Child punishment: Why punitive parenting is already banned in the Bible

Many parents think that it is okay to punish or be controlling with a child. This is a common sentiment amongst American parents. Most American parents support the use of punitive measures in parenting. Most American parents do not get their parenting advice from scientific sources, but instead from religious sources. However, even the Bible prohibits all forms of punitive parenting, including any punishment or controlling demeanor.

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, since we all want things from children as depraved and decadent adults, it is good to ask politely and appropriately, accepting when children can't or won't give us what we want from them. We as adults are depraved and decadent sinners in relation to children, and are deserving of absolutely nothing from children or anyone else. Deadly parental entitlement is when you impose wants onto children, and when those imposed wants lead to an offense perceived by the child, the offense becomes child abuse. See 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 towards children. 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 in biblical times as holding your child hostage merely for things they did wrong, thus treating them like a slave instead of your child. 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 belief, was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punishment of a child.

Parents in biblical times never got angry with their children. Parents in biblical times were devoid of any parent anger, with that emotion being missing in parenting. Parenting in the Early Christian culture, as well as preceding Jewish culture, was not driven by anger, but by righteous anxiety and worry. Any parent who would dare show anger towards a child was seen as a viper and a monster merely for getting angry at their child. Parents in biblical times shed their parent anger by coming to the knowledge that they are depraved and decadent sinners in relation to children, who are deserving of absolutely nothing from their children. When you take an attitude towards your child that is completely undeserving in nature, you end up not getting angry with them at all. The commandment not to provoke your child to anger is based on the notion that you should never get angry with your child, and if you do still live in that habit, that you shouldn't defend that entitlement. 

God chose Israel, and used the Bible to lift up that country's legal system for all to follow, with the spread of Judeo-Christian values spread wide by the good news of our Savior Jesus Christ. America is a Christian nation, founded on Judeo-Christian family values. America's book for wisdom and inspiration is the Bible, and nowhere in the good book is there any legitimate justification for punishing a child. The only time you got whipped in Ancient Israel is when you were sentenced for a crime as an adult. We have been wrong on our values before - look at slavery and Jim Crow. We didn't abolish slavery by abolishing God from our society, but by pointing out that the Bible does not mean what it means on the surface, and by pointing false context. God's Law is above the law of the land, and punitive parenting is a violation of God's Law. Therefore, the Bible already bans all forms of punishment and controlling demeanor towards children, including corporal punishment, without any exception.

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!