Pro-social deification, pro-social child worship: Why biblical culture was child worshipping culture

Many parents go by what they think is the biblical context as a means of trying to understand how to parent properly. Most American parents have heard at least something about the biblical context, and it likely is false. A common thread that parents hear about is child labor, and children being whipped with rods, treated like property. This isn't how the ancients saw their children, and this isn't how the ancients treated their children. Children in biblical times got the royal treatment, with Ancient Jewish culture, including the Early Church, being a child worshipping society.

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 into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into eternal life.

This refers to Christian love for the most vulnerable in society, which was understood then as including children, with children being implied in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats as the most maligned and oppressed in Ancient Jewish society, meaning they were the most vulnerable in society. Love for children was an adversarial love, with adults convicted as being the enemy of children, just as mankind is the enemy of God, with parents being subservient to them just as they are to Him, with children being an extension of God convicting parents and other adults with their vulnerability. There is a list of those that constitute the "least of these" earlier in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, but that list was seen then as limited to what Christ's Jewish society was neglecting on in terms of caring for the vulnerable. Jewish society then was already convicted that children deserved charitable treatment.

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, vulnerable rest in the love and grace of parents. Children are to rest securely in the sacrifice of parents, just as parent believers rest securely in the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Parents are to be extensions of Christ in the family home, sacrificing for their children, just as Christ sacrificed for His children, with children resting in the sacrifice of parents as a Godhead to serve. Parents are the enemy of children, just as mankind is the enemy of God, and parents are to be subservient to them as they are to Him, expecting absolutely nothing in return from children or others, with children resting in the due submission from parents. 

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. This commandment was intended by the Apostle Paul, and understood in its original context, as a moral stature prohibiting all forms of punitive parenting, including any punishment or controlling demeanor towards children. In the Old Testament, punitive parents were put to death by way of bloodletting, for punishing their children too many times. Parents who punished their children were charged with kidnapping, with "kidnapping" being defined under the Law as the slightest of damages or offenses stemming from hostage-taking - child punishment was seen as holding your child hostage merely for things they did wrong. Paul here was lifting up this legal context to a group of Greek Christian parents who brought their pagan custom of spanking and punishing children into the church. Paul, contrary to popular legend, was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punishment of a child. Paul, here, was lifting up the Law in order to educate Greek and Roman newcomers to the Christian Church about how Jewish law prohibited all forms of punishment or controlling measures in parenting as extortion.

Attachment parenting was the established form of parenting in Ancient Jewish culture, including the Early Church. The Early Christians and their Jewish predecessors practiced a specific, distinct form of attachment parenting where children were deified. Children were worshipped and venerated in biblical times as extensions of God, with parents being convicted of their sin nature by the vulnerability of children. Whatever you did for children, you did for God. Whatever you didn't do for children, you didn't do for God. Children could issue lawful and binding orders to their parents, with parents unable to issue lawful and binding orders of their own. If parents did not obey the lawful and binding orders of children, children could take them to court, and once that happened, the children always prevailed. Parents could not countersue in court, as children were too young to be held legally culpable for moral wrongs of theirs. Children could judge their parents righteously, as they were seen as extensions of God, and parents feared the judgment of their children, and thus obeyed God through the demands of their children.

Children, in biblical times, didn't wear any clothing, at all, until they were adults. Women only wore clothing outside the home, and otherwise, went in the nude in order to serve their husbands and their children, separately. Mothers served their children by providing nourishment and sustenance, namely breastmilk (until age 3) and skin-to-skin closeness and intimacy. The core aspect of Christian attachment parenting is skin-on-skin co-sleeping, with mothers and children sleeping next to each other come nighttime. During the day, children ranged next to mothers, sometimes clinging to her, with mothers and children periodically co-snuggling in skin-to-skin format. Serving children in this way was seen as the same as serving God, as children were seen as instruments of God designed to convict parents and other adults of their role in providing for the "least of these".

As the adult that I am, I am a depraved and decadent sinner who is deserving of absolutely nothing from a child. Children are extensions of God, and are deserving of everything I can give them. Usually, all they need is for me to leave them alone. Children are holy and angelic, and they owe me absolutely nothing. I am deserving of absolutely nothing from them. Adults are depraved and decadent sinners deserving of absolutely nothing from children, and I am one of them.

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