Spare the rod, kill the child.

In light of my current music situation, I've been tuning in to a local contemporary Christian music station on my way to school. We'll call it Jesus Radio. I used to listen to a bunch of Jesus Radio CDs growing up, and I really like about 25% of the stuff they play. About 50% more is tolerable, but the last 25% is beyond all hope. The worst is the lovey-dovey commercials they insist on playing. Usually they consist of some stay at home wife lamenting on how much she loves her big strong man to bring home the bacon while she has his dinner waiting for him at the table in the spotless house she labored over all day. A good portion are also Dr. Dobson or the like telling me how I should raise my non-existent kids and if I don't buy the latest book, my kids will be heathens beyond measure.

This one commercial the other day actually made my jaw hit the floor. I'll try to paraphrase as best as I can remember. [For anyone who's ever listened to Jesus Radio, you lose a lot in reading it and not hearing the dramatic voice intonations and such. It was really a lot worse than it reads.]

Radio Host: When children aren't given boundaries, they get into all sorts of trouble. It's our responsibilities as parents to give them direction. Take for instance the man who waited out a terrible thunderstorm with his family. When the storm was over, he opened the front door to survey the damage in his front yard. One of the power lines leading to his house had been knocked down and was sparking on the front lawn. Before he knew it, his 5 year old daughter ran from behind him straight toward the pretty sparking wire. The man yells, "No, stop." She keeps going. He yells again, "Stop now." And she doesn't listen. A couple seconds later, she grabs the wire and is electrocuted to death immediately. How tragic that he never taught his daughter 'No' or 'stop', and for this she died.

The moral of the story is (1) The man is responsible for his daughter's death, and (2) unless you buy the Jesus Radio promoted child-rearing book, your child is destined to die a horrible and tragic death.

Let's just stick to the music shall we.