Christian family values - and why they actually prohibit the punishment of children

Many parents spank and/or punish their children, and cite the Bible as an excuse for their acts of abuse against their child. 94% of parents physically batter their children as punishment, in a manner lawful under the secular law. However, God's Law prohibits corporal punishment and punishment of any kind imposed on or perceived by children.

America is a Christian country, founded on Christian family values, with these values including non-entitlement and non-violence, meaning controlling anyone other than yourself is not a family value. God chose Israel and sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to spread His Word and proselytize His word to the whole world. Israel prohibited spanking and corporal punishment in the Law, and prohibited it in modern times in 2000. 

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.

The Greek root word translated "obey" is υπακουο (Latin: hupakouo) and refers to secure, vulnerable rest in the care, support, and protection of parents, being able to tell parents anything and be one's true self in relation to them, owing nothing in return, but trusting and caring about parents nonetheless. The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and literally translates to "stir up" or "exasperate", and is one of the Greek words referring to the offenses attached to the Eighth Commandment, meaning damages and torts instated under the Mosaic Law, summed up implicitly under Jewish law as the slightest of personal slights perceived by the child. This included corporal punishment. The Apostle Paul was convicting Greco-Roman fathers in the Colossian church concerning their habit to spank their daughters to enforce to chastity and whip sons who simply disobeyed parents, under the doctrine of patrias potestas. No such doctrine existed under Jewish law, as only judicial corporal punishment of adults existed in the Old Testament, and only as a last warning when an adult son was convicted of a capital offense. Some offenses were enforced rarely, and others not at all. The most enforced capital offense was false prophesy, as the Israelites then put to death more false prophets than they did concerning any other criminal offense. A child was never punished for anything, in both the Old and New Testaments, due to the age of infancy defense. 

Parenting in ancient Hebrew culture was attachment-based, meaning children were very close to mothers in particular, either being held and cuddled next to her, or ranging beside her, until puberty, when they simply shook off the closeness of their parents, not needing it anymore. Punishment was not the norm then, with parents instead imposing the admonition of the Lord through God's Loving Reproof, meaning gentle but firm warning and reproof that certain behavior is not acceptable or appropriate, but leaving a lot go due to immaturity and cognitive inability based on that to follow adult expectations.

Punishment of children is legal in all 50 states, with some states having stronger laws than others. Here in Pennsylvania, physically punishing a child under age 1 is illegal under the civil laws. However, spanking is already banned under divine law, as America is a Christian nation. We don't have a state church, but we recognize certain Christian norms, and others we haven't awoken to yet, still forming our identity as a country. Gentle parenting is a Christian norm that is commanded by God in the Bible, with refusal to be a gentle parent being a mortal sin. We need some norm in parenting. Parenting isn't a free for all. Parents aren't above the law, and the law, for most people in most professions, prohibits striking those who you serve. Why not in parenting?

Let the pro-spanking parents burn! Let them suffer in the lake of fire and brimstone! Let them burn and rot! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!