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1. Studies show that corporal punishment makes the children not better but worse when they grow up. 

(a)
A better or worse what? A better Christian? Or a better non-Christian? What is a better Christian? What is a better non-Christian? Better according to what standard? Why must we use that standard?  What is better and what is worse? Who decides? How is it measured?

Let’s say that those who have never received corporal punishment are more socially well-adjusted. What does that mean? Who defines this? Why is this good or important? What is good? Important for what? With whom are they more socially well-adjusted? With other criminals, adulterers, drinkers, or with devout Christians? Is one who has received corporal punishment repressed, or is he more disciplined and principled? Does the science define and then measure the morality? Why, or why not? How? And whose morality? Once you bring morality into it, is it still “scientific”? These are just several details, and we can list many more. They don’t know what they are supposed to measure, what they are measuring, why they are measuring, and how they are measuring.

This point alone renders all the studies practically meaningless. Otherwise, I can win the argument by saying that whatever the children who have received corporal punishment grow up to be was what we intended all along, and that we consider the product very good. Therefore, studies show that corporal punishment makes the children better when they become adults, because we say so. This is just as “scientific,” and it shows that we achieve a hundred percent success rate by corporal punishment.

(b)
If we don’t care whether we are making Christians, or better Christians, then the issue becomes one of evangelism and apologetics, because we should care. If we don’t care, it would mean that the studies are intended to make “better” unbelievers — that is, to produce inferior people. But if we care to make better Christians, then we can measure only true Christians – those Christians who have faith in God, who have the Spirit of God, and who provide a strong Christian environment for the children all the time, not only when they exercise corporal punishment.

Corporal punishment without the context of proper instruction is not what the Bible teaches. So all non-Christians and nominal Christians cannot count in these studies. This most likely makes almost a hundred percent of the sample irrelevant when considering the issue as Christians. The usual studies only observe reprobates hitting reprobates over who-knows-what problem they have. It is an impossible leap to make that a basis to pass judgment on the Bible’s teaching. They should simply admit that they reject the Bible’s teaching out of sheer prejudice and be done with it.

A similar issue occurs in how people count divorce rates. They include all those who check the “Christian” box, which means that the group would include Mormons, Catholics, nominal or “non-practicing” Christians, and others. The group would have nothing to do with what the Bible counts as Christians. The result would be at best a measurement of divorce rates among non-Christians. Or, it would be like performing an experiment on whether prayer “works,” but include in the group atheists, Mormons, Muslims, Satanists, Buddhists, and other kinds of people. Of course the result would show that it does not work, but it would only mean that non-Christian prayer does not work.

(c)
We are talking about minds and persons, and observing each individual over a period of time, even years. And each one is different. How in the world can you tell if a particular person – the same individual – would be better off or worse off if raised a different way? At the moment, let us forget the fact that the first two criticisms each render the studies useless. Then for the studies to be meaningful, we have to raise each person with the use of corporal punishment and observe him throughout his life, and then turn back time and raise the same person again without the use of corporal punishment and observe him throughout his life.

Raising different people with different parents? How can you compare? The observations themselves are inaccurate because of the defective and irrational method, and the impossible epistemology. However, even if we pretend that the observations accurately report the facts, the best that they can do is to provide information on what is and what has been, not what could be or could have been. But we need information on what could be or could have been in order to determine whether corporal punishment makes the children better or worse.

Perhaps one person could have become the next Hitler, but because he has been whipped from head to toe year after year, now he is only a little repressed and anti-social. Perhaps another person could have become the next Luther, but because he has never been whipped silly, now he is a drinker, a gambler, a womanizer, even if he is a socially well-adjusted businessman, whatever that means.

It is impossible to draw proper comparisons and conclusions. There would be trillions of variables in the parents, the children, and the environments in each group. The use of corporal punishment would not be the only difference between the groups. The only fair method is to compare each person with himself, and that is only possible with time travel or omniscience. And there is still no solution to the first two points.

In any case, the rod in the Bible is prescribed in a Christian context. You cannot beat a child and say nothing to him or teach him nothing, and still expect good results. Corporal punishment is one aspect of parenting. The pain has to mean something and not just come down as random aggression. The studies do not measure this. To measure this, at least the studies must be led by preachers who agree with what I have said above, instead of led by psychologists and sociologists.

It would probably do some good for non-Christians to use corporal punishment on their children, but without a Christian education and environment the effect would be limited, and would produce undesirable side-effects, such as resentment. It might still help the children to develop some measure of self-control, of the ability to delay gratification, to stay away from crime and drugs, and so on. Nevertheless, the effect would be on a different level altogether, perhaps on the level of training animals.

2. The “rod” in the Bible does not refer to a physical instrument, but it is a metaphor for discipline and guidance. 

(a)
I would not let them throw the burden of proof on me. They need to show me that this is a metaphor instead of just suggesting it. I will not just take it. They are going to have a really hard time. It will be an unpleasant experience for them.

(b)
Psalm 89:32 says, “I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging.” The parallel to the “rod” is “flogging” (“stripes” in ESV, “beating” in NLT). So the rod means flogging. Now, in this verse it is indeed a metaphor! But the context is about how God deals with kings and nations, so that the metaphor refers to war, plagues, enslavement, widespread slaughter, and more. Thus just because something is a metaphor does not mean that the reality is less violent or severe. It often means that the reality is more. If the “rod” for child discipline is a metaphor, then it might mean that we should drop a car on the kid instead of caning him.

(c)
Proverbs 10:13 says, “Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning, but a rod is for the back of him who lacks judgment.” The “lips” is contrasted against the “rod.” These are two approaches extended toward different kinds of people. Wisdom deals with words. It does not say gentle words or any such thing, but just words. So the contrast is not between two kinds of speech, but between the verbal and the physical.

The foolish man does not listen, and so he must be beaten. This is true even when we leave the context of parenting and talk about how society functions. A wise man listens to the words of the law, but the fool refuses to listen, and so he must be jailed, or beaten, or executed. Also see Proverbs 19:29. Then, Proverbs 26:3 says, “A whip for the horse, a halter for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools!” The whip and the halter are physical. You do not argue with a horse or donkey. Therefore, the rod is also physical, and there is no warrant to say otherwise.