I've been reading the Bible straight through since January. I'm at the book of Proverbs. I read a few days ago the proverb we mis-state as "spare the rod and spoil the child" - "Those who spare the rod hate their children, but those who love them are diligent to discipline them." (Prov. 13:24)
Today I have found even more like this:
"A wise child loves discipline..." (13:1a)
"Do not withhold discipline from your children;
if you beat them with a rod, they will not die.
If you beat them with the rod, you will save their lives from Sheol." (23:13-14)
The Bible is dangerous in the hands of those who insist every word is to be taken as law.
How many children have, indeed, died because of being beaten "with a rod"?
I repudiate these verses.
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