BodiSatva said:
Is it "Christian" to spank a child?
With decent parenting skills, one would never ever have to HIT a child.
Just curious...
To guard against abuse is certainly a just and good thing.
Spanking is a tool to be used sparingly, only when necessary and appropriate. Spanking a child for balk-talk, being slow, touching something of no consequence which you would rather they not touch, and similar, are not justifyable occasions for spanking.
When my 5 year old does something dangerous like trying to put his fork in the electrical outlet, running away from me when we are in public (particularly in crowded malls or near traffic), hits his brother, performs an earth-splitting temper-tantrum, or similar, I will issue him one swift sting to his tush.
The point of spanking should be to sharply acquire the child's attention. This lets them know that they have don something very wrong. The most important part of spanking is what you say to your child immediately after the spank. It should be firm and instructive.....even comanding.
You should never spank your child out of anger or as corporal punishment. This will only lend your child toward an attitude of spite and aggression.
This use of spanking has led to a dramatic reduction in those activities. Spanking, used appropriately, is one such decent parenting skill.
Also, if Adam and Eve had two sons...Cain and Able (or three sons including Seth if you so believe), how was the human race populated?
Adam and Eve also had daughters.
Genesis 5:3-4;
3 When Adam had lived a hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. 4 The days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years; and he had other sons and daughters.
Here in lays one of the many controversies of Genesis: How was the Earth populated from only 2 people?
Briefly:
1. The story of Adam and Eve is symbolic. More than 2 people were created at the same time;
2. Man was created with a "perfect" genetic code. This "perfect" genetic code did not produce errors through generations of inbreeding, and is why Adam and Eve were never issued a law forbidding sexual relations with daughters, sisters, etc. Only after the first wave of Nefilim came into the story did insest become an issue. This suggests that the Nefilim's breeding with the daughters of Man corrupted the original human genetic code, resulting in the OT lavit. laws forbidding insestial relations;
3. If you will notice, the afore referenced passage of Genesis 5:3-4 goes out of it's way to tell us that Seth was in Adam's image and likeness. The bible does not do this for Cain, Able, or anyone ells for that matter. This suggests that there was something different about Cain and Able then of the rest of Man. Something different from even Adam. Though what exactly this could be I do not know.
