They Rejected Discipline

One who rejected discipline was Cain, who was jealous of his brother Abel. Seeing that Cain was beginning to wander from the right path, Jehovah himself admonished him, asking: “Why are you hot with anger and why has your countenance fallen? If you turn to doing good, will there not be an exaltation? But if you do not turn to doing good, there is sin crouching at the entrance, and for you is its craving; and will you, for your part, get the mastery over it?” (Genesis 4:6, 7) Cain did not listen. He killed his brother Abel and thus introduced murder into human history.​—Genesis 4:8-16.

In the days of Samuel, the sons of Eli also did not accept discipline. Their father was the high priest at Jehovah’s sanctuary, but his sons used their position to steal from the offerings and induce women to commit immorality with them. Their father reprimanded them​—rather weakly—​but they did not listen. The result? Their rejection of discipline led to their being killed in battle, and the shock of the news caused the death of Eli himself.​—1 Samuel 2:12-17, 22-25; 3:11-18; 4:1-4, 10-18.

Some Listened

Others, however, did accept discipline. David, a king and a man of war, committed a horrible crime when he caused the death of Uriah, the man with whose wife David had committed adultery. But David accepted the reprimand God sent through the prophet Nathan, and thus Jehovah did not reject him completely. (2 Samuel 12:1-14) Yes, discipline can help us to recover even from very serious sins.

Job was counseled by the young man Elihu and could have angrily rejected the counsel. Although Job had suffered terribly at the hands of Satan, he had refused to “curse God and die.” With such a record, he might have seen no reason to listen to the counsel of this young man. Job did listen, though, and learned that, despite his integrity, his attitude needed some adjusting. Then he was privileged to receive counsel from Jehovah himself and finally he was rewarded with many blessings. (Job 2:9, 10; 32:6; 42:12-16) Thus, discipline can help even those with outstanding records of endurance and faithfulness.

The apostle Peter, too, received discipline. Remember, Peter was an apostle of Jesus Christ, a witness of Jesus’ transfiguration, and the one to whom Christ entrusted “the keys of the kingdom.” (Matthew 16:18, 19) Yet, on one occasion the apostle Paul, a relatively new follower of Jesus, publicly disciplined Peter for his conduct in the Antioch congregation. Peter evidently accepted the discipline, for later he spoke of “our beloved brother Paul.” (2 Peter 3:15; Galatians 2:11-14) Hence, a Christian with many privileges may also expect to receive discipline.

Elders are often rebuffed when they try to help. For example, one African elder spoke to a longtime Christian, warning her that she was getting involved in something unchristian. It was difficult to give that counsel, and this was not made any easier when she took offense. Eventually, the counsel was rejected, and the one to whom it was offered refused to have anything further to do with the elder who had tried to help her. How much wiser if she had remembered that ‘wounds inflicted by a loving friend are faithful’!​—Proverbs 27:6.

Discipline can help us to apply another Bible proverb: “Shrewd is the one that has seen the calamity and proceeds to conceal himself, but the inexperienced have passed along and must suffer the penalty.” (Proverbs 22:3) Those words would have helped a Christian man in the same country. He got into the habit of going to public restaurants without his wife and child. This disturbed some because in that area the waitresses in many of the restaurants were really prostitutes looking for customers. So several times the local elders spoke to this man about the matter. But he rejected the counsel, often quite vehemently. Finally, he fell into the trap of immorality. How much wiser to have heeded the well-intentioned counsel!