Is It Discipline or Abuse? The Spanking Debate with Doug Wilson
Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark
Turning Point USA
5 • 9.5K Ratings
🗓️ 30 December 2025
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“Spare the rod, spoil the child”—but what does that actually mean today?
Pastor Doug Wilson joins me to cut through the confusion of modern parenting. We discuss what the Bible really says about correction, the meaning of “the rod,” and how discipline—including spanking—can teach obedience and point kids to Christ without fear or shame. In a culture obsessed with therapy and emotional safety, Pastor Doug explains what parents aren’t being told about raising faithful, strong kids.
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Our Guest:
Pastor Doug Wilson
Pastor Doug's Links:
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You said, if you do not discipline your children effectively, you hate them. |
| 0:04.2 | Yes. |
| 0:04.6 | The Bible is very plain that refusal to discipline is a form of rejecting your child. |
| 0:11.6 | It's a form of disowning them. |
| 0:13.8 | And so the attitude of a father and a mother in disciplining the children should be, |
| 0:18.6 | I love you too much to let you go out into the world like that. |
| 0:23.4 | You've taught that discipline is love and correction is part of sanctification. |
| 0:28.0 | How do you respond to critics who say that that's abusive rather than loving? |
| 0:31.5 | I would say I would rather listen to the Bible than to those critics. |
| 1:01.0 | Yeah. the Bible than to those critics. Is discipline an act of love or a form of harm? In an age that prizes emotional safety and therapeutic parenting, many Christian parents are asking a hard question. |
| 1:07.8 | To spank or not to spank? |
| 1:09.8 | And what does the Bible actually require when it comes to |
| 1:12.3 | correcting our children? Today we're joined by Pastor Doug Wilson to tackle one of the most |
| 1:16.8 | controversial conversations in Christian parenting, biblical discipline, the meaning of the rod, |
| 1:23.0 | obedience, love, anger, and how correction is meant to point children to Christ, rather than fear or |
| 1:28.6 | humiliation. Doug Wilson is the longtime pastor of Christchurch in Moscow, Idaho, the founder of |
| 1:33.9 | Canon Press, and the author of Keep Your Kids, How to Raise Strong Kids in an Age of Therapeutic |
| 1:38.7 | Sentimentalism. For decades, he's written and taught on Christian culture, family life, and what |
| 1:43.4 | faithfulness looks like in a confused age. |
| 1:46.0 | Pause and leave us a five-star review, letting us know which episode was your favorite from 2025. |
| 1:50.4 | Watch this episode on the real Alex Clark YouTube channel or Culture Apothecary on Spotify. |
| 1:54.2 | Please welcome Pastor Doug Wilson to Culture Apothecary. |
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