There is practical parenting advice in this article. But there is also a point of theological relevance.
“And that’s the paradox of discipline. It’s as true in my work as my parenting. Creativity actually flourishes within boundaries. Whether it’s the border of a canvas, the confines of a commission or the structure of an assignment. Once an artist knows what the structure is they can let their imagination soar. The same is true of children. They crave boundaries. They repeat unwanted behavior, like tantrums and violence, because they’re escalating it, waiting for someone to care enough to tell them no.”
This is true of humans in general, which is one of the numerous reasons the liberal humanist critique of religion is so misguided. How many times have you heard people who have left organized religion, especially Islam, say that they felt constricted and burdened by “all the rules” and that they just wanted to be free and unhindered, free to do as they please?
There is so much that is backwards about this that I have discussed elsewhere (such as in the “short shorts” video on this page). But the biggest mistake is to think that a human being can live and flourish without rules and boundaries to which he must submit. If we can admit this much, then the question arises, where do these rules and boundaries come from? Who knows which rules are the right ones that will lead us to success?
If you think about it logically, clearly the Maker of human beings, due to His knowledge, is in the best position to know and legislate such rules. But we live in an atheistic age, so people turn to nontheistic sources. They read “self help” books. They attend motivational webinars detailing the “7 things every successful person must do,” etc. The positive psychology, self help industry makes billions of dollars every year on people’s desire for guidance, for rules, for boundaries and directives. Ironically, we all have this craving but if you don’t believe in Divine guidance, you have to resort to the conjecture and guesswork of other human beings who themselves have no certain knowledge despite the confidence and self assurance with which they speak.
There is practical parenting advice in this article. But there is also a point of theological relevance."And that's…
Posted by Daniel Haqiqatjou on Saturday, August 6, 2016
