Child authority: Why children are authority figures over all adults (especially parents)

Many parents think that they are the one in charge in the family home, and that children are to listen to them. Most parents see themselves as authority figures in relation to children, and feel entitled to giving orders to children. However, this is not how it was seen in biblical times. In biblical times, children called the shots, and issued orders to their parents. Parents obeyed the lawful orders of children.

The concept of child authority is part of the Christian doctrine of 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 submission 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 selfessly submitting to children just as they would to God, expecting absolutely nothing in return, with children resting safely and securely in the wake of 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, inclduing 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 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 broughtt 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.

Children, in biblical times, held lawful authority over their parents. Children could issue lawful orders to parents, and parents usually had to obey their children, except when the order was unworkable or in violation of existing Law. Parents could not issue orders or take their child to court, as when a Christian parent in the 1st Century took their child to court, the church elders took the side of the child, and forced the parents to apologize to both the child, as well as the court for wasting the time of the church elders. Even when children were beating or exploiting their parents, the courts sided with the child. The parent protection laws only applied to adults outside the home, with the term "dishonoring parents" meaning beating parents and cursing them with airborne gaslighting, as well as committing moral crimes that reflect on the adult descendant's mother. Children were seen by the Law, in practice, as sacrosanct, and thus a child could not be charged with a moral crime, at all.

Ancient Israel, as well as the Early Church, were child worshipping societies, not child enslaving societies. Children were seen as vulnerable appearances of God, discerning and judging righteously the charity and good will of adult-kind, reporting straight to God as to their findings. Children were seen as representatives of God, with parents struck with reverent fear and terror of their child, awe-struck by the child's vulnerability. This led to children bringing their parents to full and dutiful submission to children, with parents expecting absolutely nothing in return. Children issued the lawful orders, and parents obeyed them. Parents could not issue orders to their children, and instead pleaded with their children, asking them favors from the bottom of their heart, hoping children would listen to them based on a secure attachment that all parents in biblical times strove for.

Young children usually issued orders by crying. The every cry of a child was seen as law then for a mother to follow, under customary law then. Mothers responded to the every cry of children, cooing and reassuring children with skin-on-skin comfort and sustenance, perhaps swaddling the young child with swaddling blankets next to her bosom when out and about. Older children demanded things from parents, and they weren't always polite about it. Children gave orders for parents to give them what they wanted, and parents had to obey, not questioning the tone of the order. Parents could be put in vulnerable positions due to the authority of their children. One biblical example of the pressure of child authority in Genesis is the story of Lot. Lot was afraid to say "no" to his daughters, and was slain by God for not setting a limit with his daughters (most child sexual abuse in biblical times happened this way).

Customary law in the Early Church involved a parenting manual where parents were convicted into obeying the lawful orders of their children. Among many things, the parenting manual said that parents were worthless unless they served the needs of their children. Only then did parents earn their worth. The point of a parenting manual was to make the parents feel parched and worthless, so that they would serve their children more efficiently to earn their worth.

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!