I do not believe that humans are inately good. I believe we are corrupt. People lie cheat steal and kill to get what they want. Hence the reasons laws had to be created. Good examples are children who are inately cruel and selfish when they get to a certain age. If a child isnt steered in the right direction, they could lead a corrupt life.
The Bible does talk about discipline.....spare the rod and spoil the child. Although I dont agree with beatings, sometimes you have to discipline your child this way (not in severe beatings). Why do parents do this? Because we love our children and want them to go in the right path and ensure they wont do things to harm themselves
That's where you and I part ways I am afraid, and of course you believe we are born wicked, that's another of Religions perverse pedagogues. That we are created sick and commanded to be well.
And if you examine the lives of even children who do horrible deeds, their are almost always abuse histories behind them. Like I said, the bibles endorsement of dysfunctional child rearing practices creates dysfunctional people that then creates dysfunctional societies. Abusing children under the guise of discipline is cruel, and often leads to them harming themselves and others. Their is zero evidence of treating children with respect leads to future dysfunctional behaviour, yet their is tons of evidence highlighting the dysfunction that child abuse leads too. If you study the Nazi leaders, many of them were raised by religious people with the exact same attitude you display. They believed they were raising their children in a loving way, and steering them in the right direction. In a sick world do you really think it is a good idea to raise children to conform? Unquestioning Obedience is only worthwhile if those you are being obedient too are compassionate. Blind Obedience to degenerates and tyrants is evil, and yet this is what most parents raise, unwell adults that fit into an unwell society to conform to a perverse system.
Their was a recent story about a devout religious couple who adopted children and raised them according to the Christian parenting book
'To Train Up a Child.' Well, they neglected that poor child to death, the 13-year-old died of hypothermia brought on by severe malnutrition in the families back yard. And the religious justification of such child rearing methods is why I find such beliefs appalling, because hitting and neglecting children has the paradoxical effect of creating adult child abusers. The irony is it works in such a way that the abolition of the poor treatment of children is near impossible because the adults who were once those abused children grow up to endorse such behaviour. There's a lot of research behind this, and the repression and denial that saved the child acts as a roadblock to the adult. If the child was shut down and unable to express themselves effectively and no criticism of the parent was tolerated they grow up to be shut off from their true feelings, they essentially have a fake persona. The majority of people NEVER confront their true feelings about childhood abuses and humiliation and because of this go on to repeat the cycle.
