Birth nudity: Understanding a Christian tradition

Many parents think that children should wear clothing. This is a common attitude towards children by parents. However, birth nudity is a Christian custom predating the Early Church. Birth nudity involves children being close to mothers, with both parties in the nude.

Birth nudity is 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. This word ultimately refers to a secure attachment between parents and children. This secure attachment comes from parent submission, where parents are to submit to their children as they would to God, from beneath yet from above. expecting absolutely nothing in return. See also Matt. 22:35-40. 

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 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 of the church, but he sure loved children, and even took in a few orphaned children during his time as deacon. 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 for being "too soft" on their children.

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. For the first 6 years of childhood, mothers and children were in the family home next to each other, in skin-on-skin closeness and intimacy. Whenever children cried, mothers cooed before holding the child close to her bosom, in skin-on-skin mammary closeness. Mother and child were both in the nude when in the family home.

The tradition of birth nudity is a time-honored Christian tradition that predates the Early Church. What happens is that parents leave out a set of clothing for the child to discover, and then try on, all on their own. Before that happened, it was assumed that the child needed skin-on-skin warmth and sustenance. Proper skin-on-skin sustenance involves nudity on the part of both the mother and the child.

In the Early Church, children were given their clothing at their baptism, when they were adults. This context, however, can be applied as leaving out a set of clothing for children to discover. They usually ask what it is for, and then the mother says "wear it" and then the child puts on their clothing. Before then, children who don't put on the clothing are to be seen as in need of sustaining warmth from mothers.

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 day and night forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.