"Honor parents": Why the Fifth Commandment does not justify punishment of children

Many parents today punish their children, and the main way they make excuses for their behavior is the Fifth Commandment. Most American Christians do not understand the context of the Fifth 
Commandment. Otherwise, they wouldn't be citing it as an excuse for child abuse.

The Fifth Commandment reads in Exodus 20:12 KJV:

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

This commandment ultimately laid out the framework for a list of laws prohibiting elder abuse. Elder abuse was a problem in ancient Israel. It was rampant, with children sending parents on their merry way, cursing them with gaslighting curses, and also beating them up and taking advantage of them. This commandment came before the rash in elder abuse, in order to give the religious authorities tools to deal with the elder abuse epidemic then. Before the parent protection laws, parents could easily be blamed for their own abuse in court. Simply talking back is not dishonoring parents, and neither is swearing at them. "Curse parents" means specifically a gaslighting curse.

Every single parent and adult is guilty in relation to children, and deserving of DEATH and DESTRUCTION merely for existing in relation to children, with parents/adults being meek and shamefaced in relation to parents, with silence at the cue and consent of children. Parents especially are to esteem their child above all else, prioritizing their child before even themselves, to the point of dutiful and selfless submission to children and their every need, expecting absolutely nothing in return from children or others. Children should be allowed to rest in the love and grace of parents. 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 in the love and grace of parents. Attachment parenting was the norm in biblical times. Think pales of water held by a mother gathering water from a nearby river, with a young child wrapped up in swaddling blankets, feeling warm and cozy in the bosom of mothers. This is how God wants parents to raise their children. This scenery depicts it all. The modern equivalent? Holding a tired child close to you in the supermarket, wrapping them up with warm swaddling blankets fresh from the dryer, with the child being warm in the bosom of the mother. Children are to rest securely in parents, in the form of policing attachment, meaning children give orders as to what they need, and parents give in and give up, surrendering to the needs of the child. The Fifth Commandment, for children, means children should rest in the love and grace of parents, then honoring their example when they are older, wanting to be like parents. Simply "talking back" is not a sin against parents. Striking parents when they have not struck out at you as a child is disrespect of parents, as it is elder abuse. Rest in parents often involves children being held close and snuggled by parents, with children feeling safe and secure, surrendering into the loving arms of parents, telling parents anything and everything under the sun, with parents being confessors for the child, hearing their children out in confidence, with children petitioning for needs and a redress of grievances in a policing way. Children owe nothing in return to parents.

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers to any offenses perceived by the child, meaning the slightest of personal offenses perceived by the child, including the slightest of unwanted touch perceived by the child. The Apostle Paul intended this command as a statement of Christian love in the negative, and as a ban on corporal and other forms of punishment inflicted upon children. The Greek Christians in the Colossian church brought their pagan custom of spanking children into the church, and justified it using the book of Proverbs. Paul gave the commandment to not provoke children to anger as the commandment to love your neighbor in the negative, telling the Greek Christians to see the big picture - that your child is your neighbor, and deserves the same respect as any neighbor. The seven verses that depict the rod of correction are repealed verses, as such verses depict a dated form of judicial corporal punishment - the 40 minus 1 lashes with the rod of correction, which was a punishment for ADULT children of Hebrew parents as a last warning before the death penalty was imposed on the offender, as children could not be found culpable for crimes they committed. The Early Christian church ordinances had no concept of any capital or corporal punishment.

The Fifth Commandment does not mean a child has no right to talk back to parents. Child submission is a restful submission, and basically is surrender into the loving arms of parents, feeling safe to express oneself freely, state what is on your mind, and with parents listening to and validating their child's concerns and redress of grievances. Surrender to parents is secure, vulnerable rest and respite in the care and love of parents. Parents are to be caregivers, not lawgivers, and children are to rest in their care, and if children feel insecure, the parent must be doing something wrong. All the Fifth Commandment means for children is that the burden of proof is on parents, so that children are motivated to honor them later in life by emulating their example.

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