Is Conquering the Will of Your Child Biblical?

Driving home: Thou shall beat him with the rod and shall deliver his soul from hell.

Martin recounts watching Phil Donahue's show where 'experts' aggressively attacked physical spanking, illustrating the prevalent unbiblical views on child discipline in modern society and his anger at the attack on a teacher who advocated for principled spanking.

The other day, I watched for about eight minutes and a program dealing with the whole matter of child discipline and that's all I could stomach. That's all I could stomach. My wife will tell you. She heard me shouting things down in the family room and wondered what was going on because here he had the professionals the PhDs and the so-called experts and the way he was seeking to influence the millions that watch him was in a way that would say that any kind of physical.

21:28 - 22:04 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Pastor Martin shares personal anecdotes from his own family and childhood to illustrate how a child's will can be conquered through consistent, determined discipline, emphasizing…

Martin shares a story about his older sister, Joyce, who refused to pick up a Kleenex for two and a half hours, enduring multiple spankings until her will was conquered, demonstrating a clash of wills and the necessity of seeing discipline through.

Just as long as it wasn't about me. All right good. You have leave to continue. He said he was such a good little boy but your sister it took her one time two and a half hours so she dropped a button or something and she will not pick it up and she said she had to stand up for two and a half hours so she picked it up.

26:18 - 26:38 Read in full sermon

The point: Pass on the legacy of conquered wills to your children, ensuring they understand and submit to parental authority.

Martin tells a personal story from his teenage years when he wanted to go to a football game instead of scrubbing the kitchen floor. His father's firm stance, 'You can cry till your tears wet the floor, but until you scrub it, there's no football game,' illustrates consistent determination in conquering his will without breaking his spirit.

I pray God you'll pass it on to your kids. But our wills were conquered. conquered, not diverted, but conquered. Even up until teenage years, I can remember, and I'll tell an incident on myself now, in this context of the more intimate nature of our class. I was old enough to know that in one year's time, I'd be playing football up in the high school. And we didn't go to high school until the 10th grade. We had junior high school, 7th, 8th, and 9th. And you could only play junior varsity football in the 10th.

29:08 - 29:42 Read in full sermon

Driving home: That takes all of the natural, what we might say, spunk and initiative out of the child and so disciplines him as to batter him into a little glob of inert childhood.

He uses the analogy of a disciplined dog that is obedient but still joyful and affectionate, versus a crushed animal that is withdrawn and fearful, to illustrate the difference between a conquered will and a broken spirit in children.

Withdrawn from people. That kind of a horrible situation that some of us have seen with our own eyes, even with animals. You see that, don't you? Do you know the difference between a disciplined animal and a crushed animal?

37:17 - 37:31 Read in full sermon