The Right Use of Authority to Punish Evil

In the past few weeks, we’ve seen an authority figure, namely a Minneapolis police officer, murder George Floyd, seen mayors of major American cities refuse to stop angry mobs from looting and destroying property, and while observing Father’s Day, noted the fatherlessness epidemic in our cities along with God’s ordained design for fathers to be responsible for the discipline of their children. The common thread in these themes, is the break-down of the proper use of authority in our streets and homes. This episode looks at four restraints upon evil that God provides for society, then zooms in to look specifically at one of those restraints, i.e. the proper discipline of children. It examines five guiding principles to use discipline to train our children effectively at home.

Here is the link to the bog article I wrote several years ago, in response to a Twitter explosion, asking What Is a Switch? in response to Adrian Peter’s mention of this implement used for paddling children. The article, entitled, The Peterson Case & the Spanking Question.

Some of the material in this episode comes from Boundaries With Kids, by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend, which is my favorite book on parenting.