BREAKFAST BIBLE STUDY

Beat Your Children with a Rod

Proverbs 23:13-14 (NRSVUE)

10/5/25

“Christian nationalism is about power, nothing more.” – Christian Pecker

I asked Christian about one of his scars this week that I thought came from his time as a Navy SEAL. The scar was on the top of his head where his hairline was starting to thin.

“Mom struck me,” he said.

“What did you do?” I asked.

“Does it matter?” he said.

“Mom thought the Bible told her she could—”

“Because the Bible did tell her she could beat me,” Christian said. “And you. And Grace.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “But I don’t think the Bible ever says that.”

“Wanna bet?”

So, this week’s breakfast Bible study is about one of the proverbs in the book of Proverbs that I think might be a translation error.

Do not withhold discipline from your children;

    if you beat them with a rod, they will not die.

If you beat them with the rod,

    you will save their lives from Sheol. Proverbs 23: 13-14

“My Bible says to punish the children with a rod,” I told Christian and Grace. “That may not mean beat them.”

“Then what does it mean?” Grace asked.

“Maybe guide them like a shepherd?” I said.

“If there’s no beating involved, why does the author assure the reader that the child will not die? You don’t risk dying by simply being guided. You die by being beaten. And it happens.”

“Mom had punishments,” I said. “She was sick for a long time.”

“We know, buddy,” Christian said. “And her reading of the Bible contributed to that.”

“Violence against children was never right and is never right,” Grace said. “The Bible is flat wrong. Multiple psychological studies have proven how damaging physical abuse is to the well-being of children.”

“And it simply doesn’t work,” Christian said. “What it does is create damaged people, many who go on to continue the cycle of abuse.”

“But we’re working on ourselves,” Grace said. “And Mom’s working to get better.”

“I don’t think God would inspire this passage,” I said. “I think he just wanted parents to guide children like shepherds guide their sheep.”

“Many scholars consider this translation accurate to the ancient manuscripts,” Christian said. “It’s considered precise.”

“Oh,” I said. “But not all scholars?”

“Probably not,” Christian said.

“I think God wants us to be like shepherds,” I said.

“Okay,” Grace said. “Shepherds take care of sheep, but what ultimately happens to those sheep?”

“They get their wool shorn with shears…or is it sheared?” I asked. “Sheared with shears by the shepherd sounds funny. I think it’s shorn with shears.”

“And what else can happen to the shorn sheep?” Grace said.

“Shorn sheep can go to the slaughter,” I whispered.

“Many children deal with abuse,” Christian said. “Many hide that abuse like we did. We should not have. I live with a lot of guilt about you being home alone with Mom all those years.”

“I’m okay,” I said.

“We’re survivors,” Grace said.

“But nobody should have to live like that,” Christian said. “Not two thousand years ago. Not today. Not ever.”

“Okay,” I said. “But can we do a fun story next week?”

In state legislatures across the country, Christian fundamentalists are passing laws meant to force the teaching of the Christian Bible in public schools. From the posting of textually inaccurate iterations of the Ten Commandments on the walls of classrooms to the incorporation of the “Trump Bible” across multiple pedagogical disciplines, these laws and mandates are sweeping the reddest parts of this nation.

The height of hypocrisy is banning books in the name of “protecting children” while mandating one particular book rife with numerous acts of sexual violence and scenes of graphic violence and genocide.

Book bans are dangerous. The Bible is worth reading and exists online and in public school libraries across the country, but proponents of mandating its formal teaching in public schools need to know what it actually says.

Some themes in my books below might not be appropriate for children.