Why the age of consent exists in the Bible

Many clergy do not want to explore the spanking issue in depth, and instead focus on a few verses in Proverbs, claiming them to be pro-spanking verses. They are not. There is a reason pastors are straying away from the spanking issue, and it has to do the age of consent.

I have the false reputation of standing right by the church here at children's rights. Those close to me and my advocacy know that I am, at best, critical of the church, as many parishioners are critical of their pastor. I blindly obey God's Word and Law, which prompts me to question everything else. If you never had that experience with fundamentalist Christian belief, you were instead appealing to a deacon. I don't view religion that way. It's just the right thing to do. It's just what you do.

The age of consent exists in the New Testament, where it says in 1 Corinthians 7:36 KJV:

But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely towards his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him sinneth not: let them marry.

Note the "let them marry" at the end. The Greek root word translated "flower of her age" is ύπέρακμος (Latin: huperakmos) and is a key word in the Biblical Greek that "brings up" entire contexts, namely the age of consent, which was at the age of majority. A young girl could not marry while under the providing custody of parents. This commandment, then, was a command for fathers to marry off their children if the daughters were at risk of sexual abuse from the father.

Ancient Jewish culture was understanding of the pedophilic condition, but only in a clinical/medical way, based on supervision of each other as parents and adults, so that no child gets hurt. Most abuse in that culture was permissive and sexual in nature, not punitive, as the culture then supported pro-social rebellion in parenting. A father's instruction of his son encouraged him to rebel, and ask questions, thinking critically.

However, sexually abusing children was seen, symbolically, by the Early Christians, as an act worthy of death, either by burning (serefah) or stoning (sekila). The sexually entitled adults will burn in the lake of fire and brimstone, suffering the second death. Repent!