"Honor parents": The true meaning of the Fifth Commandment

Many parents punish and control their children. A common excuse for child punishment and control is the Fifth Commandment, which states rightly to honor parents. Parents were honored in biblical times, but only because they earned it, meaning they honored their children.

It says in Exodus 20:12 KJV:

Honor thy father and mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

This doesn't refer merely to talking back to parents or even expressing hatred towards parents, but elder abuse. The ancient Israelites were horrible to their parents, beating them, bludgeoning them, and even winding them up with gaslighting juices in order to get their way with parents. Society then blamed the parent victim of elder abuse for bringing it on, assuming "they had to be abused somehow" about the assailants who harmed their parents. The parent protection laws were temporary, until a Messiah could break the curse of the Law. Disrespecting a parent in the Bible is striking them, which was already illegal before it was declared by God to be a capital offense. Children today are to show as much respect to their parents and elders as said parent or elder shows respect to them, like a human mirror.

Every single parent and adult is guilty in relation to children, and is deserving of DEATH and DESTRUCTION merely for existing in relation to children, and are to be meek and shamefaced in relation to children, prioritizing the child's needs above their own, to the point of selfless and dutiful submission to children from above, as their enemy, assuming nothing about their needs, allowing children to self-advocate as to their own needs. Children should be allowed to rest securely and warmly in the surrender and submission from above given by parents, without any care or worries. See 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, vulnerable rest and trust in parents, leading to children taking after their example and wanting to be like their parents. This translates to attachment parenting in the biblical context, meaning children rested while wrapped up next to their mother's bosom in swaddling blankets, up until age 8 or 9 or even older, perhaps into adulthood, with children getting their dose of skin-to-skin closeness - children went in the nude until adulthood. Older children alternated between free play and closeness to parents, with fathers giving warm encouragement and life lessons. Children were breastfed late, and weaned at age 3 in most cases, but maybe older. Parents presumed themselves to be ignorant of their child's needs, listening to the self-advocacy of their child in various modes of immature communication, such as crying, screaming, whining, and physical aggression - all of which were seen as communication in their children, not reasons to punish a child, as punishment of children was unlawful under Jewish and Christian law.

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers to provocations to anger, as defined as the slightest of personal offense perceived by the child, with this being intended by the Apostle Paul and the legal context he was writing from to prohibit all punishment and control of children, including all spanking and corporal punishment. The Apostle Paul was rebuking Greek Christians who brought their pagan custom of spanking children into the church, citing Scripture in Proverbs in order to justify their moral crime of kidnapping children. All of the verses in Proverbs that describe the rod of correction are repealed verses, as they deal with a specific form of judicial corporal punishment - the 40 minus 1 lashes with the rod of correction, which was a primary sentence for a capital offense in ADULT children of Hebrew parents, and only after a capital offense was adjudicated in a court of law. Minor children were deemed incompetent to stand trial for criminal acts or civil wrongs that they committed. Christ abolished the death penalty and all corporal punishment by experiencing both on the cross. It was understood in the Early Church that all verses involving the rod of correction were repealed.

Children honored parents later in life, by way of following their example, not out of fear of punishment, but out of fondness and admiration for a parent and their charitable graces towards them as children. Honoring parents was more of a thing in adult children, meaning a reward for parents for forming a secure attachment with children. Minor children were demanding, running parents aground for their needs if necessary, with parents reverently fearing their child and their needs, leading to the child resting in the care and protection of parents, in unconditional Christian love that puts children first, and parents last, to the point of selfless submission to children. Christian love is denoted in the Bible by the Greek root word αγαπαο (Latin: agapao). Surrender to parents is rest and security, knowing you will be taken care of and protected, counting on a childhood without punishment or control imposed on you. When children rest in the love and care of parents, they take on the example of parents, and their fondness and admiration for parents drives their desire to be like their parents, worshipping the ground in which their parents walk, always being close to them in some fond and doting way.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke their children to anger will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them be cast into the ever-burning lake of fire and burning sulfur, which is the second death prepared for Satan and his accomplices! Let them descend into the everlasting Hell of fire and torment, suffering God's Wrath forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!