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Old 11-05-2005, 09:37 PM   #28
Katherine
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Default Re: Setting Children Up to Fail

I pulled out this book while cleaning and just happened to flip it open to the page where he discusses this very thing. I wasn't even looking for it. So I went ahead and started reading.... page 4 of the book.

To put this in context... the previous 2 paragraphs are entitled "Training, Not Discipline" and "Training Not to Touch." He states flat out that the focus is not on having godly children, but on having children who instantly, unquestioningly obey... also that he is not talking about responding to an unacceptable behavior, but conditioning for the purpose of controlling future behavior. (yes, he uses the word "condition")

The heading of the relevant paragraph is "Plant Your Tree in the Midst of the Garden" and it starts off "When God wanted to 'train' His first two children not to touch.."

I had to stop there. Huh? God was not attempting to "train" Adam and Eve with the tree. He wasn't seeking to teach them unquestioning obedience by means of cause-and-effect pain, nor was He trying to condition them in any way. He didn't zap them every time they touched the tree, and then continue purposefully exposing them to it so they would learn to co-exist with it while also restraining their desire to touch. That wasn't the point at all.

He simply set a boundary... made a rule/law. When Adam and Even violated it, they experienced the natural consequences of their actions (knowledge of good/evil, and the wages of sin--that being death--and even that was offset by God's gracious provision) and they were then promptly denied proximity to that particular "no-no." The scenario described in the Bible is not even remotely similar to the comparison M. Pearl draws from it.

I also found it bit illogical that he places so much emphasis on the fact that God placed the tree "in the midst" of the garden. True, the primary defintion of the word midst is "middle" but midst also means "among." Either way... he takes that phrase and leaps to the conclusion that "they would be exposed to its temptation more often." We have no idea which parts of the garden A&E frequented... so it's irrelevant to attach such importance to the tree's location. The fact that he asserts God purposefully designed it's location so as to be MORE tempting to them is downright contrary to what we are taught about the nature of God in other parts of the Bible.

Quote:
James 1:13 When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.
Also, to support what some previous posters have said... A&E were mature, reasoning adults--fully capable of understanding the instruction God had given them. Eve's initial response clearly shows that--even prior to her acquisition of "the knowledge of good and evil," she definitely understood the instruction and knew the tree was off-limits.

Quote:
Genesis 3:2-4 (King James Version)
2And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Pearl makes it crystal clear in pages 2-4 that he is talking about the behavoristic "training" of a child who is not yet mature and reasoning... who does not clearly understand the boundary.

"Training does not necessarily require that the trainee be capable of reason; even mice and rats can be trained to respond to stimuli."
He repeatedly reminds the reader that this is NOT discipline (response to an unacceptable behavior), but "training" ("conditioning of the child's mind before the crisis arises") He even describes what the child's reaction might look like.

"... they will pause, look at you in wonder [when you say no].... " (Then, after you repeat your instruction and accompany it with a switch...) "They will again pull back their hand and consider the relationship between the object, their desire, the command, and the little reinforcing pain." This is a description of a child learning what "no" means by way of repeated, purposefully-inflicted pain.. The Bible's account of the scene b/t the snake and Adam/Eve is a description of two adults who already understand what "no" means being deceived and persuaded into willful disobedience.

He is simply taking a detail which happens to be in scripture and grossly misrepresenting it's context and application in order to support his belief in behavoristic child-rearing.

Edited for grammar and to add scripture references.
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