Theology of Children

Barnados has recently submitted a paper entitled “Theology of Children” by Nove Vailaau. Strangely,  the first part of the document sounds very “un-theological” entitled “Moving away from corporal punishment”. There are problems with this document from a theological standpoint. Most importantly, it misses out some very relevant portions of theology. It provides for us these:

Proverbs 13:24 says ‘he who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him’
Proverbs 22:15 says ‘folly is bound up in the heart of a child; but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him’.
Proverbs 10:13 ‘Wisdom is found on the lips of him who has understanding, But a rod is for the back of him who is devoid of understanding.’
Proverbs 26:3  ‘A whip for the horse, A bridle for the donkey, And a rod for the fool’s back.’

But, it misses out this theology:

Proverbs 23:13-14 says ‘Do not withhold correction from a child; for if you beat him with the rod, he will not die. You shall beat him with a rod,  And deliver his soul from hell;

Hebrews 12:5-11 ‘And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:

“ My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
For whom the LORD loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.’

There are many other theological  problems with this document, which seems to be more of a secular apology for the abolition of corporal punishment, dressed up with God-talk.

Proverbs 13:24 says ‘he who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline
him’; Proverbs 22:15 says ‘folly is bound up in the heart of a child; but the rod of discipline will drive it
far from him’.

Who are the saints?

Phillip Jensen preached a message on the church for our church recently. One aspect of his otherwise faithful message was incorrect I thought, namely that the “saints” referred to in this letter, refer specifically to “Jewish christians”. Whenever I hear the term “saint” it means to me anyone made holy through faith in Jesus Christ. The scripture Phillip was preaching on was:

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Ephesians 4:11-1

I think the saints referred to here are the members of Christ’s church, regardless of race.

• Paul has just finished demolishing the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile in Christ, in chapter 2.
• The beginning of chapter 4 is all about unity, one God, one lord, one baptism, one faith…
• Paul is discussing that Christ has descended, ascended and poured out gifts on men. “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift”. There is no Jewish distinction in this statement.
• In many other letters Paul refers to the saints, and to understand this term as only “jewish christians” would indicate a partiality which is not present in the Gospel of Christ. It is a step backwards to the dividing wall no longer present in Christ.
  • 1 Corinthinians 1:2 - To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours
  • Romans 1:7 – To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints
  • Romans 8:27 – the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
  • Romans 12:13 – Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
  • 1 Cor 6:2 – Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?
• Other references to saints in ephesians itself do not support a “jewish christian only” view.This understanding would lead to a “special” christian distinction for Jewish christians.
  • Ephesians 1:15 – For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints
  • Ephesians 1:18 – having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints
  • Ephesians 5:3 – But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints
  • Ephesians 6:18 – praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.
• Revelation has a nice definition of the “saints”
  • Revelation 14:12 – Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.

I would say that Jesus gave and continues to give the five-fold ministry to his saints, understood as all those who “keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus”, irrespective of nationality. I would expect to see in the church today, living apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the church for works of service, looking forward to the revelation of the mature man – Christ Jesus and his church on the last day.

Which Lord of the Rings character are you?

You are most like Frodo. You’re very friendly, and you have a great personality. Although you like to have fun, you can also be pretty serious at times. It’s pretty hard to get you mad, but once you’re mad…everybody better look out! Keep that temper under control and realize that you’re better off than you may think.

Cute, although there weren’t enough elves and orcs in the quiz for a true LOTR experience. Take the test yourself.

87.6%

A smack as part of good parental correction should not be a criminal offense in New Zealand. Or so say 87.6% of people in the recent referendum.

The story made even made it to Fox news.

New Zealand Votes to Legalize Smacking Kids

New Zealanders voted overwhelmingly to overturn a law that prohibits parents from hitting children, according to the results of a nationwide referendum released Friday, but the government says the law is working and won’t be changed.

Opponents of the 2007 law claim it is overly intrusive and could turn thousands of good parents into criminals.

The story gets it a little wrong in that the 2007 law DOES turn thousands of good parents into criminals. It COULD turn them into convicts.

It is time for the anti-smacking lobby to shut up and let the majority frame a new law.

Perhaps just adding a new sub-section to section 59?

” a smack as part of good parental correction is justified. This sub-section overrides any other sub-sections in this section”.

But really, the best approach is simply to strike out the 2007 amendments and return to the old reasonable force law. And wonder, “What were they thinking…”

What if the plumber doesn’t do pipes?

…or if the Archbishop does not know the word of God?

David Moxon,  Anglican Archbishop of New Zealand appeared on Radio Rhema recently to put a case for the “yes” answer to the question  “should a smack as a part of good parental correction be a criminal offense?”

Aaron Ironside asked him to describe the biblical evidence supporting his position. From his answer, David clearly doesn’t know what God’s word says, which is surprising since he is the chief overseer of the Anglican church in New Zealand. David made a number of points about the biblical witness, which were almost all wrong, and missed out a few important bits. Note that my record of David’s on-air statements below are not word-for-word from his mouth as I do not have a transcript of the show.

