It is unchristian to hit your child.
That was the message from Fiji Council of Churches representative, Reverend Sitiveni Kua, during the National Conversation on Corporal Punishment in Fiji, where he urged Christians to rethink their interpretation of scripture regarding the disciplining children.
Mr Kua said many Fijians were misinterpreting Proverbs 13:24, which reads, “Whoever spares the rod hates their child, but the one who loves their child is careful to discipline them”.
According to him, the verse does not endorse physical punishment but instead calls for guidance, protection, and teaching with care.
“Often Fijians take the meaning of the ‘rod’ to literal physical punishment,” he said.
“But in Hebrew literature, the rod is also a metaphor for guidance, authority, and instruction ‘your rod and your staff, they comfort me’.”
He explained that in scripture, discipline is meant to be restorative, not punitive, focusing on building character rather than inflicting pain.
“When scripture speaks of discipline, it is about training in righteousness, not inflicting pain.
“The Lord disciplines in restorative, not punitive, ways. It aims to build character, not to break the spirit.”
Mr Kua said resorting to violence against children contradicted the Christian teaching that every child bears the image of God, as taught in the book of Genesis.
“To harm a child’s body or spirit in the name of discipline contradicts this divine character.
“Discipline must be rooted in love and guided by reason, not by fear or violence.”
He urged churches and parents to model non-violent forms of discipline grounded in dialogue, prayer, example, and nurturing, saying that love and discipline can coexist without harm.
“The theology of corporal punishment calls us to rethink what it means to discipline in God’s way.”
