LICC - Can we spare the rod?

My friend Edward, when we were six, made a schoolboy error: he let our teacher catch him being naughty. She ordered him to retrieve a plimsoll from his bag, took the shoe and slammed it violently and repeatedly into his backside. I won't forget it; neither, I suspect, will he. It must have taught him something, if only that it's a harsh old world. But that was then, and this is now; corporal punishment in school was fully outlawed in 1998, and this week, the Government edged closer to protecting children from being spanked too hard at home. When the Children Bill was debated in the Lords, peers backed a compromise amendment to outlaw any smack that causes harm (such as bruising or cuts) - although they rejected a total ban.
Some Christians believe that we have a biblical mandate to administer physical 'chastisement'. In fact, the original ban on corporal punishment was challenged two years ago in the High Court by a coalition of independent Christian schools, which argued that corporal punishment was an important doctrine of our faith. A ban, they said, would erode our Christian rights.
They were beaten; the rod was not spared. The biblical evidence for their defence relies mostly on a handful of proverbs (23.13, 29.15 and 13.24). Elsewhere, the rod of punishment is counterbalanced strongly by the rod of protection and guidance. Psalm 23, for example, describes how the shepherd's rod and staff will comfort and guide his sheep, and it's an image that recurs many times.
Of course, Christians, like most people, will have different opinions on this issue. So if we're to offer a unique contribution to the debate, it probably won't be through citing proof texts, but by nurturing a biblical context. Our contemporary culture is based on rights; some exhort the rights of the parents to smack, while others defend the child's right to be protected. The debate, like society, risks atomisation.
The Kingdom of God, however, is about right relationships - and the obligations they carry, to love God and each other. Children, therefore, must obey their parents; but parents, equally, must not 'exasperate [their] children' (Ephesians 6.4). Punishment should ultimately seek to restore an offender to their community or family, not to alienate or physically harm them. And if we ever lose sight of that goal, we'll risk making a rod for our own backs.

Brian Draper

the rod of punishment is balanced by the rod of protection and guidance if we're to offer a unique contribution to the debate, it won't be through citing proof texts

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