Providing custody: The contents of custody under Christian law

Many parents think that they own their children. This is a common attitude amongst American parents. Most parents take ownership over their children, thinking that they own them as property or chattel. The fact of the matter is that the Bible gives children individual rights, even over their parents. Providing custody is the empowered rest of children in the love and submission of their parents. 

Providing custody is the child's lot in the Christian doctrine for mutual submission. 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 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 Chrst. Parents are to be extensions of Christ in the family home, dutifully and selflessly submitting to children 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 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 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 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. 

The Greek root word υπακουο ultimately refers to providing custody. Providing custody is where children are in a state of secure rest in relation to the dutiful and fearful submission of their parents, with parents fearfully submitting to children from beneath yet from above. To better understand providing custody, one must understand that children have lawful authority over their parents, able to issue lawful orders to get what they need and want from parents. Parents could only refuse the law of their children if, given the circumstances, the Law contradicts the child's orders, or else the child's orders are completely unworkable. Usually, parents had to scramble and find a way to obey their child, or else face the penalty that is their wrath.

The way this legal framework worked in practice is that children cried, and mothers responded to the every cry of their child. The every cry of a child is law in the Hebraic understanding of the Bible. Mothers provided food, water, shelter, transportation, and attachment based on the cries of their children, with the most important need being attachment. Even if the child cried out for attention, the mother immediately and instinctively responded by giving the child loving attention. 

Parenting manuals in biblical times issued the decree that the every cry of a child was law, and that ignoring the cries of children was akin to ignoring the Law that God has instituted as a dominion cast on all mankind, for mankind to obey fearfully and dutifully. Simply ignoring one cry of a child was seen as a self-condemnation to Hell in the Early Church, unless the mother repented and got on the straight and narrow. Parents were seen as servants by their children, of the comforting variety. 

Even fathers nurtured. Mothers nurtured up close, and fathers nurtured from afar. Fathers mainly nurtured in terms of praising self-improvement in children. Fathers also were playmates to children from time to time, of the silly and playful type, relating to children at their level. Fathers helped out mothers when she got tired of responding to crying, and did so by taking over for her duties.

Parents dutifully and fearfully submitted to children from beneath yet from above. Children were seen as menacing for their small size and stature, and parents felt compelled to obey the orders of their children. Parents were seen by children then as objects of comfort and pleasure, usually starting with mothers breastfeeding their children until age 3 in most cases, or in some cases all the way until age 6 or older. Parents feared their children, in a guilt-ridden way, and every time their child cried, they immediately responded, out of instinct. Ancient Israel and the Early Church were child worshipping societies, with children being seen as vulnerable extensions of God called to judge righteously the charity and good will of adults, and then report to God their findings.

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!