Why punitive parenting is kidnapping (and slavery)

Many parents think that the Bible commands the punishment of a child. This is a common belief among American parents. Most American parents are punitive in their parenting style, and this includes both punishments and controlling demeanor. However, when understood in context, the Bible clearly prohibits punitive parenting.

It says in Exodus 21:16 KJV:

And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

The underlined clause in this moral statute refers to hostage-taking. The courts, in Ancient Israel, considered any punishment of a child to be a form of holding a child hostage. Most parents in biblical times were attachment parents. When a child was instead punished as a form of punitive parenting, society viewed the child as a slave in their own home. The courts shared this view, and sent punitive parents to their death by way of bloodletting. Kidnapping, as a whole, was defined as the slightest of damages or offenses stemming from hostage-taking, at minimum. This commandment would have been, in context, clearly seen as applying to pro-spanking parents. Punitive parents were a rare breed, and so executions of punitive parents only happened once in a great while. All those who defended the parents were also put down for perjury. 

This commandment is repeated even clearer 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 form of punishment or controlling demeanor. In the Old Testament, punitive parents were put to death by way of bloodletting, after punishing their children one last time. 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 then as holding your child hostage merely for things they did wrong. Paul here was lifting up this legal context, also found in Exod. 21:16, to a group of Greek Christian parents who brought their pagan custom of spanking and punishing children into the church. Paul, contrary to popular belief, was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punishment of a child.

Kidnapping, in biblical times, was seen as a form of slavery. Slavery, as it is understood in the Colonial American context, was non-existent in biblical times, as the Jews were once slaves under Egyptian rule. The Ancient Jews, and the Early Christians, instead had indentured servants, meaning individuals who willfully surrendered themselves to a household, usually after going bankrupt. After a few years of hard labor, bondservants earned their freedom as well as a payment of money. Literally taking someone hostage was seen as kidnapping, and a form of wrongful enslavement.

Parents, in biblical times, were seen as bondservants in their own right. Parents were expected to surrender to the auspices of their own child, and heed command when their child needed something. Parents were enslaved to their children from above, and that was the norm in the Early Church. Any punitive treatment of children was seen as enslaving children, and enslaving children roused the righteous anger of the Early Christians, as well as their Jewish predecessors. The Law was instated to punish parents who enslaved their children using punitive parenting. In the Early Church, punitive parents were excommunicated following an investigation. In the Old Testament, punitive parents were put to death, and in the Early Church, that death sentence was used as an example of how God hates the punishment of a child.

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!