Last night's Bible study included the sections from Proverbs describing punishment with a rod and discipline of children, etc. (Proverbs 13:24, Proverbs 22:15, Proverbs 23:13-14, Proverbs 29:15,17).
One woman was having trouble with the teaching. She said, "I never spanked my children and they turned out just fine."
Can we judge the word by the outcome of disobedience to it? God is free to bring about results without our obedience, but we are not free to disobey.
Is the word to be judged by our lives, or are our lives to be judged by the word?
The good news was that she acknowledged that the scripture did, indeed, say that parents should use corporal punishment if they love their children.
