What Does Proverbs 13:24 Teach About Parental Discipline?. Would Jesus Do Valentine’s? Be Subject to the Authorities.

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What Does Proverbs 13:24 Teach About Parental Discipline?

God corrects, teaches and disciplines us because He loves us.

“What does the Bible say about discipline? The Proverbs about child discipline teach something different from what many assume. They teach loving discipline.

The book of Proverbs teaches practical wisdom for all people at every stage of life, including the parenting stage. Parenting should be a wonderful time of life when children are growing and developing.

The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about parenting.

But not all the proverbs are easy to understand, and some may even seem inapplicable to parents today. One example of a proverb like this could be Proverbs 13:24: “He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly.”

Notice the strong words used in this verse: “rod,” “hates,” “loves” and “disciplines.”

What exactly is this verse teaching us?”   Continue Reading    From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/life/blog/what-does-proverbs-1324-teach-about-parental-discipline/?

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Would Jesus Do Valentine’s?

“A few years ago the acronym WWJD became really popular—it stands for “What Would Jesus Do?”

So here’s a question for this time of the year: Would Jesus do Valentine’s?

Well, why not? One could argue. It’s all about love, romance and showing sweetness to someone special. Sounds like the kind of thing Jesus is all about!

But think about this for a minute: The only reason we have Valentine’s Day today is because someone started it somewhere. We can’t simply put Jesus in our context today and ask if He would be celebrating Valentine’s, without first asking would He have celebrated it when it first became popularized.

So let’s rewind history just a bit. Going way back, centuries before Jesus, the Romans had a big, three-day long religious celebration—a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. Faunus was the Roman equivalent to the Greek god Pan. He was also associated with the god Lupercus, from which this festival got the name Lupercalia, which was celebrated between the 13th and 15th of February.

All the lore surrounding the goings-on of this festival is a little murky. Some say that after the sacrifices and rituals to pray for the gods’ blessings for fertility, the bachelors would draw from an urn the names of young women, and they would be paired with them for a year, maybe longer if the relationship worked out. Others debate that, but we do know enough to conclude that, well, let’s just say that the pagans knew how to mix a lot of illicit sex into their religious celebrations.

So skip ahead a few hundred years and—I’ll just quote from a National Public Radio report—“Pope Gelasius I muddled things in the 5th century by combining St. Valentine’s Day with Lupercalia to expel the pagan rituals.” Knowing how popular it was with the masses, though, he said, we’ll still have something on Feb. 14, but we’ll honor Saint Valentine, a fellow Catholic legend says was martyred. As NPR says, “The festival was more of a theatrical interpretation of what it had once been. Lenski adds, ‘It was a little more of a drunken revel, but the Christians put clothes back on it. That didn’t stop it from being a day of fertility and love.’”

The AmericanCatholic.org website says Gelasius “changed the lottery to have both young men and women draw the names of saints whom they would then emulate for the year (a change that no doubt disappointed a few young men). Instead of Lupercus, the patron of the feast became Valentine.

“For Roman men, the day continued to be an occasion to seek the affections of women, and it became a tradition to give out handwritten messages of admiration that included Valentine’s name.”

And let’s not forget about Cupid—where did he come from? Well, in Roman mythology Cupid is the son of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty. He himself is the god of raw desire, erotic love and attraction; and he was worshipped because he could cause people to fall in love by shooting them with his love-potion arrows. So, that cute little cherub on your greeting card?—a Roman god.

So would Jesus have done Valentine’s Day when it first appeared on the scene in modern Christianity? Would He have said, “Hey, I don’t have any problem with you borrowing a little religion here and there from the pagans. Want to weave their idols and gods into My religion? Go for it. Don’t worry about that silly commandment about idolatry and no other gods before Me. My God, Roman gods—no big deal.”

“Valentine’s and WWJD”—what would Jesus do? That’s pretty clear.

The real question is “Valentine’s and WWYD”—what will you do?” From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/speaking-of/would-jesus-do-valentines/

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Be Subject to the Authorities

Romans 13:1-2

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.

“Although Christians’ main citizenship and allegiance is to the Kingdom of God, the apostle Paul makes clear that we are to be respectful and obedient to our nation’s requirements unless they are in contradiction to God’s Word (Acts 4:19). God allows all authority that exists, even though human leaders who do not have His Holy Spirit to guide them will always fail to live up to the standards of leadership He has set. It is not for Christians to resist the authorities, but to leave their fate in the hands of God.

As David fled from King Saul (who was trying to kill him for no reason), he explained why he would not kill his enemy: “The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the LORD’s anointed” (1 Samuel 24:6). God eventually gave David the kingdom, but He did not want David to take it for himself, even though Saul had disqualified himself. King David himself fell short of God’s perfect standard for rulership—which will be established by Christ when He rules as King of Kings on earth.

It’s interesting to note that the Roman leader at the time Paul wrote Romans 13 was the evil Emperor Nero. Still Paul admonished Christians to submit to the authority of the Roman government.

Living under imperfect human governments helps us to long even more for the perfect government of God.”  From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/blog/be-subject-to-the-authorities/?

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