Please do not dismiss my mail to you as it is very serious and I am honest as well as discreet, as I am sure you will be the same.<\/p>\n
I am looking to visit you at a local church, or to your ministerial home or suitable confessional venue.<\/p>\n
Firstly let me say I am ‘partly’ religious but want to believe in all its values, particularly with respect to being saved and repenting for my sins by use of the rod as a correction. Ideally, I would like my confessions to be heard but be made to repent by use of the rod as I believe God, or Christ’s, a representative may be authorized to ‘beat the devil’ out of a sinner as it were. May I quote the following relevant text:<\/p>\n
The rod is an instrument for correction and discipline. It inflicts pain with the design of awakening sorrow for wrong-doing, and of inducing reform. It only destroys when we refuse to be saved. Such is the rod in an earthly father’s hand, and such it is in God’s hand. The rod on us now is a sanguine war, the fruit of a wicked rebellion, but God’s hand holds it, and with it chastises a wicked nation. If we will hear the voice of the rod, we shall be saved — if not, we shall be destroyed.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
As I said, please do not dismiss my request, but please reply if you are hopefully able to discuss this matter further. Or have a suitable discreet place for listening to my confession and hopefully using\u00a0a rod of correction.<\/p>\n\t
Answer:<\/h2>\n
A quote from an article regarding the sermon of a denominational preacher in 1861<\/a>\u00a0is not the way to find salvation from your sins. “Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations– “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using –according to the commandments and doctrines of men?\u00a0These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh<\/strong><\/em>” (Colossians 2:20-23).<\/p>\n
You state you want to be saved from your sins, but you never ask what God requires of you. To be perfectly blunt, physical punishment has\u00a0never<\/em> been taught as a means of obtaining salvation from your sins. You cannot punish yourself into righteousness. Only God can forgive sins and that will only come when you are willing to submit to His will. Punishment exists to make a person who thinks he has done no wrong face the reality that he is in the wrong. The threat of punishment exists to deter people from committing wrong.<\/p>\n
If you are interested in being saved, get out your Bible and start reading the passages mentioned in the following articles: “When is one saved?<\/a>” and “How to Become a Christian<\/a>.”<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Please do not dismiss my mail to you as it is very serious and I am honest as well as discreet, as I am sure you will be the same. I am looking to visit you at a local church, or to your ministerial home or suitable confessional venue. Firstly let me say I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[47,108],"class_list":["post-22291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-salvation","tag-spanking"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":92853,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/to-spank-or-not-to-spank\/","url_meta":{"origin":22291,"position":0},"title":"To Spank or Not to Spank","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeff Archer via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 15 No. 2, February 2015 A friend of mine was called to the elementary school where his son was attending. The teacher was seeking help with his son's misbehavior. When he arrived in the classroom, he pulled his son aside and reprimanded him for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2906,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/notes-on-discipline-of-children-spanking\/","url_meta":{"origin":22291,"position":1},"title":"Notes on Discipline of Children, Spanking","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 10, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Deuteronomy 8:5 \"You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the LORD your God chastens you.\" [Note: \"chastens\" means to chastise literally with blows or figuratively with words] Deuteronomy 21:18 \"If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1880,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-a-childs-pants-be-taken-down-for-a-spanking\/","url_meta":{"origin":22291,"position":2},"title":"Should a child’s pants be taken down for a spanking?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 2, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I want to ask, please, if it's good to take down the pants of a seven-year-old child for a spanking. Answer: When disciplining a child, spanking is not the only option available to a parent. Often, when parenting is done well, spankings will only be needed infrequently. Raising a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Parenting"","block_context":{"text":"Parenting","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/parenting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7427,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-proper-punishment-for-mishandling-funds-and-lying\/","url_meta":{"origin":22291,"position":3},"title":"What is the proper punishment for mishandling funds and lying?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 11, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I am 19 and a sophomore in college, but I still live at home. I have always strived to be a godly person and a hard worker. I was valedictorian of my high school class and captain of two sports teams and earned a college scholarship. I always\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27747,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-an-implied-fact-as-authoritative-as-a-direct-statement\/","url_meta":{"origin":22291,"position":4},"title":"Is an implied fact as authoritative as a direct statement?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: All of the passages: Psalms 147:5; Romans 11:33-36; Deuteronomy 33:27; Psalms 145:3; Isaiah 40:28; Psalms 40:5; Psalms 92:5-6; Job 5:8-9; Job 11:7-9; Job 9:10-12; Job 26:14; and Psalms 106:2 imply that God is infinite except for Psalms 147:5 where it explicitly states God's understanding is infinite.\u00a0 Does this mean\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17574,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-think-spanking-leads-to-more-aggression\/","url_meta":{"origin":22291,"position":5},"title":"I think spanking leads to more aggression","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I think spanking a 14-year-old young man is unreasonable and will lead to more aggression.\u00a0 My parents spanked me with the belt and left bruises.\u00a0 It left scars on my soul and was not focused on loving correction. I am very conservative in my theology and think this Scripture\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22291\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}