Rev. K.D. Macleod
A 12-year-old boy has taken Britain to the European Court of Human Rights claiming that the Government failed to protect him from being physically punished. The Court has agreed to hear the case, but it is likely to be more than a year before a final judgement is issued. The boy’s lawyers have argued that Britain has failed to enforce its obligation under the European Human Rights Convention to protect citizens from “inhuman and degrading treatment”. Obviously, we do not support any form of punishment which is genuinely inhuman or degrading, but any suggestion that all forms of physical punishment, including a gentle smack, are inhuman and degrading is patent nonsense.
Now, what are the facts in this case? As reported in the press, the boy was beaten by his stepfather with a cane three years ago after he tried to stab another child with a kitchen knife. The stepfather was taken to court on charges of assault, but the jury found that the punishment was within the bounds of “reasonable chastisement”. The boy’s mother claims that the boy is “totally out of control” since the age of 2. Clearly the boy desperately needed firm discipline, and proper physical punishment has its part to play. Yet the very fact that the boy’s parents are living apart suggests that at least one of them is not free from blame for the state of discipline which the boy has reached, just as at least one party is not free from blame for the breakdown of the marriage. And the natural father is backing (presumably instigating) the boy’s court case.
The danger is that this case may lead to all forms of physical punishment being outlawed in the UK, for all decisions of the European Court are legally binding on the member states. It is long past time that western societies ignored the ideas of humanistic liberalism and listened to the Bible. We read in Proverbs 13:24, for instance, “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.”
As far back as 1846 Charles Bridges wrote in his Commentary on
Proverbs: “Among the many theories of education, how often is God’s system overlooked!” His comments (slightly edited for clarity) go on, “The rod of discipline is its main character; not harsh severity, but a wise, considerate, faithful exercise: always aiming at the subjugation of the will, and the humbling and purifying of the heart. Here, however, God and man are at issue. Man often spares the rod, because he loves the child. This at least he calls love. But is not our Father’s love to His children inconceivably more yearning than that of an earthly parent? Yet He does not spare the rod – ‘what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?’ (Heb. 12:7). Is the rod the proof of His hatred? No, but of His love. ‘Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth’ (Heb. 12:6). On the other hand, ‘he that spareth his rod, hateth the child.’ Does he not act at least as if he hated him; omitting a duty so necessary for his welfare; winking at the indulgence of vicious habits and a wayward will, which so surely issue in bitter sorrow?
“The discipline of our children must therefore commence with self-discipline. Nature teaches us to love them much. But we want a controlling principle to love them wisely. The indulgence of our children has its root in self-indulgence. We do not like putting ourselves to pain… All our children are children of Adam. Foolishness is bound up in their hearts, (Pro. 22:15). All choose from the first dawn of reason, the broad road of destruction (Isa 53:6). And can we bear the thought that they should walk in that road? We pray for their conversion. But prayer without teaching is mockery, and Scripture teaching implies chastening. Discipline there therefore must be. All need the rod, some again and again. Yet it must be the father’s rod, yearning over the chastened child (Ps 103:13), even while he dares not spare him for his crying (Prov. 19:18). The rod without affection is revolting tyranny.
“But often do we hear mourning over failure. And is not this the grand reason? We do not chasten betimes. Satan begins with the infant in arms! (Psalm 58:3, Isaiah 48:8). The cry of passion is the first stir of the native corruption. Do we begin as early?… But fearful indeed is the difficulty when the child has been the early master; to begin chastening when the habit of disobedience has been formed and hardened… Rarely indeed does this late experiment succeed; while the severity necessary to enforce it is not less dangerous than painful. ‘It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth’ (Lam.3:27)”.
We hope and pray that the UK will not come under any obligation to follow other European countries in banning reasonable, restrained physical punishment. But Britain is following other European countries in forsaking the Word of the Lord, and what wisdom is to be expected? Any code of law
which ignores the Scriptures will inevitably find itself at some points failing even the straight-forward test of common sense.