Elopement: What to do to prevent your child from running off

Many parents think that a child running off and endangering themselves is worthy of punishment. This is a common attitude amongst American parents. Most American parents punish their children for running off, perhaps into a busy street. However, the fact of the matter is there are time-honored ways to keep children safe from running off. Christian mothers in the Early Church swaddled their children next to their bosom in swaddling blankets. Children had to wait before having their two feet on the ground in public.

Swaddling children in swaddling blankets was 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. Parents are the enemy of children, just as mankind is the enemy of God, and is to submit as such. Surrender to parents comes with strings attached on the part of the parent, with children issuing righteous demands from their restful place, usually when parents weren't pulling their weight.

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 o, 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 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 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 secular writings. Paul may not have gotten along with the women, but he sure loved children, and even took in orphaned children. Indeed, Greco-Roman fathers used the scourge of cords on their children, but NOT the Christians among them - the Early Christians were hated largely for being "too soft" on their children.

Elopement is a modern problem for parents. Most parents today simply hold their child's hand, hoping they won't squirm their hand away. In Ancient Jewish society, just like today, there were hazards for children. Hazards for children in biblical times included venomous snakes and scorpions that would bite children, and since they had no antidote for the venom, the child died. Today, there are also hazards, namely water, railroad tracks, and busy streets. 

Christian mothers in the Early Church kept children safe from danger by swaddling their children next to their mother's bosom in swaddling blankets woven of velvet. Mothers swaddled their children by way of tying the swaddling blankets around her left breast, the across the dot to her right leg, or vice versa, or both in the case of twins. The young child - under age 6 - was tucked underneath the loose-fitting, revealing dress of mothers that resembled an apron.

A child under age 6 is unlikely to grasp the fact that something is dangerous. Most of the time, children that age in biblical times were not out and about, and they never left the doorstep of their home until they were old enough to be trusted to play freely - which was older than age 6. Mother and child were quartered in the family home while in the nude next to each other, not by the husband's orders, but by the child's needs. This quartered setup wasn't harsh on the woman or the child, but instead warm and loving in a way that kept children safe. Infants and toddlers were either held or put in a papoose bag, and children between the ages of 3-6 ranged beside mothers, never leaving her side. 

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!