"Honor parents": Understanding the Fifth Commandment in context

Many American parents who are Christians, meaning the vast majority of American parents, observe the Fifth Commandment. However, many American parents interpret this very real commandment as a right to demand respect from children. Most American parents demand respect from their children, and the cited reason for this most times is how they interpret the Fifth Commandment. The Fifth Commandment was only designed to outlaw clear, deliberate elder abuse. Otherwise, this commandment instates clear parent headship over children, in terms of provisions. 

It says in Exodus 20:12 KJV:

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

This commandment, when understood in its original context, only prohibits clear, deliberate elder abuse. The 10 commandments are the basis for the rest of the 613 commandments handed down by God to Moses. What the Fifth Commandment refers to is honor offenses, as defined by the parent protection laws. "Do not strike your parents" means do not beat your parents as an independent adult. "Do not curse your parents" means do not administer an airborne gaslighting curse to your parents. These things were already against the Law, but elder abuse was being ignored by the first-to-last Jewish society, with parent victims being blamed with statements such as "they must have learned that behavior somewhere". Pressing charges against one's adult child could very possibly be counted as incriminating yourself of past abusive acts against your child. So, God handed down the parent protection laws to provide basic protections for parents against clear, deliberate elder abuse. We aren't talking a child striking him/her parents out of frustration. We are talking an adult independent from his/her parents deliberately visiting parents and exploiting them, then leaving them in a ditch. Only the worst of the worst of elder abuse cases were punished in the Old Testament.

The Fifth Commandment was repeated in Colossians 3:20-21 KJV:

Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke 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, submitting to children as they would to God, expecting absoluely nothing in return, with children resting safely and securely in the submission of parents. Parents are to submit to their children as their enemy from beneath, yet from above, revering and fearing their children as extensions of God.

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 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 offense 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 Christians who brought their pagan custom of spanking and punishing their childrem into the church. Paul, contrary to popular legend, was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punishment of a child. 

Parents are to be submissive to their children, just as mankind is submissive to God, with parents being their enemy. Children in biblical times were prized when they were bold and rebellious. Boldness was seen as a sign of independence in a child, with bold feats of independence being lavishly praised and encouraged by fathers. Rebellion was also encouraged, by both fathers and mothers, with parents seeing rebellion in children as cute and endearing. Children in biblical times issued righteous demands, with parents giving up all fight to those demands, giving in to the demands of their children. These demands brought parents to full and dutiful submission to children, striking reverent fear and terror in parents. 

Children, in biblical times, wore absolutely no clothing, at all, until they were adults. Women only wore clothing outside the home, otherwise going in the nude, in order to serve their husbands and their children, separately. Mothers are to serve their children by way of providing for them nourishment and sustenance, namely attachment parenting items such as breastfeeding and skin-on-skin comfort. During the first 6 years of a child's life in biblical times, children never left the side of their mothers, with children ranging next to mothers, sometimes clinging to her when they were crying or upset. When out and about, young children were wrapped up next to the bosom of their mothers, in swaddling blankets. By night, mothers co-slept next to children, in order to guard children from predatory threats, including the sexual entitlement of fathers. Fathers also formed a secure attachment with their children, usually by witnessing skin-on-skin closeness and intimacy between mothers and children, usually wanting in by way of sexual attachment to the child in his/her nude state. Fathers then dealt with their sexual thoughts about their children by following them through to the end using masturbatory fantasy. Daughters usually were attracted to fathers as well, usually in a connotational way by way of wanting to look pretty for her father. Actual child sexual abuse was rare next to non-existent in biblical times, and when it occurred, it was punished severely, in both the Old and New Testaments.

The Fifth Commandment, as a whole, creates a place of headship in relation to children, meaning parents are the head of their children. This headship, however, involved full and dutiful submission from beneath, yet from above, with parents being caregivers to their children, not lawgivers or lawmakers. Parents in biblical times simply provided for children. The force of the Fifth Commandment came when children became adults, and lived away from home, and involved the worst of the worst involving elder abuse. No adult child was ever executed for dishonoring parents, but a few were whipped as a last warning before execution. All who were caught dishohoring parents were given a fair trial based on the presumption of innocence beyond a reasonable doubt. Otherwise, the Fifth Commandment was symbolic for a parents position of care and trust over a child, known as providing custody.

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!