Child authority: Why children call the shots in Christian homes

Many parents think that they are the one who calls the shots in the family home. Most American parents hold on to their authority over children, and constantly hold said authority over them. The fact of the matter is, however, that the Bible teaches, in context, that children are authority figures in the lives of parents.

Child authority is part of the child's role in the Christian doctrine of mutual submission. See Colossians 3:21 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 to lift up the customary law that commands a secure attachment between parents and children in the family home. This secure attachment comes from parent submission, where parents submit to their 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, but not limited to, any punishments, reprimands, or other 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 them 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 secular writings. The scourge of cords was used by ordinary Greco-Roman fathers, but not the Christians among them - the Early Church shunned the scourge of cords in all settings. 

Children, in biblical times, had divine authority over parents. Children could issue lawfully binding orders towards their children, with parents obligated to obey in almost every case of receiving orders from children. The only reasons that a parent could disobey the orders of their children if they were unlawful and/or unworkable. When parents took their children to court, the council ruled in favor of the child every time. A child could take their parents to court, and if they lost, the elders of the church simply reassured and comforted children.

In early childhood, a child's every cry was seen as a lawfully binding summonses for vulnerable needs. Mothers in the Early Church, therefore, responded to the every cry of children, perhaps holding them close to their bosom in mammary closeness, and perhaps breastfeeding a milk-dependent child to sleep. The every expressed need of a child was seen then as a lawfully binding summonses. When children got older, they used verbal commands to order their parents around, with parents dutifully and fearfully submitting to children, staying steadfast in their obedience to their children.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke their children to anger through 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 day and night forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!