Put Down the Fly-swatter!

 Spare the rod! says Jonathan Gainey

What is the thing with smacking children for doing wrong? If someone smacked me every time I did something wrong, I’d have to wear body armor.

A couple of years ago, while sitting in a restaurant with a few others, there was a table across from us with a family who had a small child eating with them. The little boy was probably less than two-years-old. On the table beside the baby lay a flyswatter, and each time the baby did something wrong, the woman sitting beside him would pick up the flyswatter, look intently at the little boy, and give a stern, NO! If the child stopped, the woman would put the flyswatter down. If the little boy didn’t stop, the woman would swat his hand with the flyswatter.

I’m pretty sure that we weren’t the only other family that was feeling uncomfortable about the situation. None of us like to see someone constantly threatened by authority with a hovering punishment tool sitting beside them as a constant reminder of the penalty for every mistake.

Why do so many Christians place the gospel beside people and use it as a reminder of punishment for sin?

Jesus’ message was the Kingdom of God. And within his Kingdom teaching, Jesus taught about mercy, forgiveness, and grace. Jesus shared that the wages of sin is death, and that those who do not do the will of God are in danger of being eternally separated from God. Jesus spoke of a place of endless punishment which is usually translated in English by using the word hell, though Jesus himself did not use the word “hell.” Jesus used the words:

1. Tartaroo - a word borrowed from the Greek world which was a reference to the place where angels were punished in the world of mythology.

2. Hades - A Greek translation of the Hebrew word Sh’ol - only word used for hell in the Old Testament and refers to the world of the dead, grave, pit, and sleep. The Gates of Hades is a physical place in the Decapolis where the pagan God, Pan, was worshiped, as his worshipers believed that he would come up from the fresh water spring I that place. Standing water like a lake or spring was thought of as a gateway to Hades.

3. Gei-Hinnom - A reference to the Valley of Hinnom. 2 Kings 23:10, “He (King Josiah) desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.” The valley of Gei-Hinnom was still used as a garbage dump in Jerusalem during the time of Jesus. The people would have been very familiar with the constant burning of the trash, the stench of burning sulfur and the fighting dogs that battled over the food that were weeping and gnashing their teeth as they fought.

Jesus’ teachings of hell were visual reminders that the useless things in our lives are only good for death or the town dump, and that those who do not serve as a part of God’s purposes are the useless things of God and are only good for God’s dump.

However, Jesus did not lay hell on the table when he ate with sinners, reminding them that they will be smacked with fire and brimstone every time they get out of line.

Jesus ate with sinners, and lying on the table beside every one of them was mercy, forgiveness, empathy, compassion, and love.  

In fact, those whom Jesus dangled the flyswatter around were the religious people who loved lifting their flyswatters instead of handing out compassion.

In His dust,

Johnny

Writer: Capt. Jonathan Gainey was born in Jacksonville, FL in June, 1969. He has been married to Staci, the daughter of retired Salvation Army officers, for twenty years and they have four children ages 18, 16, 12, and 4. Jonathan was commissioned as an officer in June of 2002, and is currently serving in his third appointment in New Bern, NC, USA. He is working on a Masters of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and is the creator and manager of the Flocks Diner website, where his passion for learning and teaching is expressed and shared through writing and a weekly podcast.

3 Comments to Put Down the Fly-swatter!

1. Hi Johnny,

   As always, a great article.

   While there is an argument for that kind of punishment for young children (simple operant conditioning), the problem with it is that it instills into people from that early age that that kind of punishment is the ‘norm’ and so they carry it with them into adulthood. You don’t just see it in the church, you see it in all areas of society. Even in the workplace, you constantly get ‘if you don’t do this right, we’ll take away your commission’, or ‘we’ll stop you from trying to get a promotion’ etc. Our whole legal system is based on that kind of operant conditioning concept. ‘If you don’t do the right thing, we’ll send you to gaol (go to your room)’ or ‘we’ll make you pay some money’ etc.

   In this case, I think the church and society are reflecting/encouraging each other in this behaviour. People in the church are also people who have grown up in society. When they are converted, they fail to evidence a complete change of life, including a change of perspective towards a whole host of things. They fail to question everything they have been taught and seen. Instead, they simply re-inforce what is already there.

   This is a tragedy. When people do have a ‘life-changing event’, they generally re-evaluate everything in their life, their friends, their family, their beliefs, their attitudes, their career etc. etc. etc. EVERYTHING!!!!!! I’m afraid I don’t see that in the church. Perhaps that’s why the church is loathe to put down the flyswatter -the people in the church have not had a life-changing event as a consequence of meeting the risen Lord. They simply accept, as a matter of discipline, everything that is taught to them, and worse still, re-inforce what they were brought up with. If that is the case, then what is the point of Salvation? What is the point of the church?

   Just something for people to think about.

   Yours in Christ,
   Graeme.
Graeme Randall on October 22nd, 2009

2. Captain,

   Thanks as always for your great thoughts.

   One question and perhaps correction. I don’t think Jesus ever used the word Tartaros did he? I know it is used in the New Testament but by another author.

   I am absolutely sure I could be wrong on this one also but just wondering.

   Cory
Cory Harrison on October 26th, 2009

3. Hey Cory,

   You are correct. In fact, it is Peter who uses the participle, tartarosas, in 2 Peter 2:4:

   “For God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell (tartaroo), putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment” (NIV).

   Thanks for always being my partner in teaching. You are awesome.

   Johnny
Johnny on October 27th, 2009

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