Reverent fear: Why to fear your children

Many parents think that their children should fear them. This is a common belief among punitive parents - that their children should be afraid of them, when parents should instead be afraid of their children. The fact of the matter is that a parent should fear their children, just as mankind should fear God. 

The Greek root word denoting reverent fear in the New Testament is ψοβός (Latin: phobos) and refers to righteous anxiety that strikes the individual into action. It is a reverent gasp that prompts the sinner into conviction, and when that conviction leads to action that puts your neighbor first, love. 

True Christian love comes from conviction. It is the conviction that one is a depraved and wicked sinner and is deserving of absolutely nothing in life, and thus everyone around the Christian is deserving of everything that the Christian can give them  This reformatory and remorseful attitude in an adult can lead to prioritizing children first, and yourself as an adult last, leading to dutiful and selfless submission to children and their every vulnerable need, as denoted by the Greek root word αγαπαο (Latin: agapao). See Romans 3:9-12 KJV:

What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Love for children comes from the conviction that one is not righteous just for existing as an adult, and that you yourself as an adult are deserving of DEATH and PUNISHMENT merely for existing in relation to children, and need to atone for your sin nature by doing acts of service and sacrifice for children as an adult. In this passage, the Roman Christians were becoming too proud in their practice of Christianity, and so the Apostle Paul was convicting the Roman Christians to focus on people other than themselves.

The idea behind reverent fear is that the child, as a representative of God and His Authority, strikes the fear into parents by issuing orders and decrees for their own needs. 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. Parents are to be loving extensions of Christ in the family home, sacrificing for children, just as Christ sacrificed for His children, with parents fearfully and dutifully submitting to a Godhead which is children, marking themselves as the enemy of said child, expecting absolutely nothing in return from children or others. 

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers to damages or offenses, namely 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. Punitive parents in the Old Testament were put to death by way of bloodletting, after punishing their children too many times. Parents who punished their children were charged with kidnapping, meaning any damages or offense stemming from hostage-taking - punishment of children, then, was seen as holding your child hostage for things they did wrong. Paul was lifting up this legal context as a rebuke to Greek Christian parents who brought their pagan custom of spanking children into the church. No such custom existed among the Early Christians, with the ordinance of the Early Church mandating attachment parenting or else transition to such parenting.

The idea behind fearing your child is having the humility to allow children to boss you around. Parents are mere bondservants to their children, and have the duty to take orders from the children they serve, like waitstaff. A waiter or waitress bends over backwards for those they serve. So should a father or a mother. Yes, that means clean up messes, settle disputes, and provide nourishment and comfort for children, as children see fit in their demands. 

Parents in biblical times revered and feared their children, in the form of veneration of children as an emblem of God and His Authority on earth, with parents enduring the demands and orders of their children, turning the other cheek in the case of talking back or aggression, and allowing the demands of children to topple them over. Children had immense lobbying power with adults from beneath, and gave orders to parents, with parents seeing themselves as servants of God.

I am reverently afraid of children, meaning children make me afraid, but they don't scare me. Children are a delight to be around, while I am put in my lowly place as a pedophilic adult, They are downright fearsome when that delicate order is upset, and they are upset at my entitled behavior. I am entitled to absolutely nothing from children, and grateful for all the forgiveness I get from my child victims. I am afraid of letting children down, and making them mad at me, and so I leave them alone, or else give them pretty much whatever they want, and I don't argue with their stated needs ever.

Reverent fear of children is being convicted of Christ's love for children, in a fearful way that strikes reverent terror into the adult, and then compels them in the Lord to do as they should for a child, and serve that child on a lowly level, expecting absolutely nothing in return from children or others. Giving, without receiving, and a healthy dose of reverent fear helps one accept that one won't get any reward in return for serving the needs of children.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke their children to anger will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them forever 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!