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

Many parents think that co-sleeping is the wrong thing to do. This is a common attitude amongst American parents. Most American parents insist that children sleep in their own bed. However, righteous co-sleeping is a time-honored method of gelling a bond with your child. Co-sleeping also has the potential to prevent child sexual abuse.

The doctrine of righteous co-sleeping is a part of the Christian doctrine of mutual submission, with the burden of proof falling 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 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 punishment towards 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.

It is common knowledge that children under age 6 often refuse to go to bed on their own. Bedtime is a common excuse for punishing children, with children left to cry it out. However, the fact of the matter is that children under age 6 are not ready to sleep on their own. Children under age 6 have primal fears of being isolated in a room all by themselves, with the child being morbidly afraid of being devoured by predators. Parents may think that there are no predators in the household. They would be wrong. The most common form of child sexual abuse is a bedtime ritual, where the parent sneaks into the child's bed and rapes the child. However, in a co-sleeping setup, nothing can happen, because mom is right there. In the Early Church, mothers lay down in between father and child, perhaps using herself as a human shield if the father wanted to rape the children.

The most common excuse not to co-sleep next to your child comes from fearmongering on the part of pediatricians and mental health professionals serving children with terms such as "sleep dependence". The fact of the matter is that co-sleeping in biblical times in most cases ended at the onset of puberty, which is when children usually wanted their own place to sleep. Even when children co-sleep past puberty, co-sleeping always has an end to it. I co-slept next to my mother until I turned 16, which is when I decided to sleep on my own, wanting to prove my independence. First, mom slept beside me on the floor, and then the next night she slept in her own bed, and me on my own bed.

Co-sleeping is the ultimate way to gel a bond with your child. Co-sleeping is the centerpiece of the mutual submission relationship between parent and child. The family bed in biblical times was completely nude in terms of makeup, with children being breastfed until age 2 in most cases, but sometimes not until age 6 or beyond.

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!