What is effective discipline in either or both natural and spiritual life? The answers do not come easily in that both contexts have been interpreted differently in various generations, oscillating between stern measures and gentle interpretations, often with critical attitudes of that which held majority approval in a previous generation. Scripture suggests that spiritual discipline may sometimes be very dramatic. For society strong nature factors may include illness, warfare, excesses of weather – what amounts to be a response of an angry God using evaluation and judgment upon humankind through dramatic nature. God not only acts to limit human violations of righteous principles, but also to elicit humility that leads to amendment of damaging thought/conduct. Discipline appears in Scripture with prudence and wisdom.
There is no doubt that biblical theology notes that God can be angered, something that Jesus demonstrated on one occasion when he expressed physical anger against violators of the Temple grounds just days before his crucifixion. That event may have been the turning point for Judas’ betrayal, and made final in the invitation of Jesus that the recalcitrant disciple do what he had rationalized to do in the course of events leading to the crucifixion. In the rationalization Judas may have thought that Jesus would, through miracle, rescue himself. Judas would then cover any misuse of the team treasury, and the ministry would continue. When Judas discovered his miscalculation he returned the money to the priests and committed suicide. Had Judas sought forgiveness, as Peter did after his fireside denial, he too would have found forgiveness and been given some option for living out his life. This pattern has been widely accepted in some cultures, that when embarrassed by some perceived failure the individual commits suicide. For centuries the Japanese made an orderly program for harakiri. Serious life deviations must be faced, and that is done either in some form of punishment. The ultimate is death either by one’s own hand (Socrates), or another’s (Brutus) or by society (execution). Even dueling followed the pattern. The dead person from the duel was presumed to be the one at fault, and the living exonerated. All this reminds us that there is an underlying feeling of evaluation, of right and wrong, of adjudication, and punishment. The punishment is presumed to end the matter, wiping the slate clean (perhaps with a smudge or two), with exoneration.
We believe in discipline, but failures at achieving it to gain the disciplined person. Self-disciplined persons gain a force in life to serve them. In my childhood the presumed favorite system was woodshed discipline for children. The child was given a spanking – a spanking sufficiently firm enough to be punishment, but also to accent the error of the child’s thought and deportment. In the gradual change in the public mind this became brutality and abuse. Children would currently be taken from their parents if they received spankings (switch or razor strop) similar to those my mother used in raising her three children. Mother was adept in using the strop (our father who was missing would have used his belt). She seemed fierce in the moment, even seeking some alternative in her mind for the unhappy duty. She once said someone had to be disciplined, and asked me to use the strop on her so as not to have her use it on me. I refused. The event sticks in my mind as more beneficial to purpose than any other discipline I might face – at that time period. I remember my last spanking and knew that I better not get another. The purpose would have turned to bitterness, perhaps rebellion. Mother seemed to sense that in me, and never struck me again. (I loved her then and revere her memory now as one of the kindest, caring, serving persons I ever met. I find no fault in her.) What is the way to self-discipline? It certainly begins with child discipline. In our time it can be found in questions/answers, patience, removing privileges, detaining (sit on the stairs for fifteen minutes, and add a minute on every infraction addressed thereafter), assign duties, fix schedules, and best of all, use prayer and sometimes Scripture for the forming of family loyalty making caring children who become persons for purpose. It really works. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020