"Honor parents": Understanding the Fifth Commandment in context

Many parents think they deserve respect from their children. This leads to demanding respect from children. This all stems from the Fifth Commandment to "honor thy father and thy mother". Most parents demand honor from their children, and most become entitled along the way. The fact of the matter is that the Fifth Commandment only prohibits elder abuse. It is okay to have an argument with your parents. It is okay for that discussion to become heated. It is not okay to beat your parents, as the law of the land interprets that as dishonoring your parents.

It says 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, in context, refers chiefly to elder abuse, as further defined under the Law. This passage refers to the parent protection laws that governed how ADULT children treated their aging parents. "Do not curse your parents" means do not send your parents on their merry way with airborne gaslighting. "Do not strike your parents" means do not repeatedly beat your parents. The parent protection laws were necessary then because parent victims of elder abuse were blamed for bringing on their own abuse, with victim-blaming questions such as "where did they learn that behavior?" Today, the Fifth Commandment simply means to show parents basic respect, such as during an argument. It is okay to get heated in an argument with your parents, but when you end treating your parents in a way that violates the law and/or constitutes elder abuse under the laws of your state, you are also guilty of dishonoring parents under God's Law. Hitting or otherwise striking your parents is one form of dishonoring parents in most, if not all, states. Let the law be your guide as to how you treat your parents.

The Fifth Commandment is repeated 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 extensions of Christ in the family home, sacrificing for their children, just as Christ sacrificed for His children, with children being a Godhead to serve, and with children resting in the submission of parents. Parents are the enemy of children, just as mankind is the enemy of God, with parents being subservient to them as they are to Him, expecting absolutely nothing in return from children or others, with children owing absolutely nothing to parents for their subservience. 

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 children. 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 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 the 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 parent newcomers to the Christian Church about the Jewish parenting traditions, which were attachment-based in nature.

Attachment parenting was the norm in Ancient Jewish society, including the Early Church. The Early Christians, as well as their Jewish predecessors, practiced a form of attachment parenting that deified children. Children were worshipped and venerated as extensions of God, being seen and valued by parents as little gods and goddesses, with Christian society then wanting to be seen as doting on and pampering their children. Children had the power to issue lawful and binding orders, and their every cry, whine, and demand was seen as a lawful and binding order. If lawful and binding orders weren't followed by parents, children could take parents to court, and by then, the case had already been decided, with the child prevailing.

Children, in biblical times, wore no clothing, at all, until they became adults. Women only wore clothing outside the home, and otherwise, went in the nude in order to serve their husbands and their children. Mothers served their children by way of providing for them 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 between mothers and children. Mothers, by night, snuggled next to their children, bonding with them closely with mammary closeness, with children resting on her bosom, and with toddlers and infants suckling her teat. By day, children ranged beside mothers, sometimes clinging to their mother. When children cried or were upset, children co-snuggled with mothers in skin-on-skin format, in mammary closeness to their children, held against her bosom in loving arms of warmth and care. Fathers nurtured too, but from afar, encouraging the religious education of their children, otherwise being a human ragdoll with children, with fathers only having contact with children with the mother's consent. Most adult men were pedophiles towards their children, albeit the abstinent type, and so mothers guarded their children with co-sleeping while fathers re-channeled attraction to children inward through solo masturbation.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke 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! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!