Child punishment: Why punitive parenting is already banned under God's Law

Many parents think that it is acceptable to punish or be controlling with their children. It is a common stance among American parents that punishing a child is morally acceptable and even commanded to do. Most American parents get their parenting information from religious sources, not scientific sources. However, the fact of the matter is that even the Bible prohibits punitive parenting, and the Bible prohibits it explicitly. 

Punitive parenting is specifically dealt with in the Bible, and is dealt with explicitly. It says in Colossians 3:21 KJV:

Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

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 a child, including, but not limited to, the slightest of offensive touch or speech perceived by a child, coming from entitlement. This commandment was intended by the Apostle Paul, and understood in its original context, as a moral statute prohibiting all forms of punitive parenting, including any punishment or controlling demeanor towards a child. In the Old Testament, punitive parents were put to death by way of bloodletting, after punishing their children too many times. Parents who punished their children were charged with kidnapping, with "kidnapping" being defined as the slightest of damages or offenses stemming from hostage-taking - child punishment was seen then as holding one's child hostage merely for things they did wrong. Paul 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 was lifting up the Law in order to educate Greek and Roman parent newcomers about proper Jewish parenting, which was attachment-based in nature.

The Greek root word denoting entitlement in the New Testament, including parental entitlement, and cross-referencing the Tenth Commandment, is πλεονέκτης (Latin: pleonektés) and refers to, officially speaking, wanting things from children, to the point of imposition. Unofficially speaking, this word refers to wanting things from children, period. It is not good to want anything in life, including from children. But, we all want things from children as depraved and decadent adults, so we should ask politely and appropriately, and accept when the child does not follow our instructions. Want is the core of our sin nature, and wants from children are the core of our wants as human beings. For wanting things from children, we are depraved and decadent sinners who are deserving of absolutely nothing from children or anyone else, not even respect, not even forgiveness.

Parents in biblical times did not get angry with their children ever. Parents in biblical times were devoid of any parent anger, meaning that emotion was missing in biblical times among parents and other adults. Parenting in biblical times was not motivated by anger, but instead was motivated by righteous anxiety and worry. Parents worried about their children when they went astray, and didn't get angry at all. Even showing anger towards your child, when witnessed by others, raised immense suspicion and hatred towards the parents. Parents who got angry at their children were seen as vipers and monsters. Parent anger then did exist as a valid concept, but only aside of the child in order to protect them from an interloper. Otherwise, parenting was motivated by parents getting worried about their child's safety and well-being. Even when children were aggressive, parents wouldn't punish the child, and instead would cry alongside the child, teaching the child to cry instead of hit. Anger, in biblical times, was only allowed within the confines of a court of law, and children could not be prosecuted under the Law. See Matt. 5:21-22.

God chose Israel, and used the Bible to lift up the Israelite legal system, and spread it around the world using a similar context, creating Western society as we know it today. America is a Christian nation, and nowhere in our Christian family values does it legitimately say to strike or punish a child, with any mention of corporal punishment in the Bible, in fact, depicting judicial corporal punishment of ADULT offenders. We have gotten our values wrong before - just look at slavery and Jim Crow. Slavery and Jim Crow used to be the law of the land. We didn't get rid of them by way of removing religion from society altogether, but by getting better religion. The abolitionists were devout Christians, but did not believe the Bible allowed for slavery as an institution. Today, children are seen as property or chattel, and the Bible is perverted in a way that allows for that mindset to fester. God's Law is above the law of the land, and provoking children to anger using punishments or other controlling measures is prohibited under God's Law, always was, and always will be, until the end of time.

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