It was only four days ago that we posted Samuel Martin’s letter on the use of corporal punishment, some of it rooted in old Worldwide Church of God beliefs. People rushed in to insist that the old abusive styles of punishment were relics—no longer practiced in “the church” today. How reassuring.
A reader has now pointed out Sheldon Monson’s piece in the April-June issue of A Good Report (Church of God Assembly, a Living Church of God splinter). In it, the classic Armstrongist advice reappears for raising “godly” children: corporal punishment is fine, just don’t slap the face or hit near the vital organs.
This is the same worn-out material Garner Ted Armstrong and Roderick Meredith peddled for decades. Spare the face, spare the kidneys, but by all means apply the rod (or hand, or switch) elsewhere. After all, Proverbs is clear, the child’s heart is full of foolishness, and nothing says godly parenting like carefully calibrated physical pain—delivered, of course, in love and never in anger.
Modern child-development research, changing legal standards in many places, and simple observations about trauma and aggression can all take a back seat. The old playbook still works if you just avoid the head and the soft spots.
Armstrongism’s child-rearing tradition never really retired; it just splintered, rebranded, and kept the fine print. Monson’s group continues the lineage, and A Good Report is happy to pass along the refined technique: hit them, but do it “properly.”
Four days after Martin’s critique, the same old instructions surface again. Coincidence? Or just the unbroken habit of treating carefully limited violence as a biblical parenting essential?
2 comments:
Sheldon's COG-ASS in a nutshell: The beatings will continue until morale improves!
About 15 years ago, I began listening to Michael Medved's syndicated radio program. I'd first become aware of him through a book he co-authored with David Wallechinsky called "What Ever Became of the Class of '65?" This book was right at the epicenter of Baby Boomer Central, is a microcosm for the changes of the mid-1960s, and my girlfriend from the '80s had a copy. Heh heh! I read it, found it insightful, and still have it! But, that's OK! I doubt that she misses it!
Anyway, No worries! I'm no spoiler, so won't be elaborating on the book! However, I recognized Michael Medved, an orthodox Jew, as someone who has a great deal of common sense! This was underscored by an observation he made on his talk show. He stated that Communism, as a philosophy, has been tried so many times in so many settings that we can know that it does not work. People comment to the effect that if you could just find the right leaders, it could be proven to be beneficial to humanity. Michael's caveat was that as a philosophy, the very structure of communism corrupts its leaders! Often, they start as good people, but end up being cruel authoritarians with no empathy or compassion! I thought to myself, "Shit! That is exactly the problem with Armstrongism!"
And, of course, this is what we see here on a daily basis in the reports about people who feel called to rebel against cruel and harsh, seemingly arbitrary authority, to start their own kinder, gentler splinter, with their own hook or spin, and end up inevitably corrupted by, and embracing the the same overbearing authority which they had rebelled against in the first place. Ah yes! But, that's different! It's not their oppressor exercising it! It's them!
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