Portland, Oregon Church  -  Affiliated with the Intercontinental Church of God and the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association

SUBJECT:  Corporal Punishment - Spanking

QUESTION: What is the church’s teaching on corporal punishment and spanking of children?

ANSWER:

Not so much in the church, but in the world the subject of spanking and corporal punishment is volatile.  It is right up there with abortion and race issues.  Ironically some are militant about it.  I encountered one lady who was quite adamant [Impervious to pleas, appeals, or reason; stubbornly unyielding] in her position.  According to her, every ill in man's history can be traced back to spanking.  All wars, all dictators, all diseases, all famines, all oppression, all crime and all greed.  Her list was seemingly endless.  I say all this as introduction to show that we have massive debate going on out there.

For the true firstfruit Christian, every situation and family will be rather unique.  That is, corporal punishment [all forms], though covered in principle in the Bible is not a major doctrine.  It is a non-salvation subject, in and of itself.  That is, you will not see in our doctrine any specifics to corporal punishment that answer such questions as:

1] Do I spank?
2] If so, how?   Should I use my hand, a paddle, a belt, a switch, a coat hanger, a bamboo or iron rod?  How many swats?  How hard?  Through clothing or bare skin?
3] What other forms of discipline could or should be used?

4] How do we match the application of punishment to the infraction?

However, you are going to see this issue discussed in overriding principle in our doctrine on the Christian Family.  http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/STP/stp27.htm.  What you will find in the doctrine are a number of elements and issues brought together that will help the firstfruit to deal with the questions above.  We cannot speak about nor consider corporal punishment without bringing all the issues to the table.  Notice this in an excerpt from the doctrine:

---begin quote----

Effective child rearing is also basic to the building of a strong and healthy family unit. It is as important as marriage in portraying the plan of God in that the relationship between parent and child is the physical type of the spiritual relationship between God and man.

As in other areas of the Christian life, God's Word allows great latitude of approach in the rearing of one's children within the general biblical guidelines. Of course, it is self evident that a father and mother must clothe, feed and shelter their youngsters as best they can within their means. For a parent to ignore these basic responsibilities is, in God's sight, to be "worse than an unbeliever" (1 Timothy 5:8). But the principles of proper child rearing must be far more inclusive than the basic necessities of life.

The Bible's primary admonition is that parents show deep love and manifest real affection toward their progeny, just as God does for us. This love will take many forms: protection from harm, instruction, encouragement, respect, participation in family activities, and balanced correction when necessary. The need for parents to express their love by spending much time with their children in both work and play is especially stressed by the church. Likewise, great emphasis is placed upon the need for parents and children to communicate with one another, and to show genuine interest in each other by active listening. To this end the church encourages its members to set aside at least one day a week for a "family night" of planned activities and recreation together.

Parents have a responsibility to provide moral and spiritual guidance for their children and to establish values consistent with the goals of Christianity, through their example as well as by formal religious instruction. The establishment and nurturing of true values and moral behavior will at times necessitate punishment for wrong-doing in the form of removal of privileges or spanking. All such punishment is done in love only (never in uncontrolled anger), is always reasonable, consistent and never injurious to the child emotionally or physically.

The proper balance in discipline of one's children is important to achieve. Two scriptures that can help define the boundaries of such balance are Proverbs 13:24 and Ephesians 6:4. In the former, parents are instructed that "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him"; in the latter, parents are cautioned never to "provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." Thus parents are entrusted by God to generate and nurture physical, mental, moral, and spiritual growth in the children that He grants to their care.

----end quote----

This is just five paragraphs of this doctrine.  One could contemplate it for a lifetime just to grasp all its elements.  That is what doctrine is supposed to do in that it is an explanation of what we believe from the Word of God [the mind of God], which is limitless.  Before we can address those questions I enumerated above, we have to talk about family, relationships, Godly purpose, Godly design, and the entire list of Godly principles---love, joy, forgiveness, compassion, longsuffering, patience, peace, temperance, consistency and so many more we could mention.  We cannot truly talk of spanking and other disciplines unless we have a long talk that includes all of these.  Doing so will formulate your own unique answers to those questions.

There has to be deep love and manifest affection.  There must be instruction, encouragement and respect.  There has to be a good relationship between husband and wife.  The family has to operate as a unit, each understanding their responsibilities and each serving the other.  As the doctrine says, there must be balanced correction when necessary.  Whatever corporal punishment is used, it must be done in love and never in anger.  It has to be something that aids both instruction and nurturing.  It has to be followed by real affection.  It cannot be injurious to the child.

Clearly if the parents are providing moral and spiritual guidance from birth, the need for any kind of punishment is lessened.  If spanking is used, it should be appropriate to age and the infraction involved.  Experience has shown me that the actual application of the punishment [that moment when we apply the corporal punishment] should be slow, calm and purposeful and then followed by the appropriate show of love and affection, such as hugging.  The parent should fully explain what just happened and why it was done.  The actual spanking is a tool of direction and not punishment as the world likes to use the term.

Each firstfruit is going to have to meditate on these elements using prayer and Bible study and come to his and her own conclusion.  The parents need to be in full agreement with these things.  Whatever the parents conclude will be a combination of both doctrine and personal elements of belief.  All personal elements of belief derive from the firstfruit's theology and relationship with God.  See my study on this:

http://www.icgchurches.org/Portland_OR/Ministers_Notebook/Notebook_48.shtml

Portland, Oregon Church  -  Affiliated with the Intercontinental Church of God and the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association