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

Many parents think that they love their children. This is common attitude amongst American parents. Most American parents will swear up and down that they love their children. But, do they really? There is only one way to love a child, and that is the Christian way. It is a Christian command to love all children as your neighbor.

Love is submission, and submission is love. 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. The second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

The Greek root word translated "love" is αγαπαο (Latin: agapao) and refers to Christian love. Christian love, in the context of parenting, involves placing your child first, and yourself last, to the point of dutiful and selfless submission, expecting absolutely nothing in return. True Love comes not from pride or desire, but from fearful conviction, where parents are convicted of being depraved and decadent sinners who are deserving of absolutely nothing. This creates a sense of urgency in the parent, which leads to the parent feeling parched and worthless. This motivates parents to serve their child selflessly in order to earn their worth and goodness. This dutiful and fearful submission to children replenishes the soul, leading to gratitude for serving the child. Children then rest securely in the love and submission 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 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. This commandment was intended by the Apostle Paul as lifting up the customary law that commands a secure attachment between parent and child in the family home. This secure attachment comes from parent submission, where parents are to submit to children as their enemy, from beneath yet from above, expecting absolutely nothing in return.

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.

Mothers loved their children by responding to their every cry and upset. For the first 6 years of a child's life, children were in constant closeness to mothers, meaning that wherever the mother went, so did the child. Mother and child were in a state of birth nudity, with mother and child in the nude next to each other, in skin-on-skin closeness and intimacy. When children cried or were upset, they were picked up and cradled, then co-snuggled next to the mother in skin-on-skin format. When mothers and children were out and about in public, children were swaddled to the bosom of mothers in swaddling blankets, perhaps breastfeeding the child in public if the child was milk-hungry. 

To love your child is to provide selflessly, expecting nothing in return, knowing you are deserving of absolutely nothing from your child for being the sinful wretch that you are. But, it isn't enough to love your own child. All children are your neighbor, and all children are to be loved as one's neighbor, meaning as an extension of God.

Children are the salt and light of the world, sitting high upon a mounted hill, casting high judgment upon all adult-kind, discerning between the sheep and the goats in terms of charity and goodwill, bringing out the best and worst of adults with their childish immaturity. Adults, including parents, are to love all children, and love them unconditionally. Children in biblical times were seen as sacrosanct, meaning they could do no wrong, even if they did technically legally do things that were considered wrong. Children were seen as the "least of these", and the lowest among them, and thus children came first in Ancient Jewish culture.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke children to anger though punitive parenting will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them forever be 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!