A BOOK FROM GOD

A Practical Book for Modern Living

Books offering advice tend to become outdated and are soon revised or replaced.  But the Bible is truly unique.  "Your own reminders have proved very trustworthy," says Psalm  93:5.  Although the Bible was completed nearly 2,000 years ago,  its words are still applicable.  And they apply with equal effect regardless of the color of our skin or the country in which we live.  Consider some examples of the Bible's timeless,  "very trustworthy" counsel.

Several decades ago many parents -spurred on by "innovative ideas" on child rearing-thought it was " forbidden to forbid."  Setting limits for children, they feared, would cause trauma and frustration.  Well-meaning counselors were insisting that parents refrain from anything more than the mildest correction of their children.  Many such experts are now "urging parents to be a little stricter, to take control again,"  reports The New York Times.

All along, however, the Bible has offered specific, balanced counsel on the subject of child training.  It advises:  "Fathers, do not be irritating your children, but go on bringing them up in the discipline and mental-regulating of Jehovah."  (Ephesians 6:4)   The Greek noun translated  "discipline" means "upbringing, training, instruction,is evidence of parental love.  (Proverbs 13:24)  Children thrive under clear-cut moral guidelines that help them develop a sense of right and wrong.  Properly administered discipline helps them to feel secure; it tells them that their parents care about them and about the kind of person they are becoming. -Compare Proverbs 4:10-13.

Next time: Conclusion of  A Practical Book for Modern Living

Watchtower, 1998