P
Portrait
Guest
Dearly beloved friends,
Cordial greetings and a very good day.
Whilst physical chastisement alone will not resolve all the problems of child misbehaviour, it would be jolly foolish to completely discount it as an effective disciplinary measure in certain circumstances. It is surely not true love and affection which ‘spares the rod’ as a means of making a young person aware of the gravity of their wrongdoing, when all other methods, such as civil conversation, have proved ineffectual. Indeed, let us recall that Sacred Scripture actually states that to withhold the rod of correction is to hate our children, not love them: “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes” (Prov. 13: 24). Clearly, to omit a duty so necessary for a child’s spiritual welfare and indulgently turn a blind eye to their rebellious wills and conduct, is tantamount to hating them. Of course we must love our precious children and not be unduly harsh, but we also have a God-given mandate to ensure that we do wisely by not bringing about their ruin - perhaps even their eternal ruin.
It is incontrovertible, dear friends, that we have, since the permissive Sixties, become a more ‘child centred’ society. Alas, this has left many parents and teachers feeling defenceless when dealing with what is euphemistically termed ‘challenging behaviour’, basicly defiant and unruly behaviour. ‘Child centred’ has become a sort of buzz phrase, beloved of educationalists, psychologists and just about anyone else who works with children or youth. Owing to the fact that the Fall and Original Sin are regarded as exploded religious myths, the prevailing orthodoxy holds that a man is not responsible for his sins, but is soley the product of his upbringing and early influences. However, by virtually absolving children/youth of all blame for their wrongdoing, and woefully failing to chastise them when they transgress, we have spawned a generation of spoilt and unmanageable imps, inflated by a sense of their own invincibility. Paralysed by guilt and fear and spurred on by a warped sentimentalism which decrees that anyone under 12 years old is essentially an unsullied sweetheart, latitude is given children which they simply do not deserve and which, at length, ruins them - sometimes permanently. Many people, myself included, are of the opinion that these are the major reasons why our Western society is plagued by ungovernable, defiant and discourteous children.
It admits of no serious doubt, dear friends, that a want of discipline, has bred multitudes of feral and disrespectful children and young people. Many parents have become terrified of their offspring, who are forever reminding them of their ‘rights’. It is all too common these days for both parents and teachers to be subjected to a litany of verbal abuse, much of it highly personal, just because they are deemed to be ‘out of order’ or unfair. Casual disobedience has become the norm and is blithely dismissed as being attributable to the pressures that modern youth must face. However, one is surely entitled to ask why it is that children/youth have changed so radically over the space of two short generations. Good old fashioned common sense tells us that a lack of rigorous discipline (not excluding corporal punishment), encouraged by the loony reasoning of ‘child professionals’, is largely responsible, that and gullible parents who have been duped by their silly ideology.
Our Church, dear friend, nowhere teaches, and never has taught, that moderate corporal punishment of minors is wrong or abusive, which is hardly surprising since it is enjoined by Sacred Scripture (Proverbs 13: 24; 19: 18; 20: 11; 22: 6, 15; 23: 12; 29: 15, 17; Hebrews 12: 9-11). The sad fact that our post-Christian Western world has chosen to contemptuously dismiss the wise counsel of the Book of Proverbs, does not make that wise counsel any less true or valid. It has not gone mouldy because of allegedly more ‘enlightened’ views of child rearing. If physical chastisement of children is properly managed there is no compelling reason to assume that it will produce harmful/emotional effects in young persons. The ‘studies’ that dogmatically claim this are conducted by those who have an *a priori *bias and antipathy against any authority and discipline worthy of the name. Not surprisingly these extreme lefty and loony studies reflect the unrelenting barrage of propaganda that parents have been blitzed with since the 1960’s. No wonder legions of parents (including not a few Catholics) have been brainwashed into believing that any physical chastisement of children is a form of child abuse that is ineffective and damaging to moral and physical development. Such is the huge impact of liberal ideological thinking and its aggressive indoctrination programme. Moreover, the Catholic faithful should be aware that the supposed ‘experts’ on child discipline/development are invariably hostile to the Judeo-Christian world-view and their mission is to constantly discredit it as harmful primitive superstition. Alas, this includes ‘antiquated’ Christian teaching on the rearing and discipline of children which it wrongly believes has no place in a civilised society.
God bless.
