Child punishment: Why punishing or reprimanding your child is sin

Many parents think that punishment is an acceptable way to deal with a child. Most parents in America punish their children. The most common excuse for punishing children is the Bible. Most people cite the Bible when defending their so-called "right" to punish their children. The fact of the matter is that the Bible prohibits all punishment of a child, including corporal punishment.

The Greek root word denoting parental entitlement, and cross-referencing the Tenth Commandment, is πλεονέκτης (Latin: pleonektés) and is defined as, officially speaking, wanting things from children, to the point of imposition. Once children took offense to that imposition of entitlement, it became child abuse. See Colossians 3:21 KJV:

Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

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 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 their 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 of the church, but he sure loved children, even taking in a few orphaned children during his time. Indeed, Greco-Roman fathers got out the scourge of cords in order to punish their children, but NOT the Christians among them - the Early Christians were persecuted largely due to being "too soft" on their children.

Parents in biblical times did not get angry with their children. Any anger that was imposed on the child was seen as that of a viper or a monster. Parenting in biblical times was not motivated by anger. Instead, parenting then was motivated by worry or concern for the child's wellbeing. Any anger towards the child was a moral crime.

Parents then were intensely close to their children, especially mothers. A common cause of suicide in biblical times was a mother losing her child. The mother's entire self-worth hinged on keeping her baby or child alive and well, and the rat race among parents was how to be the warmest of all mothers. In modern days, most parents brag about being mean. In biblical times, the culture was very different. Children were likened to God by their parents, in the sense that parents submitted to children as they would to God, with children being seen as vulnerable extensions of God.

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