When our culture operates as though everyone is basically good, it will not be able to know the proper way to handle bad or mean behavior. Most liberals think you can reason with young children to teach them, and at times this does work, but generally children do not see a need to believe parents without some sort of corporal punishment to reinforce truth.
Proverbs 13:24 "He who withholds his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently."
Making children feel special or in control, causes arrogance and a grandiose sense of self. It is one thing to be encouraging when a child is really doing well and quite another to praise a child when they are not. Encouragement means to express to someone that they can do something if they try and work hard. It is not encouragement to praise a child who has not tried, did not obey and turned out a piece of garbage because they just wanted to say they did something. To praise like this is nothing more than fruitless flattery.
Proverbs 29:5 "5 A man who flatters his neighbor Is spreading a net for his steps."
I am convinced that children know when they are being foolishly flattered and when we are being sincere. The more we flatter the more we promote lying. To flatter someone when we know they didn't do as they should, is lying to them.
Proverbs 13:5 "A righteous man hates lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and comes to shame."
Proverbs 14:5 "A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies."
If we care about our children we lovingly tell them the truth, we do not allow them to wallow in laziness. Laziness brings shame along with many other sinful habits. When we are lazy in work we will be lazy in personal relationships and diligence toward God's principles.
Proverbs 13:4 "The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing,
But the soul of the diligent is made fat."
If we love our children we are more concerned about their obedience to us and God's Word, than we are about their temporary feelings. They must learn to ignore their feelings and continue to obey. We do not negate their feelings, but we do not indulge them either.
We see an increase in crimes when the punishments are too lenient. When we do not show the seriousness of sin we tend to think of obedience as a suggestion rather than an obligation.
There was a times when the cultural taboo of living in sin outside of marriage was so strong that no one would do it openly. Because it was considered a base thing to do, almost everyone avoided it.
Christians wouldn't indulge themselves in it and even non-believers were not engaging in this sin. It was not considered kind or proper to take the virginity from a woman without committing oneself completely to her for life. A woman was considered the more vulnerable of the race, to be treated with honor and respect.
I am sure all of you have noticed that the more the restraints for sinful activity have been loosened, the greater numbers of people are gratifying themselves in risky and selfish activities outside of God's principles.
Let's take a little inventory, since the 1960's when moral restraints were beginning to be lifted through the Elvis craze and the onset of rock music promoting sin of every kind, we have gone from nearly no one living outside marriage together to same sex marriage promoted by the highest courts of our land.
Goodness.....does anyone think that all this freedom to sin has gained us something other than devastating us as a society? We have more broken and selfish people than we have ever had since the beginning of this country, with no end in sight.
Psalm 33:12 "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!"
Proverbs 14:34 "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people."
Here we are today as a nation:
Deuteronomy 32:28 "“For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them."
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