Warmest good wishes,
Portrait
In Christos.
Cordial greetings and a very good day.
Whilst physical chastisement alone will not resolve all the problems of child misbehaviour, it would be jolly foolish to completely discount it as an effective disciplinary measure in certain circumstances. It is surely not true love and affection which ‘spares the rod’ as a means of making a young person aware of the gravity of their wrongdoing, when all other methods, such as civil conversation, have proved ineffectual. Indeed, let us recall that Sacred Scripture actually states that to withhold the rod of correction is to hate our children, not love them: “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes” (Prov. 13: 24). Clearly, to omit a duty so necessary for a child’s spiritual welfare and indulgently turn a blind eye to their rebellious wills and conduct, is tantamount to hating them. Of course we must love our precious children and not be unduly harsh, but we also have a God-given mandate to ensure that we do wisely by not bringing about their ruin - perhaps even their eternal ruin.
It is incontrovertible, dear friends, that we have, since the permissive Sixties, become a more ‘child centred’ society. Alas, this has left many parents and teachers feeling defenceless when dealing with what is euphemistically termed ‘challenging behaviour’, basicly defiant and unruly behaviour. ‘Child centred’ has become a sort of buzz phrase, beloved of educationalists, psychologists and just about anyone else who works with children or youth. Owing to the fact that the Fall and Original Sin are regarded as exploded religious myths, the prevailing orthodoxy holds that a man is not responsible for his sins, but is soley the product of his upbringing and early influences. However, by virtually absolving children/youth of all blame for their wrongdoing, and woefully failing to chastise them when they transgress, we have spawned a generation of spoilt and unmanageable imps, inflated by a sense of their own invincibility. Paralysed by guilt and fear and spurred on by a warped sentimentalism which decrees that anyone under 12 years old is essentially an unsullied sweetheart, latitude is given children which they simply do not deserve and which, at length, ruins them - sometimes permanently. Many people, myself included, are of the opinion that these are the major reasons why our Western society is plagued by ungovernable, defiant and discourteous children.
It admits of no serious doubt, dear friends, that a want of discipline, has bred multitudes of feral and disrespectful children and young people. Many parents have become terrified of their offspring, who are forever reminding them of their ‘rights’. It is all too common these days for both parents and teachers to be subjected to a litany of verbal abuse, much of it highly personal, just because they are deemed to be ‘out of order’ or unfair. Casual disobedience has become the norm and is blithely dismissed as being attributable to the pressures that modern youth must face. However, one is surely entitled to ask why it is that children/youth have changed so radically over the space of two short generations. Good old fashioned common sense tells us that a lack of rigorous discipline (not excluding corporal punishment), encouraged by the loony reasoning of ‘child professionals’, is largely responsible, that and gullible parents who have been duped by their silly ideology.
Our Church, dear friend, nowhere teaches, and never has taught, that moderate corporal punishment of minors is wrong or abusive, which is hardly surprising since it is enjoined by Sacred Scripture (Proverbs 13: 24; 19: 18; 20: 11; 22: 6, 15; 23: 12; 29: 15, 17; Hebrews 12: 9-11). The sad fact that our post-Christian Western world has chosen to contemptuously dismiss the wise counsel of the Book of Proverbs, does not make that wise counsel any less true or valid. It has not gone mouldy because of allegedly more ‘enlightened’ views of child rearing. If physical chastisement of children is properly managed there is no compelling reason to assume that it will produce harmful/emotional effects in young persons. The ‘studies’ that dogmatically claim this are conducted by those who have an *a priori *bias and antipathy against any authority and discipline worthy of the name. Not surprisingly these extreme lefty and loony studies reflect the unrelenting barrage of propaganda that parents have been blitzed with since the 1960’s. No wonder legions of parents (including not a few Catholics) have been brainwashed into believing that any physical chastisement of children is a form of child abuse that is ineffective and damaging to moral and physical development. Such is the huge impact of liberal ideological thinking and its aggressive indoctrination programme. Moreover, the Catholic faithful should be aware that the supposed ‘experts’ on child discipline/development are invariably hostile to the Judeo-Christian world-view and their mission is to constantly discredit it as harmful primitive superstition. Alas, this includes ‘antiquated’ Christian teaching on the rearing and discipline of children which it wrongly believes has no place in a civilised society.
God bless.
Warmest good wishes,
Portrait
In Christos.
