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Abuse vs Discipline

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Blake Moss
Abuse Versus Discipline

A mother spanks her child in a public parking lot. While a nearby citizen watches in horror and begins to dial 911. Is this wrong? Does the mother have authority to do this to her own child? Who gets to decide how the mother disciplines her child? Why here?
These are the questions that come across the mind of today's society. Most people would agree that the child did something “wrong,” but opinion collide on how the mother should discipline the child. Parents from generations ago would not have thought twice about this incident. In today's era, as technology has progressed so has the ideas of child abuse and discipline. What is the difference between child abuse vs. child discipline?
Then Versus Now …show more content…

Who gets to make these interpretations? Is it the caretaker or parents or the child or is it the state? Discipline by Definition
Discipline is “the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience.” A question that comes to mine is; who gets define the amount of “punishment?” And who gets to decide the rules and code of behavior? Is it the parents or guardians, or is it the governmental agencies? If a child is doing something wrong and the parent chooses to “swat” the child then they are violating the law because they are inflicting “physical injury inflicted on the child.” Is this wrong or is it right?
Christian's Opinion
Proverbs 23:13-15 says “Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol. My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad.” This is not saying to beat until the child can not stand it is saying that if a parent uses physical discipline they will not die. “Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death.” This quote comes from Proverbs 19:18.
So what is Christian's view on discipline? It is okay to use physical and mental discipline. God elaborates throughout his holy book that He not only believes in physical discipline, but recommends it. He states this multiple times in the bible and shows many examples of it. He

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