Expanding child abuse definitions: Why the Bible calls for more laws protecting children

Many parents think that child abuse is a modern concept. Most American parents oppose any expansion of the child abuse definitions. However, there is a biblical way of defining child abuse properly. Child abuse is defined in the Bible as anything perceived by the child victim as abuse. 

The Greek root word denoting parental entitlement is πλεονέκτης (Latin: pleonektés) and is defined as, officially speaking, wanting things from children, to the point of imposition. Unofficially speaking, parental entitlement consists of parents being sorely disappointed when their children don't give them what they feel that they deserve. Parents are deserving of absolutely nothing from children just for existing. Any parent anger directed towards a child was understood then as parental entitlement. When this sense of entitlement in parents was perceived by the child as offensive or damaging, it was deemed child abuse. See also 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 here 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 initially 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 here 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.

The Greek root word translated "they be discouraged" is αθυμέω (Latin: athumeo) and refers here to long-term damages, namely trauma. The ancients had an understanding of trauma. Whenever a child grew up to be atheist, it was seen as a shame on the parents. Atheists did exist then, but they were seen as victims of religious child abuse, meaning not simply ingrates rebelling against God. 

The enforcement of church law happened by way of pro-social rumor. Whenever a child turned atheist, and shunned their parents, word spread far and wide that a child was abused. When word of the child being abused reached the council, 3 elders decided the fate of the parents. After being handed a guilty verdict, the child was given a choice - go with parents or go with pedophiles. The child usually right with the pedophile, gritting her teeth while standing with the pedophile. When the child was afraid of the pedophile, the shame then fell onto the pedophile. Pedophiles were simply foster parents then, and in the Early Church, they were not allowed to have sexual relations with their child charges, meaning the closest the pedophile could get to the child is through lactating, thereby nursing a battered child to health. 

The Bible is an anti-spanking document. The writers of all 88 of the books of the Bible were Jews, and no Jew worth mentioning ever has endorsed punishing a child in any way. Even King Solomon recommended attachment parenting for the little ones. What King Solomon meant by the rod was the 40 minus 1 lashes, administered in a courtroom as a final warning before putting an offender to death. Christ's work on the cross led to an end the harsh punishments of the Old Testament. 

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!