Love children: Why it is a Christian command to love all children

Many parents think that they love their children. This is a common attitude amongst American parents. Most American parents think they love their children, but do they really? The fact of the matter is that most American parents hate their children by the Christian standard of love. Most parents seem not to know what true Love is in relation to a child.

It says in Matthew 22:35-40 KJV:

Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

This commandment, as understood in context, also applies to parenting. The Greek root word translated "love" is αγαπαο (Latin: agapao) and refers to, in this context, prioritizing children first, and yourself last, to the point of dutiful and selfless submission to children, expecting absolutely nothing in return. True Love does not come from pride or desire, but instead fearful conviction, where parents come to the conviction that they are a depraved and decadent sinner who is deserving of absolutely nothing. This creates a sense of urgency in the parent/sinner, prompting them to perform good works for their children, thus earning their goodness as parents. In return, children rest safely and securely in the good works 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 discoutaged.

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, dutifully and selflessly submitting to children just as they would to God, expecting absolutely nothing in return, with children resting safely and securely in the submission of parents. Parents are to submit to children as their enemy, from beneath yet from above, revering and fearing children as vulnerable 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 punitive parenting, including any punishments or controlling demeanor towards a child. 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 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 that they did wrong,, thereby treating your child as a quartered slave. Paul here was lifting up the Law 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 in his writings.

In the parenting manuals in the Early Church, children were seen as vulnerable appearances of God, meaning vulnerable extensions of God, called to judge righteously the charity and good will of men. Children were seen as cherubs from God called to bring out the best and the worst of adult-kind. The parenting manuals went on to say that parents had no worth, and that children owned all the worth, and so in order to make yourself worthy as a parent, you had to parent the natural way, meaning what your human nature said was acceptable parenting, especially in the case of mothers, who were seen as experts on children. Ancient Jewish society, including the Early Church, was a child worshipping society, not a child enslaving society. Punitive attitudes towards children came from the Greeks and the Romans, not from the biblical context.

Children were in the providing custody of parents, primarily of their mothers, and secondarily of their fathers. Mothers formed a secure attachment to children, and did so by providing for children 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, children were in constant closeness to mothers, never leaving her side, being wrapped up next to her bosom in swaddling blankets when mothers were out and about, perhaps being offered to suckle her teat if milk-hungry. Around age 6, children started to play outside and explore, venturing further and further from home (albeit while checking in with mom first). Children formed a secure attachment to fathers through their mother, learning how to relate to fathers through how they relate to mothers, with fathers making themselves at home by way of masturbatory fantasy about his child (usually his daughter).

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!