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Re: matt's take
>From: "Peter T. Chattaway" >
>On Sat, 29 Dec 2001, The Mattrix wrote:
> > Does a parent who spanks her brat deserve to be called a child abuser?
PC:
>Depends how she spanks the brat, obviously.
Well, okay then. If the brat is spanked for no good or valid reason, or to
the point of bruising or death, that's child abuse. However, if the brat is
less severely spanked so as to correct an errant or potentially harmful
behavior via negative reinforcement, that is not.
God once punished the whole human population of the planet, save Noah and
his family. But he didn't wipe us out. He didn't bruise us. He did what
was necessary, for good reason, to eradicate unrighteous behaviors that were
putting the ENTIRE species on the road to self-destruction. That's good
parenting. Hard to believe, but true. The mind of God is too beyond my
understanding for me to dare question that it is anything but.
me:
> > If the answer is "yes", the I guess God is a genocidal maniac.
PC:
>Since the answer is "maybe", perhaps we could discuss criteria?
See above.
I wrote:
> > More than likely, though, He's just givin' us a large- scale spankin' in
> > the examples you've cited. What doesn't kill you, (the species as a
> > whole) makes you stronger, ya now?
Peter replied:
>This is one of the key problems we modern folk tend to have with the Old
>Testament right there -- the way people are looked at *collectively* and
>not *individually*, at least in cases like Joshua, etc.
Ah, but God told Abraham that He'd spare Sodom if he could find ONE
righteous man.
>Ever read Philip Yancey's _Disappointment with God_? I believe that's the
>book where he says that the central thrust of the Bible -- its overarching
>narrative, if you will -- is that God *learns* to be a parent.
Never read it. Perhaps I'll go get it, after I rent "Princess Bride" and
"Monty Python and the Holy Grail".
too little time,
Matt
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