What is the rod of correction?

There are a plethora of uses for the term "rod of correction", many which are abusive, and some expressions being ancient expressions that are non-abusive in nature. Most parents get this teaching dead wrong. It does not condone punishment or any form of abuse at all, and does not refer to any male body attachments.

The rod of correction, in biblical times, had levels of meaning, namely as a symbol of moral legal accountability. Today, we use the scales of justice or a gavel as a sign of authority. The physical rod of correction was a switch, basically a tree branch, that was used in judicial corporal punishment, for ADULTS and never children, after a criminal conviction, under the Old Testament Law. 

In parenting, is a symbol of parental authority, in terms of setting limits and teaching children discipline in a non-violent way. It says in Ephesians 6:4 KJV:

And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition.

The Greek root word translated "nurture" is translated as παιδεία (Latin: paideia) refers to disciplined and controlled attitudes of parents in relation to their children, in a method known as co-regulation. The non-entitled girdle of the gentle parent then, by sight, encourages said form of non-entitlement. It is being a centered, disciplined adult to the point where you can to listen to your child's every upset, fear, and disappointment. The Greek root word translated "admonition" is νουθεσία (Latin: nouthesia) and refers to setting limits and boundaries, specifically negative ones, and is symbolized with the rod of correction. The rod of pleasantness involved the wing of a parent that nurtured and encouraged the child, and the rod of severity was to be much rarer, and would sett a negative boundary with a child. However, this, in biblical times, was only backed up by trust. Think a mother telling her 5-year-old to not hide in the bushes, as their could be a snake. The most severe reaction in that situation would be to pick up the child, and hold the child to validate the child's natural curiosity. Parents, however, were not allowed, under Jewish law, to strike or control their child in any way, as the Greek root word translated "provoke...to wrath" παροργιζο (Latin: parorgizo) and refers to legal damages imposed onto the child by an adult. Damages, perceived from a child, consist of the slightest of the personal slights that the child perceives as abuse. Punishment of any kind was reserved for judicial purposes.

God scourgeth me as an adult in relation to children. It says in Hebrews 12:6 KJV:

For whomever the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receives.

The Greek root word translated "scourgeth" is μαστγοω (Latin: mastigoo) and refers to the literal rod of correction, but in figurative form as the Early Christians disciplined each other with shunning instead. The rod means to shun, and the concept of shunning can be applied widely, to any situation to timespace that was ungodly. This mean shun anything that might lead to abuse, or else you were guilty of the abuse the moment you refused to remove yourself from a situation where a child might be harmed.

Let the parents BURN and SUFFER and ROT in Hell! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!