Happy Independence from Spanking Day!

I said I would write about the Biblical spanking debate so here goes.

FYI, I’m not a religious person, per se. I can’t do organized religion because I’ve never found a church that wasn’t filled with mean people. However, I’ve got years of religious training under my belt and I do know my way around the Bible, so I had to pull out some scriptures when the fanatics and I had a discussion.

I’m definitely not speaking for God. I might be into unschooling God or unchurching perhaps, though maybe I’m a Universalist Unitarian. I like the community aspect of the church experience. That’s it for the disclaimers.

I also love this anti-spanking site. He goes head-to-head with the pro-hitters (and there are a lot of them!)

So, I’ve never seen the word “spank” in any Bible I’ve ever read. Have you? I have never seen instruction that says to hit the child in the Bible, although I’ve seen some really nutty interpretations online and in books. The references I’ve read are the “spare the rod” and other guidance passages, which I believe have nothing to do with hitting children.

If people insist on using the Bible as their excuse for hitting kids, why can’t any of them pull out a Bible passage that INDUBITABLY says to hit a child?

Well, because it does not exist.

Okay, and to really throw a wrench in things, here are some scriptures from the King James version. Here, if we want to be literal, no “pop” on the rear will do…

Proverb 23:13 Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.

Proverb 23:14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

So, if we take it literally, we MUST BEAT our children with THE ROD - and no worries, he will not die. Besides, if you don’t BEAT them with THE ROD, they’ll go to hell, and we certainly don’t want to add hellfire and damnation to indiscretions like touching the stove or saying “no” to mama.

If we view the Bible in parables and the rod as the wooden rod sheepherders used or as the rod being that in the scroll the pages were originally on (insert “train them up by the Word of God”), however, there is room for loving guidance that doesn’t require hitting. I think some people CHOOSE to interpret it differently because they PREFER to hit - either it is “comfortable” to them because they grew up with it (and children who were hit tend to enter into the same patterns) or it is less work for them.

Someone also implied Jesus used “situational” violence when necessary. WHAT? They had the one typical and lame example of Jesus in the temple, so I had to pull out some more scriptures. No, I don’t have 20 versions of the Bible in my house. You’ve gotta love the Internet.

Let’s all read these and ponder this: Might Jesus have made the whip thingy in case He would need it for self defense? Might He have made it as a sort of leash to lead out the oxen and sheep? Were the cords assembled to tie up the oxen? You’ll note, it doesn’t even say Jesus hit oxen.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables;

King James Bible
And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;

American King James Version
And when he had made a whip of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;

American Standard Version
and he made a scourge of cords, and cast all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers money, and overthrew their tables;

Bible in Basic English
And he made a whip of small cords and put them all out of the Temple, with the sheep and the oxen, sending in all directions the small money of the changers and overturning their tables;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And when he had made, as it were, a scourge of little cords, he drove them all out of the temple, the sheep also and the oxen, and the money of the changers he poured out, and the tables he overthrew.

Darby Bible Translation
and, having made a scourge of cords, he cast them all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the change of the money-changers, and overturned the tables,

English Revised Version
and he made a scourge of cords, and cast all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew their tables;

GOD’S WORD® Translation (©1995)
He made a whip from small ropes and threw everyone with their sheep and cattle out of the temple courtyard. He dumped the moneychangers’ coins and knocked over their tables.

Weymouth New Testament
So He plaited a whip of rushes, and drove all–both sheep and bullocks–out of the Temple. The small coin of the brokers He upset on the ground and overturned their tables.

Webster’s Bible Translation
And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;

World English Bible
He made a whip of cords, and threw all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew their tables.

Young’s Literal Translation
and having made a whip of small cords, he put all forth out of the temple, also the sheep, and the oxen; and of the money-changers he poured out the coins, and the tables he overthrew.

Nowhere does any of that say Jesus was violent. If Jesus hit or beat anyone, why doesn’t the book of John (or any book) say so?

Note also that the translation (whip, cord, scourge, etc.) is not consistent.

He did clearly overturn some tables. If we are really desperate to prove Jesus was violent, I suppose that could fit, but He might have turned them over gently, too.

I’m still waiting for someone to show me anywhere in any Bible where Jesus hit anyone, particularly children.

That’s it on spanking, for now.

Toodles!