Many parents want children to respect them. This is a common want among parents in America. Most American parents expect children to respect them. Most American parents get this information from the Bible. However, the Bible nowhere mandates that minor children respect their parents. The fact of the matter is that respect is earned in life, and parenting is life. All parents have to earn their child's respect.
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 are to rest 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 being a Godhead for parents to serve, and with children resting securely 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 just as they are to Him, expecting absolutely nothing in return from children or anyone else.
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 in biblical times 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 a child hostage merely for things they did wrong. Paul was lifting up this legal context to a group of Greek Christians 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 educating Greek and Roman parent newcomers to the Christian Church on proper Jewish parenting, which was attachment-based in nature.
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, separately. 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 central focus of Christian attachment parenting then was skin-on-skin co-sleeping. Mothers snuggled next to their children, and provided sustaining comfort for them in the nude. By day, children ranged beside their mothers, following mothers like goslings follow a mother goose. When children were crying or upset, mother would co-snuggle with their children in skin-on-skin format.
Christian attachment parenting was the means in which parents earned their respect in biblical times. The skin-on-skin comforting strategies used by mothers in the Bible was what was used by parents to win over the respect of parents. It is a myth that parents spanked or punished children in order to win over their respect, as parenting in biblical times involved attachment parenting. Children in biblical times grew up in a warm and loving environment where their every need and benign want was provided for.
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! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Any comment that
1. Endorses child abuse (including pornography of such)
2. Imposes want to the point of imposition, meaning entitlement.
3. Contains self-entitled parent rhetoric, to the point of self-victimization
will not be published. Flexible application. Debate is allowed, but only civil arguments that presume the best of intentions in their opponent, on both sides.