Why not to make Christmas a time for behavioral modification

Many parents are preparing presents for their children, and planning to put them under the tree on Christmas Eve. Christmas is right around the corner. Sadly, for many children this Christmas, parents and other adults in their lives are using this season of giving as a behavioral modification system to "motivate" children to behave. The fact of the matter is that this is an attempt to control the child, thus entitlement.

The Greek root word translated entitlement, including parental entitlement, and cross-referencing the Tenth Commandment, is πλεονέκτης (Latin: pleonektés) and is defined as, officially speaking, wanting things from children, to the point of imposition. Unofficially speaking, this 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, it is good to ask politely and appropriately, accepting when children can't or won't give us what we want from them. Want is at the very core of our sinful nature, and wanting things from children is at the very core of our wants. When wants are imposed on a child, that becomes deadly entitlement against a child. When such imposed wants are perceived by the child, it 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 punitive parenting of children, 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 (see Exod. 21:16), 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 them 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 punishing children into the church. Paul, contrary to popular legend, was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punishment of a child.

Usually, attitudes favoring modifying a child's behavior come from a place of anger towards the child's behavior. Most parents in the United States can get very angry at their children, and that's when they threaten to "call Santa" and get children either coal, or worse, a whip for Christmas. Most parents in the United States embrace their anger. But, the fact of the matter is that any parent anger towards a child is parental entitlement, as anger only seeks to control the situation. Also, any anger outside of the realm of proper righteous judgment is actually a sin comparable to murder, according to Christ. Children, in biblical times, were seen as sacrosanct, meaning they could do no wrong, even when they did do wrong. Thus, parent anger is also perjury, as any anger outside of proper righteous judgment denotes a false judgment.

There is a way to purge all parent anger. The idea is to quit getting angry with your child cold turkey. At the same time, you should declare yourself a depraved and entitled sinner. A depraved and entitled sinner/parent is deserving of absolutely nothing, from their children or anyone else. Parent anger usually comes from a deserving attitude towards children. When you humble yourself this much in relation to your child, and take the attitude that you deserve absolutely nothing from your child, you will demand nothing. Taking an undeserving attitude towards your child starts with focusing on your own sins in relation to your child, and declaring yourself a depraved and entitled sinner, with this ultimately turning your parent anger inwards at yourself, in order to percolate to nothing. This inward-facing anger should lead to self-control and discipline, in which case the parent anger should remain centered, and then percolate to the point of non-existence. Ask, and you shall receive from your child. Demand, and you get nothing but resentment from children. Knowing the sinful reason why not to demand things from children helps in choosing not to get angry and demand things from children, and then the anger goes away completely once you are out of practice in demanding things from children out of anger. Most parents get angry when demanding things from children. That is a nasty habit that can be broken by anti-entitlement training, meaning taking an undeserving attitude towards children.

How were children treated in biblical times? Children were seen as extensions of God, meaning installments of God called to be righteous judges of the charity of parents and other adults, with children reporting straight to God about how parents and other adults treated them. Children were seen as having a deity of their own, with each deity being unique to itself, and with parents wanting to win over the favor of such deities. Children were seen as wrathful, in a commandeering way, and parents simply pleased and appeased children, seeking not to incur such wrath on them further, trying to keep children happy, even to the point of sacrifice. Ultimately, all the honorifics that children were treated to boiled down to nourishment and sustenance, namely attachment parenting items such as breastfeeding and skin-on-skin co-sleeping. Children up until age 6, when mothers were out and about, were wrapped to the bosom of mothers with swaddling blankets. Children, when in the home, ranged next to their mothers, with both mother and child in the nude. Sometimes, children clung to mothers. When children cried, they were treated to skin-to-skin closeness and intimacy immediately. The nudity of mothers and children, in relation to each other, was established by attachment parenting norm to ensure sustenance in the mother-child bond. Fathers stood guard, wielding a rod and staff to whip intruders with, and also forming a secure attachment with children by witnessing the bonding between mother and child. Most fathers had a sexual attachment to the children of the opposite sex, meaning usually daughters, and needed to masturbate in order to purge themselves of unrequited lusts towards their children. Actual child sexual abuse was rare in biblical times, and when it did happen, the offender was seen as deserving of death. The parent attraction to children was connotational in nature, like sun-tan spray onto the skin of the child.

Christmastime is here once more, and we should not deprive children of a happy, merry Christmas. To them, it is all about the gifts, and that's okay. For adults, Christ should be the center of Christmastime. One should remember that all Jewish children in Christ's Jewish culture were welcomed into the world with similar enthusiasm that Christ was welcomed into the world. Think "Silent Night". That's how you should understand how ALL Jewish children were welcomed into the world, and how they were valued by their parents. Baby Jesus was just seen as one rank higher - while most babies were seen as extensions of God, Jesus was seen as God Himself in the flesh.

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!