Discipline and Freedom with Chad Bird

We have Old Testament scholar, Chad Bird, on to discuss with us the ways we twist the book of Proverbs into a prosperity gospel, especially in regard to our ideas of family. This episode we talk about Proverbs 13:24, and what it means and doesn't mean to discipline our children.

Rather than giving us a formula for discipline, we talk about the goals of discipline, and ways that our reliance or focus on methods misses the point of knowing and loving our particular children, and getting their attention in ways they will respond. We separate the ideas of discipline and punishment, and clarify which one God does with his children. We talk about our perceptions of pain, and ends up pointing to our wrestling with suffering, and how God disciplines us.

In talking about pain, we talk about the desire of parents to just want their kids to be happy, and the unintentional pressure that puts on kids. We mention the priest Eli and his sons, and even the prophet Samuel, and what went wrong there. This ends up with us looking at what it means to be a theologian of the cross in our parenting, and calling a thing what it is, and allowing our kids to call things what they are, even if they are hard.

Chad talks about how easy it is to slip into a "god-complex" as a parent, as we think our child's salvation is in our own hands, and how things go wrong in discipline when we think that we are God. The uses of pain, suffering, weakness, and limitations are not very pleasant things, but God seems to make use of them anyway, for our good.

Show Notes:

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More from the hosts:

• Gretchen Ronnevik

• Katie Koplin