An Answer for Bad Parenting

This entry is in response to a blog entry by "Mamaneeds2rant" on her blog. Her original entry is found here.

First let me say that 'Mama...' is a very special woman for many reasons. She holds a very dear place in the hearts of my wife and children and I. We are thankful for the part she plays in the life of 'Big Daddy'.

There are some things she said in this blog entry that I wanted to respond to and did not feel that the 'comments' section was the place to do it.

Let me attempt to offer another view on some of Mama's rants:

Mama's view:
"...On a human level, I can’t even understand how anything can take precedence over one’s children. It is embedded in our nature to want to care and protect our young. People that lack this are very sick individuals..."

My view:
It is not necessarily embedded in everyone's nature to do this. Certain factors that may come into play are a person's own parent's abilities or lack thereof as well as traumatic experiences during childhood. To call someone sick because of this may be accurate from a mental standpoint, but it seemed harsh to me.

Genesis 1:11
And God said, Let the earth put forth [tender] vegetation: plants yielding seed and fruit trees yielding fruit whose seed is in itself, each according to its kind, upon the earth. And it was so.

Just as every tree bears fruit of the same kind, so it is with our actions. This is a foundational principle found in the Word of God.

Luke 6:43 -44
For there is no good (healthy) tree that bears decayed (worthless, stale) fruit, nor on the other hand does a decayed (worthless, sickly) tree bear good fruit. For each tree is known and identified by its own fruit; for figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor is a cluster of grapes picked from a bramblebush.

Good parents beget good parents. Bad parents produce bad parents.

Mama's view:
"...They don’t want to discipline their kids because they’re afraid their children won’t “like” them..."

My view:
My experience in ministry and my own household has revealed that these parents probably had parents that were too disciplinary, even maybe abusive.

Ephesians 6:4
And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

An overly disciplinary parent may cause a person to rebel. That rebellion may take the form of 'anti-discipline' in their own home.

Mama's view:
"On the other end of the bad parenting spectrum, there is the actual child abuser. These people are truly sick individuals who should be behind bars in most cases. Evil has taken hold of their entire being until they are not even human anymore."

My view:
'Not even human'? Wow, that's harsh. They ARE human. Christ died for them just the same. They in fact are worth as much to him as you or I.

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people's conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance. (emphasis mine)

Most individuals that fall into this category were abused themselves. In most evangelical circles, it's referred to as a generational curse. That cycle MUST be changed in order for these people to ever have a successful life as a parent.

Exodus 34:6 - 7
And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord! the Lord! a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness and truth, keeping mercy and loving-kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but Who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children, to the third and fourth generation.

Even those who crucified Christ understood this concept:

Matthew 27:25
Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

Generational cursing and blessing are also biblical principles. Many temptations and struggles against evil that we face in our own lives are results of the sins of our ancestors. These curses can and should be broken so that we do not have to deal with them and more importantly, our children will not. The breaking of this cycle is available through the shed blood of Jesus and this is testified to in this post.

Ephesians 1:7
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

Mama's view:
"...The enabling parent has no soul..."

My view:
Aw, come on! That's not even possible! That must have been just a description of the person and not a statement of reality, right?

Genesis 2:7
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Thanks for giving me something to blog about today, Mama.

You are loved out here in Easton!