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

Many parents want the child abuse definitions to be the same as they are today. Most American parents hold onto the belief that the ancients had no concept of child abuse or childhood. The fact of the matter is that child abuse is a biblical concept, with child abuse being defined under the Law as whatever the child victim perceives 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 who are sorely disappointed when they don't get what they feel that they deserve from children. Parents are deserving of absolutely nothing from children just for existing. Any parent anger being directed towards a child was deemed parental entitlement.  When this sense of entitlement on the part of parents was perceived by a 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 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 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 Christians 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.

The Greek root word translated "they be discouraged" is αθυμέω (Latin: athumeo) and refers to long-term damages, namely trauma in this context. The ancients had a concept of trauma, meaning that when a child grew up to become an atheist, the atheism was seen as a sign of trauma, not simply a lost soul in need of saving.

Prosecution of child abuse offenders was done in the Early Church by way of pro-social rumor. The rumor started when a child shunned their parents, with the adult children turning atheist. Word spread far and wide that a child was abused. Once the rumor reached the council, a panel of 3 elders decided the fate of the parents. If the court came to a guilty verdict, the child was given a choice - go with pedophiles or go with parents. Usually, the pedophile took in the child as a foster parent for the child. If the child instead wanted to go with parents, suspicion fell onto the pedophile, with the pedophile being charged with sexual abuse of a child. "Child saviors" then were not allowed to rape their child charges.

The Bible is an anti-spanking document, with all 88 books of the Bible being written by Jews, and no Jew worth mentioning has ever endorsed anything punitive towards a child. Even King Solomon recommended attachment parenting for the little ones. The rod of correction in the Bible was directed towards adult children as a form of judicial corporal punishment, meaning the 40 minus 1 lashes, being administered only in a courtroom setting. Christ put an end to capital and corporal punishment in the Old Testament by doing His Work on the cross. Christ Himself endorsed attachment parenting off the cuff, as a rabbi giving a sermon. 

America is a Christian nation, with the Bible being a founding document of this country, even above the Constitution itself. Most of our legal statutes come from the Bible, with our society gleaning how to live from the Bible and its context. But, the "reasonable chastisement" defense is based in false biblical teaching, and thus has got to go. We can base our new child abuse definitions off of what the Bible already says, meaning whatever the child victim perceives as abuse.

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!