Righteous co-sleeping: Why God wants parents to sleep next to their children

Many parents think that co-sleeping is the irresponsible choice for a parent to make. This is a common attitude amongst American parents. However, the Bible, when using the context as a guidepost, endorses children co-sleeping next to parents. In the Early Church, righteous co-sleeping was a way for parents to gel a bond with their children. Co-sleeping also prevents child sexual abuse before it happens.

Righteous co-sleeping is part of the Christian doctrine of mutual submission, with the burden of proof landing squarely on the parent. 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 parent and child in the family home. This secure attachment comes from parent submission, where parents are to submit to children just as they would to God, from beneath yet from above, expecting absolutely nothing in return. See also Matt. 22:35-40; 25:31-46.

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 was 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. The 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 of the church, but he sure loved children, and even took in a few orphaned children during his time as a deacon.

It is common knowledge that children under age 6 refuse to go to bed on their own. Punishment is commonly meted out by parents because children refuse to go bed on their own. However, the fact of the matter is that children under age 6 are too young to sleep on their own. Children under age 6 have a primal fear of being devoured by predators. Parents might think that there are no predators to mention in their own home. They would be mistaken. Most child sexual abuse takes place when a child is isolated in their bed, as a bedtime ritual. Mothers in biblical times dealt with this risk by bringing their children into bed with them, in skin-on-skin format. The rape or sexual assault of a child was then thwarted, as the mother was right there, ready to even act as a human shield in order to protect their child from being raped or sexually assaulted.

The main excuse for parents not co-sleeping next to their children is fearmongering spread by pediatricians or mental health professionals serving children about supposed "sleep dependence". However, the fact of the matter is that co-sleeping usually ended for children growing up in the Early Church when they reached the onset of puberty. Most children past the onset of puberty want their own place to sleep. Even when children did not leave the family bed, they likely had a developmental disorder such as autism or ADHD. All co-sleeping has an end to it. I myself have autism, and I didn't leave my mother's bed until age 16, in which case I wanted to prove my independence to my mother.

The ultimate way to gel a bond between parent and child is righteous co-sleeping. Children growing up in the Early Church co-slept with their parents every night, in skin-on-skin format. The family bed was a real thing in the Early Church, but came entirely in the nude. This nude family bed helped gel a bond between mother and child, with children receiving rays of skin-on-skin closeness and intimacy.

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 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!