Pro-social deification, pro-social child worship: Why children in the Bible were worshipped by their parents

Many parents think biblical times were difficult times for children. False context prevails in this country, meaning a context that depicts children as enslaved by their parents, forced to do hard labor, then whipped along the way. None of this happened in the biblical context, however. Children were worshipped and venerated as like God on earth.

Jesus Christ said in Matthew 25:45-46 KJV:

Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

This refers to the concept of pro-social child worship. The view is that children are extended by God to us to submit to and serve. If you disrespect or abuse a child, you do so to God as well. The list of groups that were among the "least of these" was not an exclusive list. Christ was simply pointing out the groups that His Jewish society was missing, and neglecting to serve. Children were implied by that commandment, as children in Christ's Jewish society were well off and well taken care of. Think a parent fanning a child while the child sits on their throne, and the child issuing divine decrees that declared their needs to parents, with parents providing. That was how children were worshipped in biblical times.

The centerpiece of an attached Christian parenting relationship is Christian Agape love, as denoted by the Greek root word αγαπαο (Latin: agapao), and refers to prioritizing children first, and yourself as a parent last, in a fearful and convicted way leading to dutiful and selfless submission to children and their every vulnerable need, expected absolutely nothing in return from children or others, with children resting safely and securely in the good works of parents, without a worry in the world, with children being in place of God. 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: erethizo) and refers to secure, vulnerable rest in the love and grace of parents. This rest usually involved rest in the nourishment and sustenance of mothers, or else in the supervision of parents as children got older. Children rested in the bosom of mothers, and felt safe there until they shook their mother's sustenance off, asserting their independence. Attachment parenting was mandated under church ordinance in the Early Church, and by way of customary law in the Old Testament. This commandment lifts up that church ordinance, giving the attachment parenting in the biblical context timeless relevance.

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers to damages or abuse, namely child abuse in this context. Child abuse, as defined under biblical law, is the slightest of personal offense perceived by the child, including, but not limited to, the slightest of offensive touch or speech perceived by the child, coming from entitlement. This commandment, as it is written, was intended by the Apostle Paul to prohibit all punitive parenting of children, meaning any punishment or controlling demeanor. Paul was lifting up the Law in order to rebuke Greek Christian parents who brought their pagan custom of spanking children into the church. Spanking and punitive parenting does not come from the Bible, but from the Roman Catholic Church pandering to European pagan cultures that beat and whipped their children. All seven rod verses are repealed verses, meaning they refer to a legal punishment within Judaism that doesn't apply today. The book of Proverbs ultimately refers to judicial corporal punishment in the form of 40 minus 1 lashes with the rod of correction, issued by their fathers onto an ADULT child. MINOR children could not be whipped, as a whipping required a court order, and no judge would issue a court order to a MINOR child. Children were not seen by the Law as subjects, but young people learning the Law.

Children were heavily deified in biblical times, with children being worshipped and venerated as extensions of God. The every demand and order for needs/wants was provided for by parents. Children were a lawful and binding authority in the Bible, and had the right to issue lawful and binding orders on their parents. They had the right to police their parents for what they needed. Children were valued and idealized as "gods" and "goddesses", with parents pampering and doting on their child.

Children had the legal right to issue a lawful and binding order on their parents, and shake them up in terms of moral laws, in order to get what they wanted. Parents had no legal authority over their dependent children, and could only ask nicely and politely what they wanted of children, and if children didn't listen, it was assumed that children were too immature to understand what was being asked of them. Parents then kept the misunderstanding child safe by way of logical consequences, or else allowed a natural consequence to occur.

How did the deification of children pan out? Mothers were charged with providing nourishment and sustenance for children, namely breastmilk and skin-to-skin closeness and intimacy respectively. Children did not leave the side of mothers until age 6, and even then, children slept next to mothers until they shook off the comfort of their parents. Children went naked wherever they went, and women went naked in the family home in order to serve their husbands and their children, separately. Mothers served their children by using skin-to-skin contact to reassure their children, all by holding the crying child to the bosom head first. By day, children ranged beside mothers, sometimes clinging to her, or else playing within her line of sight. By night, children of all ages co-slept with their mothers.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke children to anger! Let them be cast into the lake of fire and burning sulfur, which is the second death prepared for Satan and his accomplices! Let them descend into the abyss which is the ever-burning Hell of fire and torment, suffering God's Wrath forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!