Punishment later?
Remember when you were a kid and you did something wrong? Did your mother say “wait till your father get’s home!”? It didn’t take too long to figure out that by the time your father got home, he was too tired to get all worked up about some little issue. Also, your mom has lost some of her “steam” by then as well. So, often, the issue went basically unpunished. On the other side of this coin, is when your father was already home! The punishment and often the beating, came swiftly! Those are the ones you remember. Those are the times that helped shape you and keep you in line.
When the punishment is postponed until later, everyone calms down, no one ever learns anything and the action needing punishing happens again and again until the time when the punishment is immediate! This is evident even with dogs. When a dog does something wrong, gets caught and is reprimanded right on the spot, the lesson is more likely to be learned and the action not repeated. When a dog does something and there is no immediate consequence, he learns its ok and develops a habit. Then when the dogs does get punished at a later time, the dogs is confused. “Why you punishing me now? No one punished me when I did it so I thought it was allowed!”
Everyone needs “immediate” feedback on things to really know if its right or wrong or good or bad. If you cook a meal for someone and they eat the whole thing and don’t say a word, you may make the meal for them over and over. When they tell you that they don’t like it, you stop. Why not give feedback immediately so there is no confusion. Its so simple!
This is where religion gets it wrong. God is supposed to punish those who sin… Later! Huh? If you wait until later, people will think they got away with it and that the issue will be long forgotten by the time “Daddy” gets home. Punish them now! Duh! Then they won’t do it anymore! Someone rapes someone, God should send down a team of angels with BIG anal probes to dish out the @$$ reaming of a lifetime. Problem solved! That rapist will never rape again. EVER! I promise that!
