “hey bite me mom.”  Apparently she called to him again and the boy repeated it again.  What was funny is how Steve Harvey said he ducked for cover because he felt something was about to happen to that boy for that blatant display of disrespect to his mom.  To add more to the humor, there was another lady with her son who was watching the whole thing, and she began to beat her child just in case if he had any ideas of trying that in the future.   I was rolling.  To get a better idea, click here.

            I tell you family, when I look at some of these young people, especially the young males, even more, the young black males,  I wonder if they had anybody in their life that gave them a can of whoop donkey.  The things that come out of their mouth, the disregard to their elders, the sagging of their pants which shows their dirty drawers, my goodness, I am urged to take my belt off and offer my services.  Here is a familiar verse for you.  The bible says “Do not withhold correction from a child, For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.  You shall beat him with a rod, And deliver his soul from hell.”  (Pr 23:13-14)  Ok family. It is in the bible, and in no way am I condoning child abuse, however, limited physical punishment was acceptable.  The question:  Why was it acceptable?  Charles Spurgeon wrote:

“Is it not cruel love that turns away from painful duty?  To suffer sin upon a child is tantamount to hating him in our heart.  Is it not better that the flesh should smart than that the soul should die?  What if thy child should reproach thee throughout eternity, for the neglect of that timely correction which might have saved his soul from hell."

When we discipline our children, we are saving them from a possible demise in the future.  For example, and you may not agree with the method, but I am glad for it,  I grew up in Edenwald Projects in the Bronx.  I remember sitting on the bench in front of my building listening to two men talk about a topic I was familiar with.  I only knew one of them.  His name is Casper.  This man was talking with Casper and because I seen someone familiar I decided to interrupt them and add my two cents in it.  The man told Casper to hold on a bit.  He asked me if he was talking to me and I of course responded in the negative.  That man slapped me so hard, a little urine escaped from me.  Casper did deal with him harshly, and the man later on apologized, but that stranger did for me more, than what Casper did.  I never, ever opened my mouth unless I was being addressed.  Again, I grew up in the projects so that was a valuable lesson to me.  There are many stories of people losing their lives because they felt comfortable running off their mouth when they weren’t supposed to.  This man saved me from growing older and bolder in an environment where the minute thing can get you shot.  Harsh discipline  is necessary family.

            When you can, I would like for you to read this.  It is another story in the bible that points to my subject.  You had a father who was a priest, and he had two sons who he raised as priests.  There are two verses to consider.  The first verse is “Now the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the LORD. (1Sa 2:12).  The second is “For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them.”  (1Sa 3:13)  It is not that the sons of Eli did not know the Lord.  They did not perform their priestly duties like they supposed to.  Their father Eli chose a gentler method to deal with them, and look at what the Lord stated.  How many rapists, murderers, serial killers, drug dealers, strippers, prostitutes, etc, would not have been, if somebody had whooped that tail a few times?   My mom dealt with me the best way she could, but she could not raise me to be a man.  My father came into the picture late.  Trust me, I have done plenty, but I would have ended up a lot worst, if it was not for my mother being very generous with the belt.  Do you remember this saying, “it is going to hurt me more than it is going to hurt you”?  There is a reason family.  We have to associate the seriousness of things with pain.  It helps in the end.   Amen!