David Moxon: In proverbs it says “spare the rod and spoil the child”.

This is not actually found in the bible, at best it is a loose paraphrase. Proverbs does say “He who spares his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly.” and “The rod and rebuke give wisdom, But a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.”

David Moxon: The rod is a shepherd’s staff, not for beating, but for direction and guidance.

This is a blatant lie. David seems to have missed the part where it says “Do not withhold correction from a child, For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die. You shall beat him with a rod, And deliver his soul from hell.”

David Moxon: In the new testament we find Jesus laying hands on children.

This is correct, if fairly irrelevant to the topic.

David Moxon: And Jesus says that whoever hurts one of these little ones, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around his neck.

What Jesus actually says is “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” The whole point of the teaching of physical discipline from proverbs is to prevent the children from “stumbling” by correction. I invite David Moxon to consider that by advocating the criminalization of physical discipline he may in fact be held accountable by God for children whose parents subsequently fail to administer loving discipline.

The bits that the Archbishop missed out include probably the most direct new testament treatment of the practice of a father’s discipline. The letter to the Hebrews explains that God himself physically disciplines the sons that he loves:

And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:

My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
For whom the LORD loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives. (Proverbs 3:11-12)

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

The scourging talked about in this passage is the same thing that happened to Christ as he was scourged by the Romans prior to the cross.

There is more to the biblical picture of a Father’s discipline, none of which came from David Moxon’s lips. God says of his priests:

My covenant with Levi was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name.
True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.
For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts, and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.

“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” I hope David Moxon takes these words to heart and works quickly to repair some of the damage his misleading survey of the biblical witness has already caused.

As an aside, I was also amazed that Aaron Ironside, who must by now have some familiarity with the biblical witness, did not call David out on-air for his falsehoods and omissions.

Do not withhold correction from a child,
For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
¹⁴ You shall beat him with a rod,
And deliver his soul from hell.

The Voyage That Shook the World

Coming soon.

Referendum angst

Media reporters seem to have taken a great dislike to the upcoming referendum on the anti-smacking law recently enacted. Perhaps it is easy to forget that over 300,000 people said “No” to the very question to be put to the public.

Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?

There would be no need for a referendum if the government had not enacted such unpopular and idiotic legislation. But perhaps there is something to legisation of this sort? Suppose we apply the same technique of criminalizing positive behaviour together with the abuse to other societal ills? I know! Lets declare alcohol a class A drug! Alcohol abuse causes huge damage to society. If we make alcohol consumption punishable to the same level as heroin, that will certainly “send the message” that alcohol abuse is unacceptable to society. But never fear, we put it in the law that the police will not prosecute if they feel the effect of the abuser’s alcohol consumption is “inconsequential”.

Thinking ” If I drink this glass of wine, and that woman over there reports me, I could actually get 4 years in the slammer, if the cops don’t like me…” just might lower the rates of alcohol abuse!

Paleontologists discover missing link

Or at least one of King Julien’s ancestors… Darwin fossil Ida hype.

Testimony

Last year the Australian state of Victoria passed law to legalize abortion for any reason up to 24 weeks, and beyond that  given medical certification. Just prior to that legislation being enacted abortion survivor Gianna Jessen gave her testimony in Victoria.

After abortion was legalized in Victoria, in November 2008 Pastor Nalliah recorded a prophetic vision he received:

I saw a man firing randomly with a weapon at people on the streets and many were falling dead. I was very disturbed and was crying. Then the scene changed and I saw fire everywhere with flames burning very high and uncontrollably. With this I awoke from my dream with the interpretation as the following words came to me in a flash from the Spirit of God,  ‘My wrath is about to be released upon Australia, in particular Victoria, for approving the slaughter of the innocent children in the womb.  Now, call on My people to repent and pray!’

Pastor Danny Nalliah has now testified in relation to the recent devastating bush fires in Australia that:

…these bushfires have come as a result of the incendiary abortion laws which decimate life in the womb.

Would God punish the state of Victoria in such a way, merely for legalizing abortions? A lot relies on the credibility of Pastor Danny Nalliah, is he a true prophet?

Gary Bates gives his perspective on the bush fires on the creationontheweb.com site.

CPU Frequency management with RMClock

RMClock is a useful little application. My notebook was consistently hot, and I was unable to use the power management tools that came with Vista to make the notebook use the full range of CPU frequencies available to it. Higher CPU frequencies equate to more heat. In my case my AMD Turion X2 can run at 800Mhz, 1600Mhz or 1800Mhz, but my notebook was locked at 1600Mhz, refusing to dip lower, even when I was hardly using the CPU.

Enter RMClock, it does a fabulous job of keeping my notebook at 800Mhz most of the time, and reacting to load by bumping up the Mhz to 1600 or 1800 when I need it. This CPU technology was called “cool ‘n quiet” when AMD released it, and now thanks to RMClock I get a bit of that promise. My notebook was running routinely at 50-65C, now it idles at 35-40C, and the fans on the system are correspondingly quieter.

I found this article useful in getting the software configured correctly, which required some care, but the end result is great on my Acer notebook running Vista.