Giving without receiving: How you should give to your child in terms of presents

Many parents make gifts and presents for children a reward. Christmas Eve starts tonight at 12:00 AM, and most parents will give children their gifts anyway. So, why make "coal for Christmas" or "a whipping for Christmas" a threat and menace to children. The fact of the matter is that children are deserving of charitable gifts from parents, just for being themselves.

Punishing children with gifts, meaning lack thereof, or the threat thereof, is a violation of Christian law. It says 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, stemming 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 punishments and 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. Paul here was lifting up this legal context in order to convict a group of Greek Christian parents who brought their pagan custom of spanking children into the church. Paul, contrary to popular legend, was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punishment of a child.

Giving comes without receiving anything in return. Christian love for children is denoted by the Greek root word αγαπαο (Latin: agapao) and refers to, in the context of parenting, prioritizing children first, and yourself last, to the point of dutiful and selfless submission, expecting absolutely nothing in return. True Love does not come from pride or desire, but from a place of fearful conviction, where parents come to the conviction that they are depraved and decadent sinners/parents who are deserving of absolutely nothing, from children or others. A parent is a worthless sinner with a depraved and decadent sin nature. This realization leads to the sinner/parent being prompted to do good works for their child, thereby earning their worth. "Expecting absolutely nothing in return" implies expecting absolutely nothing, at all, from anyone. It sure does mean that parents are to give without receiving on Christmas morning.

Sometimes, children are going to be ungrateful for what they got. However, parents are deserving of absolutely nothing, and thus are deserving of absolutely no praise or accolades for their good works for their children, including the gifts they give. Parents are to give to their children without receiving, just for the sake of giving, because children deserve charity. Threatening to send the gift back is a threat that comes from entitlement, no matter how empty the threat is. Entitlement is want, to the point of imposition. When you want your child to behave to THAT degree, that you threaten them, then you are mighty entitled as a parent.

Children are extensions of God, meaning instruments of God called to judge righteously their parents and other adults as to how charitable they are. If you don't fit the mold, you burn in Hell. This is how children were seen in biblical times, and this is how children are to be seen today. Parents are to be submissive to their children, just as they are to God.

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!