A Few Good Reads

Why Family Meals are Important

Brian Howard shares why we should prioritize the family dinner table. He offers four great things that happen during family meals. “At our house, we make it a point to have family meals as much as possible. We have dinner together at least 5 nights per week and often have breakfasts or lunches together on the weekends. When I say “together” I mean that we sit down at our table, eat the SAME food and have CONVERSATION together as a family. It is important enough that I decided to write a blog post about it.

Do Christian Parents Have a Moral Rationale for Spanking?
David Prince responds to Jonathan Merritt’s recent post where he argued against the practice of spanking children. Merritt quotes Michael Eric Dyson to contradict the traditional understanding of “the rod” in the book of Proverbs. Prince counters with exegesis and theological reasoning to show the biblical rationale for spanking. “Corporal discipline is no parenting panacea and a spanking-only approach to parenting is a harmful repudiation of the biblical testimony. A Christian parents’ ultimate goal is to point to and clarify the gospel to their children. Verbal instruction and correction, along with consequences for actions and restitution when possible, will be the more consistent form of discipline and training of one’s children. Nevertheless, there are times of willful defiance when the controlled, loving use of corporal discipline will accomplish what words cannot in driving folly out of the heart of a child (Prov 22:15).”

Recovering Redemption
I’ve just started working through this book by Matt Chandler and Michael Snetzer. They work through how any of our issues, sins, and addictions can conquered through the Gospel. “Recovering Redemption, written with a pastor’s bold intensity and a counselor’s discerning insight, takes you deeply into Scripture to take you deeply inside yourself, discovering that the heart of all our problems is truly the problem of our hearts. But because of what God has done, and because of what God can do, the most confident, contented person you know could actually be you—redeemed through Jesus Christ.”