When the book of Proverbs talks about "beating" with the rod, it can only be referring to one thing:
- i.e. corporal punishment.
No amount of rationalisation over the "Greek meaning of the word for discipline" can get around that fact. Nor can confusing "The Rod" with a shepherd's "Staff" help matters much either. Elsewhere in the Old Testament, "The Rod" and "The Staff" are identified as being two separate implements. And even the "staff" (where I come from, known as a "mustering stick") is frequently used to deliver blows. I still have my old mustering stick, a 1.5 metre long piece of manuka, and it was used to whack a recalcitrant cattle beast across the @$$ just as often as it was ever used to guide sheep into a gateway. So much for the attempts of some bible apologists to try and explain the its reference to "The Rod" as really meaning the shepherd's "staff", and that this device is merely used for "guiding" an animal.
In my 28 years involvement with this bloody cult (1966-1994), I saw corporal punishment used almost on an everyday basis, with the open blessing of the religion. In fact, parents who did not use corporal punishment were viewed with open disdain. Also, when Sweden (as far as I am aware, the first country in the world to do this) outlawed corporal punishment in 1978, there was some consternation amongst the JWs. All agreed that the "Swedish brothers" would ignore that law, and thus "render Caesar's things to Caesar, but God's things to God."
Furthermore, Jackson will be fully aware of all this, too.
Bloody liar!
Bill