Children and Punishment

Many people who grew up in church remember a verse said before a spanking: "Spare the rod, spoil the child." Parents were taught that God required it, that a loving parent hits, and that a child's will must be broken early so the child will learn to obey God. Most of those parents were afraid of failing their children and did what they were told.

You're not imagining it. Many children were hit in God's name, and some were hurt far worse by parents following religious manuals. If that was your childhood, what happened to you was real, and it did not come from Jesus. The man they quoted grew angry when adults kept children away from him, and he never once told a parent to strike a child.

Measured against the center