Co-sleeping: Why co-sleeping is a biblical recommendation

Many parents think that co-sleeping is the irresponsible parenting choice. This is a common parenting view amongst American parents. Most American parents prefer that their children sleep on their own. The fact of the matter, however, is that mothers in biblical times co-slept next to their children to guard them and lull them to sleep.

The teaching of co-sleeping is rooted in the broader doctrine of mutual submission, with children surrendering to the loving arms of mothers especially, after being provided nourishment and sustenance. See 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 to be extensions of Christ in the family home, dutifully and selflessly submitting to the every vulnerable need of children, expecting absolutely nothing in return, with children resting safely and securely in the submission of parents. Children are to rest safely and securely in the presence of parents, following mothers especially around like goslings to a mother goose. This commandment, in short, asserts that parents form a secure attachment with children. Attachment parenting was the norm in Ancient Israel and the Early Church.

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 punishments 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 and offenses stemming from hostage-taking - child punishment was seen then as holding your child hostage merely for things they did wrong, thereby treating your child as a quartered slave. Paul was lifting up this legal context in order to convict a group of Greek Christian parents who brought their pagan custom of spanking and punishment into the church. Paul, contrary to popular legend, was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punishment of a child.

It is common knowledge that children between the ages of 2-6 refuse to go to bed. This is something most parents chalk up to "defiance", and then punish the child for refusing to go to sleep. Usually, it comes with fears of monsters and spooks devouring them. The fact of the matter is that children that young are not ready to sleep on their own. Children that young have a primal fear of being isolated in a room all alone, namely a fear that they will be devoured by predators. Many parents will say that the days of predators breaking in and eating up children are all gone, but predators still exist. Child sexual predators can emerge in any home, due to the situational dynamics of most child sexual abuse. Most child sexual abuse is committed by a father figure, usually when children are sleeping isolated in a room. This is why mothers slept next to their children in biblical times - so that mothers could guard children from the sexual entitlement of their fathers. All fathers have a parent attraction to children that is usually repressed in today's society, and when it is repressed, it comes out sideways as the rape or sexual assault of a child. It is crucial, therefore, for mothers to guard their children from their father by way of co-sleeping.

A common argument is that children who co-sleep next to their parents lose the ability to self-soothe. Many medical and mental health professionals will recommend against co-sleeping, saying that children will lose the ability to self-soothe. Psychohistory refutes this claim, with children in Ancient Israel and the Early Church sleeping next to their mothers until they were ready, on their own, to shake off the closeness of their parents, in which case fathers encouraged lavishly the first bold feat of independence for any child - sleeping in their own bed.

Children, in biblical times, wore absolutely no clothing, at all, until they became adults. Women only wore clothing outside the home, otherwise going 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 and skin-to-skin closeness and intimacy, respectively. The core aspect of Christian attachment parenting in the 1st Century was skin-on-skin co-sleeping, where mother and child were fast asleep next to each other in the nude, with the child soaking up the rays of skin-to-skin contact. By day, children ranged beside mothers in the home, sometimes clinging to her. Outside the home, children up until age 6 were held to the bosom of the mother with swaddling blankets. 

Christmas Eve is fast approaching. On Christmas Eve, children often have trouble sleeping. Children need their sleep, and so it is important that you supply them as a parent with a chance to get good sleep. Just let them sleep in your own bed, so that they can get a good night's sleep. Then, Christmas Day should come for them in no time! Also, it is a known fact that the average date for childhood rapes and sexual assaults to happen is on Christmas Eve, and so it is good to be there for your children at night so that nothing can happen - that kind of predator could be hiding in any home.

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!