Righteous enslavement: Why parents are bondservants to their children

Many parents think that their children serve them. This is a common attitude amongst American parents. Most American parents think that their children should serve them, usually posited as a form of child obedience. However, the Bible says differently - parents are bondservants hired by God to serve the every vulnerable need of children, with children being appointed by God as enforcer of duties. It's not fair, but that's life. Children are in charge, with God being the Highest Authority up Above.

The Fifth Commandment is repeated in Colossians 3:20 KJV:

Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. 

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, with parent believers resting securely in the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Parents are to be extensions of Christ, dutifully and selflessly submitting to children as one would God, expecting absolutely nothing in return, with children resting in the submission of parents/ Children are to rest securely in the presence of parents, trusting parents in all things, following mothers around especially like goslings to a mother goose.

The Greek root word translated "parents" is γονεύς (Latin: goneus) and refers to a specific type of parent, namely an attachment parent. In the biblical context, parents were considered bondservants to their children. Parents were seen then as slaves to their children, working for a lump sum. That lump sum was the independence of their children. Fathers especially encouraged bold feats of independence, but mothers also encouraged independence to the degree that they could stomach. Parents, in the mean time, were to slave over their every child's need hand and foot, being a servant caregiver that clothed them hand over foot, fed them from a spoon, or else fed them from a teat. 

Children were the slaveholders of their parents in biblical times. The Lord our God was ultimately the Overseer of the parents, with the children on the ground standing right next to God, enforcing the commandment to be charitable to the poor and vulnerable onto parents. The ancients had a concept of what child abuse was. Anything that offended the child personally, or otherwise caused damages, was unlawful to impose on a child. 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 punishments 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 and 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 in order to convict a group of Greek Christians who brought their pagan custom of spanking and punishing children into the church. 

The commandment against provocation to anger in children was interpreted as attachment parenting stated in the negative. For example, parents are to attend to their children's every cry and upset, reassuring and soothing them, with mothers using their sustaining warmth - meaning skin-on-skin comforting strategies - to soothe their upset children just as they would a baby crying. Parenting manuals expanded on the commands exegeted in this post, and put the fear of God into parents, in searing format, saying that children reported to God whenever parents did not do their job, and saying that if even one iota of the listed needs of the child stated in the manual were neglected, the parent would burn in Hell. Mothers and fathers both scrambled to give children the best childhood they could, and hoped that they would be forgiven for what they couldn't provide, perhaps due to impoverishment or famine. Parenting advice in biblical times was very guilt oriented. Children were like the elf on the shelf for parents, to put them in objectifying terms. Only, children were seen instead as superhuman, as a deity of their own, next to God. Fathers may have sexualized the deity of their daughter, as fathers were in full awareness of their parent attraction, masturbating to fantasies of their children, usually their daughters. Daughters were seen as a goddess of sexuality to fathers in Ancient Israel and the Early Church. Mothers saw both their sons and daughters as gods and goddesses of charity, and felt obligated to them therein. Fathers were motivated the other way.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke their children to anger 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!