Rule from beneath: Children in the biblical context

Many parents in the United States want children to be completely obedient, compliant children. These parents often cite the Bible as an excuse for their punitive parenting. However, in the Bible, children were empowered individuals, even while technically being subservient to parents.

It says in Colossians 3:20-21 KJV:

Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

The Greek root word translated "obey" is υπακουο (Latin: hupakouo) and refers to secure, warm rest and trust in the love and grace of parents, just as adult believers rest and trust in Lord Jesus Christ. Respect for parents meant then closeness with parents, leading to fondness and admiration for parents later on, and then honor, meaning an older child or adult child is proud of their parents. Parenting in the biblical context was attachment-based in nature. Children went in the nude right up until adulthood, and that served the function of skin-to-skin closeness with mothers, with children sleeping next to mothers until adulthood, with mothers and daughters being inseparable. Children issued demands to children, then parents supplied, then kept supplying demands until the child was satisfied, then children rested in the love and grace of parents. 

Children ruled parents from beneath, as children had lawful authority to judge their parents. The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers literally to "stirring up" upset and resentment in children, as in the Jewish idiom of "stirring the pot" in terms of your child's emotional welfare. Ultimately, it refers to the offenses, meaning offenses against children, which meant then and now the slightest of offense perceived by the child. This ultimately, by intent of the pen of the Apostle Paul, prohibits all corporal or other punishment of children. The Apostle Paul was warning Greek parents in the Colossian church about the Hellenistic tradition of spanking children, whereas Judeo-Christian parenting then was attachment-based in nature. Paul would have none of that sort of punitive parenting within the churches that he oversaw as a deacon. Corporal punishment, as referenced in Proverbs and Hebrews, refers to legal punishment of ADULT children with the rod of correction, meaning 40 minus 1 lashes administered with a tree branch in a courtroom, with the father as an accessory appointed by the state, with this punishment linked to capital punishment under Jewish law. Christ abolished the death penalty and all corporal punishment by enduring it when being crucified. No capital or corporal punishment was a form of church discipline in the Early Christian churches of God, as individual and collective shunning were used as discipline of fellow Christians. Paul taught parents through attachment parenting manuals to impart the Living Example of Christ onto children, meaning teaching selflessness and charity by being charitable and selfless in relation to children. Parents were to be their children's first role models, and show a disciplined example to their children, turning their entitlement inwards in relation to children. Children were encouraged to be strict with themselves within exemplary teachings, and find their own structure, with parents channeling the rambunctious energy of children towards them in the family home.

Children ruled their parents from beneath, meaning they demanded and ordered parents around, and parents gave in righteously to their demands. Children in the biblical context were needy and demanding, and parents surrendered to the every need of children. Children were outspoken, in an empowered way, despite being submissive to parents, meaning parents were beholden to the every need and benign want of a child. This biblical context applies today in Christian homes across the country, and to this country as a whole in terms of natural law.

The depraved and entitled parents will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them burn and suffer in the lake of fire and burning sulfur, forever and ever, which is the second death prepared for Satan and his accomplices! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!