Samuel Martin, son of the late Earnest Martin of COG fame, actively works to stop the age old practice of corporal punishment on children.
Martin writes:
I post a fair number of testimonies of my FB page
from people who have written me letters. I don't normally put names or
places, but in this case, I am going to modify my normal procedure
because the person whose testimony I am going to post is not only a
former member of the World Wide Church Of God (the denomination that I
grew up in until age 9), but Margaret Halford is my former baby sitter
in real life when I was growing up in England, where I was born and
where Margaret still lives.
Margaret's story: Spanking Never Felt Right
"Spanking never felt right. It felt like bullying and I think it was. I
know for my own part that when I spanked a child it was because I was
at the end of my rope and wanted to exert my power!!!
Gosh
that sound horrible doesn’t it … but I think it is true. I have taken
care of children for about 12 years now professionally and I would never
spank someone else’s child and I have seen how much more results I can
get by being firm and by following through on consequences for actions.
As babysitters in the WCG [this is the abbreviation for the World Wide
Church of God] we were empowerd to use the paddle if necessary because
we were helping to instil character into little kids. Horse Feathers!!!
We were bullies. I remember reading once that hurt people hurt people
and if you hit a child what is to stop them from thinking that hitting
is not a way to get a desired result. It worked on them didn’t it? .
Just look at the emotional state of so many ex WCG kids now grown. At
Imperial [the Church School] in England we were subjected to what
amounted to daily paddlings for some. It made me very nervous to go to
school. My parents didn’t actually believe much in spanking and my very
first experience with it was at Imperial a Math teacher decided I
needed to be punished me for erasing something on my page. I was 17. I
was so embarrassed and after that, quite honestly afraid to express
myself for fear of further punishment. My point is…I didn’t “learn a
lesson” I just shut down so I wouldn’t be hurt again."
You can read Samuel Martin's book here on spanking in the Christian community:
"Thy Rod and Thy Staff, They Comfort Me: Christians and the Spanking Controversy"
Samuel's Blog is here:
The New Foundation for Biblical Research
