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 from American parents. Most American parents do not co-sleep next to their children. The fact of the matter is that when using the context as a guidepost, co-sleeping is the right way to gel a bond with a child.

Righteous co-sleeping is a part of the Christian doctrine of mutual submission, with the burden of proof falls squarely onto parents. 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 in biblical times was seen as akin to 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 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, in most cases, refuse to go to bed on their own. This bedtime refusal is a common excuse for punishing children. However, the fact of the matter is that children under age 6 are not ready to sleep on their own. Most children have a primal fear of being devoured by predators. Many parents will say that predators don't exist today. They would be wrong. Most child sexual abuse is a bedtime ritual, when the child was isolated in a room by themselves. However, that bedtime ritual did not happen in the Early Church, and this was because mom was right there. The mother used herself as a human shield if the child needed protection from the sexual entitlement of fathers. Co-sleeping came in the form of skin-on-skin warmth and closeness, which ended when children reached the onset of puberty in most cases.

The most common excuse for not co-sleeping stems from fearmongering on the part of pediatricians and mental health professionals serving children, with the term "sleep dependence". However, children growing up in the Early Church slept next to their mothers in skin-on-skin warmth, with this co-sleeping closeness lasting until the onset of puberty. Even when children slept next to mothers longer, all co-sleeping had an end to it. I slept next to my mother until age 16, which was when I wanted to prove my independence to my mother.

Co-sleeping is the ultimate way to gel a bond with children. Children growing up in the Early Church were snuggled next to mothers in skin-on-skin warmth and closeness. The family bed was completely nude in the Early Christian context. Mothers laid down between fathers and children, protecting children from the sexual entitlement of fathers.

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.