The WTS edited spanking and hitting out of the written publications because so many countries were making it illegal. Culture has a play in it too and the age of the parents and whether their parents practiced this.
I wonder what adult jws would think if the elders spanked them at the JCs?
Comments
Obedience = discipline = spanking
Has the WTS policy re spanking changed? If so, where, and why? Were you spanked as a child? Looking back, was it physical abuse based on current secular definitions? How is spanking viewed and applied in today’s secular society and the WTS?
Notice how discipline = spanking and how mothers are the designated WTS spankers. Why is it that our supervisors don’t spank us? Why is it that the elders don’t spank us?
*** w54 1/15 p. 54 par. 2 Disciplining Children for Life ***
Many child psychologists put a "hands off" sign on children, as did one who said: "Do you mothers realize that every time you spank your child you show that you are hating your child?" Jehovah says: "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him." A spanking may be a lifesaver to a child, for Jehovah says: "Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you beat him with a rod, he will not die. If you beat him with the rod you will save his life from Sheol."
Well, we just have to face the fact that these animal mothers are old-fashioned and seem not to have read any modern books on child psychology, because they surely do spank their young.
Some animal parents kill and eat their young…should humans imitate their behavior?
*** w60 1/15 p. 49 par. 19 The Happy Family of the Wonder-working God ***
The wise parent today keeps his children close by him. He is interested in them, and regularly studies the Bible with them at home. He follows all the wise counsel of God’s Word, in properly training his children. When it comes to meeting time, he appreciates that it is not a matter of asking the children, Would you like to come along? Or of suggesting to them, Do you feel too tired tonight, deary? Nor does he take them along just because there is no one at home to look after them. He does not leave the children at home for fear they may be too noisy at the meeting. He takes the little ones to the meeting, whether they want to go or not, and if they misbehave, he corrects them, not by bribing them with candies, but by applying a good spanking as needed. They soon understand that they are there to listen and to learn.—Prov. 13:24; 23:13, 14; Deut. 4:9, 10.
*** w65 11/1 p. 644 In the Spirit of Love ***
In striking contrast to that mother was the father (in another true-life incident) who had kindly but firmly told his daughter not to be running around in the Christian meeting place after the program for worship had ended and who warned her she would get a spanking if she did. Before long, though, she was running around again and so her father required her to sit still on a chair until the time came for them to go home. Upon arriving at home the father took her upon his lap and kindly asked her if she remembered what he had told her would happen if she kept acting disorderly. Yes, she did, but begged off being punished, promising she would not do it again. But her father asked her, "What would you think of a person who made promises but did not keep them, and would you want your daddy to be like that?" She saw he had no alternative but to give her the spanking, which he did. But right after her tears had dried she came over to where her daddy was sitting and, putting her arms around him, said, "Daddy, I love you!" No question about it, administering punishment in the spirit of love, without anger or getting provoked, is the best way.
Why was not sitting quietly on a chair sufficient punishment? God promised through Jonah that he was going to execute them, did God follow through on that "promise"?
*** w72 12/1 p. 708 Do Not Harbor a Grudge ***
This brings to mind what a humorist once related. At times his father spanked him for something he had not done. When he complained, his father responded: ‘Well, that was for the time you did something for which you should have gotten a spanking and didn’t get one.’
Should the elders have random judicial committees just in case someone should have had one and didn’t?
*** w73 9/15 p. 557 par. 20 What Kind of Training Do Children Need? ***
A New York Times editorial, April 5, 1972, said: "‘Spare the rod and spoil the child’ is a wrong-headed adage that continues to get approving nods from self-appointed upholders of ‘the old virtues.’ It is difficult to fathom why the administration of premeditated, painful punishment by a bigger and stronger person could instill anything other than the belief that force triumphs." But is this view correct?
(Prov. 13:24) It shows real love on the part of a parent to do whatever he can to correct his child, including spanking him
*** w79 5/1 p. 30 Insight on the News ***
However, the enormous increase in juvenile delinquency is one evidence that the ‘no spanking’ view has not helped matters.
Is there proof of a correlation between not spanking and juvenile delinquency?
*** w82 7/15 p. 9 How to Enjoy a Happy Family Life ***
The giving of discipline, even if it includes a spanking, is an evidence of parental love
From 1988 to 2004 the WTS does not mention "spanking" in the WT. But in 2004,
*** w04 7/15 p. 31 "Everyone Shrewd Will Act With Knowledge" ***
A rod is a symbol of authority. At Proverbs 13:24, it refers to parental authority. In this context, employing the rod of discipline does not necessarily mean spanking a child. Rather, it represents the means of correction, whatever form it may take. In one case, a rebuke kindly given to a child may be sufficient to correct improper behavior. Another child may require a stronger reproof. "A rebuke works deeper in one having understanding than striking a stupid one a hundred times," says Proverbs 17:10.
Is that why the elders don’t spank, strike, beat "erring" JWs?
*** w06 11/1 p. 5 Reliable Advice for Raising Children ***
Dr. James Dobson wrote
in TheStrong-WilledChild (1978): "Corporal punishment in the hands of a loving parent is a teaching tool by which harmful behavior is inhibited." On the other hand, in an article adapted from the seventh edition of the popular book BabyandChildCare (1998), Dr. Benjamin Spock said: "Spanking teaches children that the larger, stronger person has the power to get his way, whether or not he is in the right."
With regard to discipline, the Bible states: "The rod and reproof are what give wisdom." (Proverbs 29:15) However, not all children need physical punishment. Proverbs 17:10)
Do you know who Dr. James Dobson is? Whose modality does the WTS still use? Dobson or Spock?
What about countries that have outlawed spanking children?
*** g79 6/22 p. 29 Watching the World ***Sweden Defies Ancient Standards
Instead of mothers’ tender care, new baby Swedes may now receive well-meant but perhaps rougher handling by their fathers for the first eight months. (WTS implication that men cannot be caring parents) Sweden’s government has offered fathers the option of staying home to care for their infants at 90 percent salary while mother goes to work. Thousands of fathers have responded to the invitation.
Also, the Swedish Parliament recently voted overwhelmingly to prohibit parents from spanking their children or subjecting them to any other so-called "humiliating treatment." The Ministry of Justice is said to be planning an information campaign that will include distributing videotapes that inform children about their rights. Then how are parents to discipline? Though warning against physical punishment, a government pamphlet for parents says: "Of course, you have the right as a parent to get angry and show it."
*** g80 4/8 p. 29 Watching the World ***Discipline Disarmed
On January 1, the Federal Republic of Germany joined Sweden in restricting parents’ authority to discipline their children. (See Awake!, 6/22/79, p. 29.) Parents are forbidden to use "degrading upbringing measures," such as spanking, when children disobey. The little ones can take parents to Family Court if they should violate the new law. The government argues that children lose their "human dignity" when they are spanked. However, under the new law, "human dignity" may well be replaced with childish arrogance. ( Does the WTS have proof of this, why aren’t adult JWs "spanked" to prevent adult arrogance?)
What adjustments has the WTS made? For one, they have removed any mention of spanking in their publications. Has there been any written "adjustments" in the KMs of those countries? If any readers know about this, please share.
the following 17 states , children are protected by law from all corporal punishment:
http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/pages/frame.html
If someone at the KH or in the community hit you the way parents hit their children….
