Child abuse in the church

Matt 18:6
Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.


An abused child is to report the abuse to a trusted adult or authorities.

If we have observed abuse we should intervene and plead the cause of the child, get the child to safety, confront the abuser, involve the state.

 

Let me help you with your definitions:

Discipline: Helps a child to grow

Abuse: Stunts a child's growth

See the difference?

I'd put forward the scripture about fathers not provoking their children to wrath. That is the very definition of abuse imo. (sorry I'm not where I can look up the scripture reference, I think it is in Ephesians)

 

How many children do you know that are drunkards or gluttons? My belief is that this scripture describes an older teen(or young person not quite ready to be self sufficient) and not a child. The difference here is that the son described above is old enough and has already been taught the Law (the one we no longer abide by and thus don't drag our rebellious teens out to be stoned).

It is abuse when a child is demeaned and humiliated. When the "discipline" is applied because the parent is frustrated/angry over other things besides the actions of the child (ie, dad comes home mad at his boss and smacks the first kid he sees or mom is mad at dad and shakes the baby when it cries for food)

Remember my definitions, discipline helps a child to become a productive adult, abuse stunts that growth.

The line is: Bring up your children in the nuture and admonition of the Lord. How does God nurture us? How does He admonish us?

Does He smack us around because it makes Him feel good? or does He rather chasten us, when we do wrong, because it will make us better Christians? This is where we should take our example from.

 

Rod

We are to lead our children with a rod, not beat them with it.

Has anyone seen a Shepherd beat a sheep with a rod

 

I was hopping to hear from some who physically seen it. They don't abuse the sheep to get it to go the right direction

 

Sorry Deacon, I missed this question. However, the scripture you quoted answers your question: Who gets to decide? The parents, followed by the state. Notice, the parents of the rebellious son weren't to stone the boy themselves, but take him before the elders/state. It was up to them to decide if the parents were correct in their estimation, before stoning occurred.

 

"Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell." (Prov. 23:14)

 

My weakness

This is a weakness when used wrongly, So many use that verse wrongly to justify their wrong action . This is very thin ice to walk on.

Ephesians 6
Children and Parents
1Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2"Honor your father and mother"—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3"that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."[Deut. 5:16 ] 4Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

 

I can beat that one. I used to make my kids drink tobasco from a bottle. If I was in a really bad mood, I made them walk on mouse traps.

Seriously, this thread does not have one ounce of common sense. If anyone as a parent does not know the difference between abuse and loving a child while they bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, then they have no business being parents. A Christian parent knows what is right and wrong bringing up children. Someone asked earlier what is the line between discipline and abuse. It is called Scripture and common sense.