One is a fully restored 1958 Chevy convertible...valued at over $50,000...
Just look at it...
<dreamy sigh>
The other car in your driveway is a 1999 Ford Escort. You wrecked it twice in a blizzard in 2003. You backed into a tree with it after that party in 2007. The muffler fell off last spring when you ran off the road and over a mailbox after you almost hit that deer. This poor car is soon heading for the junk yard!
You're about to fire up the grill on this beautiful Sunday afternoon when just then a severe weather alert comes on your TV warning of possible golf ball-sized hail and possible tornadoes in your area!
You go outside and look up at the sky and all seems well to you.
You have two cars in your driveway and one space in your garage. What do you do with the cars?
I would imagine that anyone with such a valuable investment would pull...the old classic car into their garage. Better safe than sorry, right?
Imagine that you were off at a friend's house in your neighborhood and saw that severe weather alert while your classic car was back home in your driveway. You'd probably drive home immediately (not wait till you actually SEE hail) and get that car into the garage!
The old beater that's soon destined for the junk yard? Eh. It'd sit there and get pelted by hail, right?
When something is valuable to us, we go out of our way to protect it, even when we don't see a threat ourselves. When something is not valuable to us, we don't. Simple, right?
How much would you say your children are worth? Would you sell one of them for $50k? Think they're worth more?
I had my first child in 1987...and did as had been done to me growing up and as I had been taught in Sunday School class by people I loved and respected: I whacked my kids when they were naughty. (In other words I spanked...but I hate that word! Sounds sexual to me!)
One day, in 2008 I was asked by a friend what I thought on the subject and as I prepared to explain to her why she should hit/spank...I ran across this picture of an ancient shepherd's rod...
I had been "looking at the sky and thought it looked sunny" but suddenly...this "severe weather warning" flashed across my screen and I froze.
What is this? It's a weapon that the shepherds used for predators. The shepherd used his rod for hitting/hurting predators to protect the sheep. The shepherd didn't hit the sheep with this.
This changed the meaning of every verse that I'd ever read about "the rod." This changed the meaning of Psalm 23. The new interpretations of those verses horrified me! But, at the same time, I'd been "spanking" for over 20 years...and was about to give birth to my 8th child in a few months. I was still looking up into the sky and seeing sun...but...because my children were more valuable to me than a 58 Chevy convertible, I took protective steps in case there really was a storm coming.
And, since that time, I've read probably over 100 articles on the harm that spanking does to children. Harm far worse than golf ball-sized hail on a car. Far more devastating and hard to "repair" than hail.
And, what I've noticed is that there is a significant population of "Christians" who would be moved to protect a car...but rather than react in a "better safe than sorry" manner about this...treat their children more like that 1999 Ford Escort...Unlike me who when offered just one tidbit of information that suggested that I was doing something wrong and reacted...these people look at the evidence and just flat out deny that that evidence is there!?
Despite the endless succession of articles they see passing by on their news feed and despite the fact that people like me can give them over 120 reasons why spanking is wrong...they still just keep on doing it...
They wouldn't "argue" that there is no storm coming and stubbornly insist to leave their car in the driveway. Especially if they actually saw dark clouds and rain approaching. Yet, despite they have to spank their kids repeatedly for the same things...despite their children becoming aggressive...despite evidence they can see in their own family...they insist that hitting their kids is "God's way" and keep on...
To me...these "Christians" who insist that grown-ups hitting their small children to teach them lessons is God's way...ignoring all the arguments and evidence...I see these people like the owner of a 58 Chevy standing idly by watching hail pelting it saying, "What hail? I don't see any hail?"
It's something I'll never understand...and will always make me scratch my head and say...you guessed it..."What the hail?"
