Fear your child: Why to be reverently afraid of your child

Many parents believe that their children should fear them. This is a common American view of children. Even with Santa Claus this season, like every season, children are pigeon-holed into a role where they have to please their adults in order to win over their loving care, including Christmas presents. The fact of the matter is that children are to be feared. That was the Ancient Jewish view of children, including in the Early Church.

Love is submission, and submission is love. The Greek root word denoting Christian love is αγαπαο (Latin: hupakouo) and refers to, in the context of parenting, prioritizing children first, and yourself as a parent last, to the point of dutiful and selfless submission to the every vulnerable need of children, expecting absolutely nothing in return, valuing children as extensions of God. True Love does not come from pride or desire, but instead comes from fearful conviction, where the parents are convicted out of fear of being the depraved and decadent sinner that they are, who is deserving of absolutely nothing, from children or anyone else. This leads to the parent/sinner paying due penance for their sinful nature, serving their children as they would their nature. Children were seen in biblical times as your neighbor, in a way where children convicted parents and other adults with their vulnerability.

Parents are to submit to children as they would God, with children resting safely and securely in the wake of the submission of parents. 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 in the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Parents are to be extensions of Christ in the family home, dutifully and selflessly submitting to children as they would to God, 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 word refers, in short, to secure attachment.

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 or offenses stemming from hostage-taking - child punishment was seen in biblical times as holding your child hostage merely for things they did wrong, thereby treating your child as a quartered slave. Paul here was lifting up this 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 children.

Reverent fear is denoted in the New Testament by the Greek root word ψοβός (Latin: phobos). This word denotes righteous anxiety and terror, which applies, in the context of parenting, to how seriously parents should take their child's needs. Children in biblical times were seen as wrathful, with parents being their enemy from day one. In order to win over their children, they had to provide nourishment and sustenance, and treat their children with reverent respect, pampering and spoiling their children with love and attention. Parenting manuals were handed out to every new parent by Early Church leadership, and parents were given a list of instructions as to how to care for their children, and were told that if they neglected one iota of those instructions, they could face eternity in Hell. Parents were struck with reverent fear and terror for their child, seeing their child as a menace to please and appease, with parents seeking to both keep children happy and stay on the good side of their children. When children were angry at parents, parents cried, wondering what they were doing wrong. But, nonetheless, on another level, it was viewed that children could do no wrong, even if they literally did, meaning they were sacrosanct. Children, under the Law, could not be judged for anything. Anger in biblical times was only allowed in righteous judgment, and since children were sacrosanct in terms of righteous judgment, mere anger at children was seen as unlawful. Lashing out at children was seen as poking at a fire with a wooden stick.

Children, in biblical times, wore absolutely 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 her husband and her children, separately. Mothers served their children by providing for them nourishment and sustenance, namely breastmilk (until age 3) 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 slept next to each other in the nude, with children soaking up the rays of skin-to-skin contact. Children went in the nude for one specific reason - in order to snuggle up and cuddle up children when they were crying or upset, soothing them and reassuring them that all is well. Fathers stood by and guarded the mother and child, wielding a rod and staff to whip intruders (meaning NOT children) with. Fathers also formed a secure attachment to children, usually after witnessing children bond securely with mothers. Usually, however, that attachment was a sexual attachment, at the connotational level, and usually to daughters. Church leadership in the Early Church instructed fathers to follow the sexual thoughts about their children to the end through masturbatory fantasy. Daughters were also attracted to their fathers, creating a mutually unrequited sexual dynamic between father and daughter, which was a sign of sexual purity in a family home. Sexual abuse was rare in biblical times, but when it happened, it was seen as deserving of death.

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!