Righteous meekness: Why parents should be meek in their duties as parents

Most parents in America want to be empowered in a certain way, meaning in charge of their children. Parent lobbyists portray parenting as "stand up" as opposed to "roll over". But, what does the Bible say about parenting? What it actually says might surprise you. The Bible, when understood in context, calls for parents to be meek and passive in parenting. See acronym righteous meekness.

Righteous meekness is based on the contextual application of the Christian docrine of mutual submission. Parent headship is a passive, submissive headship, thus meek in nature. 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, 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, dutifully and selflessly submitting to children 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 their 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 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.

Righteous meekness means that parents are to be meek and disempowered in their stance as parents. Parenting in biblical times was seen as a servile profession. Parents were considered bondservants to their children, working for a lump sum which was the independence and self-reliance of their children. Children were seen as in charge of their parents, not the other way around, with parents being there for children to use for their benefit. 

Children, in biblical times, held lawful authority over their parents. Parents were not permitted, under the Law, to sue their minor children at law for anything. As soon as a parent took their minor child to court, the church elders immediately took the side of the child, every single time, and the parent was forced to apologize to their child. Even speaking against children, as a group or as individuals, was seen as perjury, as children were deemed as sacrosanct, meaning they could do no wrong, even if they did do things that were considered wrong. 

Parents were in a vulnerable position in biblical times. Some children were not kind to their parents, and beat them, especially older children that would qualify for the modern diagnosis of Oppositional-defiant Disorder (ODD). If they were minor children, or under the care of their parents even as adults, parents had no legal recourse for these beatings, as if they took their physically punitive child to court, they would be forced to apologize for even wasting the time of the church elders when the obligation of a parent was to please even a child that beats them. Elder abuse was commonplace in biblical times, but could only be prosecuted once the offender moved out of the home, with parents documenting every unwelcome visit. No adult descendant was ever put to death for abusing their parents, though some were whipped by their fathers for dishonoring their parents in that way.

Parents were supposed to be meek in their duties as parents, able to take anything from their child in a passive way, even aggression. Parents were expected to selflessly submit to their children, meaning bend over hand and foot, to the point of bowing down in submission to their children. Even when children grew up to be adults, parents were to be there to use for your own benefit as a child. From the very beginning in biblical times, mothers nourished children with breastmilk, and sustained children with skin-on-skin comfort.

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!