'Tis Christmastime. This means time with family and friends. A common power struggle parents have with children is when children refuse to hug or kiss relatives. This is a common cause for contention this Christmas season between parents and children. Refusing to respect your child's wishes in this regard constitutes child abuse.
God's Law on child abuse is spelled out in 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 offenses or damages, namely the slightest of personal offense perceived by children, stemming from entitlement, with this entitlement including any parent anger directed towards children. The key to not abusing your child this Christmas season is to avoid offense in your child. The idea behind avoiding offense in children is to be willing to give a meaningful apology whenever you hurt your child's feelings. One thing that hurts your child's feelings is to commit against children the moral crime of forced affection. Most forced affection involves an angry parent who feels "embarrassed" by their child not "being sociable", with parents feeling sorely disappointed when children aren't affectionate like what parents want. Whenever a parent loses their cool like this, it is definitely in order to give a formal apology, and then commit never to lose your cool with your children ever again, as losing your cool at all as a parent alone is entitlement. This commandment cross-references the Eighth and the Tenth Commandments, with the Apostle Paul here convicting a group of Greek Christian parents who brought with them into the church their pagan custom of patrias potestas, which is a Latin phrase roughly translated to "power to the parent", including the power to impose punitive sanctions onto children, such as spanking and other forms of punishment. Paul, contrary to popular legend, was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punitive parenting in his secular writings. Attachment parenting was banned under Roman law, but the Early Christians did it anyway, obeying God over men.
Children are not your property. Children are not cuddle-toys for adults. Children are real people, meaning full people. If a child does not want to hug grandma, they shouldn't have to. Children are autonomous human beings, meaning they are full people with rights of their own.
I am a pedophile. The main thing I want with a child is affection. I might benefit viscerally from a child being forced to hug me. This is reason enough not to force your child to hug relatives. Thankfully for the child, I have religious convictions against anything affectionate with a child, as when I would hug a child against their wishes, it would mean something sexual to me.
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 torrents, suffering God's Wrath day and night forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!
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