Where did spanking actually come from: The anti-Christian roots of spanking

 Many people assume that we got spanking from the Bible, and there are layers of immersion into this myth. Most progressive Christians will quote the phrase "Spare the rod, spoil the child" which came from a sexualized poem from the 1500s. Attachment parenting is actually a Christian doctrine, whereas spanking is a pagan doctrine. Spanking is idolatry, and there is a reason why.

It says in Colossians 3:20-21 KJV:

Children, obey your parents in all things, as is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they become discouraged.

This passage, in context, describes attachment parenting. Secure attachment, from the child's standpoint, feels like surrender to parents of a peaceable, reassuring type, like a lamp looking down into your core, and you knowing that the rays of that lamp are full of love and grace. I'm mentioning my relationship with my mother here. The Greek root word that denotes this surrender is υπακουο and refers to selfless care and providence from parents, with children owing nothing in return to parents. It is the deepest form of love available - unconditional love for a child. This is how Hebrew parents loved their children in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, in the Early Christian context, there was a problem - spanking.

Colossae was a city-state under the control of the Hellenistic empire, and was a part of Rome. Spanking girls was the norm then, in order to "purify" them for being "unchaste". Corporal punishment was also used on young boys. This was a violation of church ordinances. Vs. 21, and similar verses, refer to the Apostle Paul coming in and setting things straight, ordering Christian fathers not to be violent or harsh with their children, and to teach them gently...These spanking rituals were pagan in origin. Violence as a way to teach is alien to the Hebraic context of the Bible, whereas moral and religious instruction was more of an exploration of the facts, using Socratic reasoning, therefore allowing young sons being taught the Law to question their father's interpretation of Scripture, and for both to test it out together. 

Spanking was popularized after Rome became Christian in the 3rd Century, as the European powers all endorsed spanking in their local folk culture, which was intertwined with their Christian faith, as the Catholic church proselytized by using their host country's gods to help understand the Judaeo-Christian God. 

Spanking was a solidified custom under Roman law, in the form of "reasonable chastisement" which came from the concept of patria potestas which means total control over the family by a man, which is also alien to the Hebraic context of the Bible, where men provided for their wives and were commanded to respect their wife and children, with Christian women having the right to divorce.

Christian women has a status in Greco-Roman society of being well-off, as were their children, due to the unusually egalitarian nature of the Early Church. Col. 3:21 refers to the damages aspect, with the Greek root word denoting provocation to anger being ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers to legal damages, namely core evidence of a moral crime, such as fight-or-flight reactions to adult behavior. Any behavior that offended the child could be reported to the mother, leading to a divorce. Divorce was severing of a contract, combined with shunning. No other society then gave women these sorts of rights, and most converts to Christianity were women for this reason.

The depraved and entitled parents who spank children not only commit kidnapping, but also idolatry, since corporal punishment of children is a pagan custom. Let them rot in Hell! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!