Has anyone seen discipline as of late? Is it possible that it and its definition are aimlessly wandering the streets like a vagrant? Could they have simply disappeared, never to be seen again? Is it probable that they were excommunicated from the English language and subsequently removed from all English dictionaries so as to remove their tenets from the minds of society? The reason I inquire is because the word and its meaning are no longer adhered to or even uttered by many in our culture. Teachers have desisted from using it, churches fear employing it within a New Testament context and, most troubling of all, parents do not instruct their children in it or through it. After much investigation, I have discovered that the term doesn’t make appearances anymore due to popular and intentional neglect. We can collectively thank Freudianism for discipline’s virtual withdrawal from our midst. “How so?”, you may ask.

Remember that psychology teaches that man is the result of his “environment”. In other words, you are not responsible for your own actions and decisions – someone else is. Hence, since you or I cannot be held to account for our own decisions and actions, again, because someone else formed us into who we are now, we cannot be blamed for what we do or desist from doing. Therefore, someone else is to blame for all of our behavior. However, there’s a deep irony within this ideology that many choose to overlook: when men undertake what they consider to be an honorable action, they’ll immediately and vehemently demand that credit be given them for such an action. Foolish me to think that humanists not only want their cake – they wish to devour it and leave nothing for the rest. As is evident to the reader, uncle Freud left us with a system that disburses blame to others for the bad we do but gives no credit to those who formed us for the good that we may do. How’s this for logical consistency (or rather, inconsistency)?

As is evident to the reader, uncle Freud left us with a system that disburses blame to others for the bad we do but gives no credit to those who formed us for the good that we may do.

There’s something else that is a natural offspring of Freud’s religion: the cult of self-victimization. This stems, again, from the blame game we’ve just described. If others are to blame for all of our shortcomings, then there’s no way out of this predetermined scheme. (Important Side Note: If everyone is to blame for everyone else’s misdeeds, then aren’t all guilty of misshaping others? And if everyone is guilty, then no one is. Am I correct?) As a result of Freudianism’s popularity many within our society have taken to blame their crude behavior, irrational thought processes, lowly economic status and everything else in between on some other monster that is supposedly hampering their personal progress. The stated creeds of Black Lives Matter, La Raza, Antifa and the like comes to mind. Even if certain people do not subscribe to these groups and their perverted dogmas, it isn’t foreign to hear individuals complain about not having the ability to concentrate, get ahead in life, preserve friendships, etc. These persons all suffer from the same malignity – lack of discipline. This is to be expected within a culture that has shunned Christianity and its virtue in favor of secular humanism, being that Christianity is the only faith to teach that man is inherently flawed and weakened due to his sin nature. The only way to overcome this weakness, according to the Christian ethic, is by instituting self-control, self-subjection and perseverance. In others words, man is the result of his own decisions and actions.

Still, by all appearances, more and more individuals (especially Millennials) are preferring the easy road of self-victimization and its characteristic grumbling nature than the difficult but rewarding and edifying path that is self-control and self-discipline. No doubt, this is attributable to our convenience-based, slothful society, a people who have allowed themselves to become accustomed to having everything done for them and in an instant. Furthermore, if things aren’t made convenient for them they are paralyzed by uncertainty, ignorance and lack of resolve. This lack of character can only be fixed by proper action, discipline and subsequent experience. A microcosm of this is to be found over at Silicon Valley. It is highly amusing that the technologists who for years have promised us utopia via advancements in technology, whose ease of use and use for ease supposedly justifies such progress, never deigned inform us of the potential setbacks. Then again, what is one to expect from salesmen (which Silicon Valley are a type of)? They always promise utopia yet always omit the negative consequences of what they are selling.

Consider Paul’s words to parents in Ephesians 6:4: And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

The word in Greek for training, nurture or discipline (depending on your preferred translation) is paideia, meaning “the whole training and education of children (which relates to the cultivation of mind and morals, and employs for this purpose now commands and admonitions, now reproof and punishment) It also includes the training and care of the body…whatever in adults also cultivates the soul, esp. by correcting mistakes and curbing passions.” It is the same term used 2nd Timothy 3:16 when Paul mentions that the Scripture is inspired by God and given for “instruction”.

Hence, we must submit ourselves to God’s paideia, or training in discipline, if you will. Is it any mystery that the Bible uses the term disciple to denote followers of Christ?