Many parents think that the ancients in the Bible had no concept of childhood, let alone child abuse. Most parents today support the modern-day child abuse definitions under state and federal law. However, God's Law is above the law of the land, and the Bible itself has its own definition of child abuse - whatever the child victim perceives as abuse. God's Law is the basis for most all of our legal codes, with Judeo-Christian values being the foundation of this country, and thus the child abuse definitions should be expanded, not narrowed.
The Greek root word denoting parental entitlement in the Bible 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 a parent who is sorely disappointed when they don't get the well-behaved child that they feel that they deserve. A parent is deserving of absolutely nothing from children just for existing. Even any parent anger directed towards children is parental entitlement, and was seen as entitlement in the Early Church. Whenever this sense of entitlement was perceived by a child as offensive or damaging, it was deemed child abuse then. 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 offenses or damages, namely the slightest of personal offense perceived by a child, stemming from entitlement. Child abuse in the Bible, as a legal concept, consists of entitlement in parents, leading to offense in children. The key to not abusing your child is to avoid offense in children. Avoiding offense in children is the same as avoiding offense in other adults. Just as hurt feelings are inevitable in relations between adults, hurt feelings are also inevitable in children when dealing with them. Thus, in order to avoid offense in children, you need to be willing to give a meaningful apology whenever you hurt your child's feelings. Usually, all that is necessary is a reassurance of good intent coming from parents, in the form of a half-apology, whenever you hurt your child's feelings with a limit not set out of anger, such as "I'm sorry, but I had to set X limit for Y reasons". However, if you ever lose your cool with your child as a parent, including while setting limits, you definitely need to give a formal apology for hurting your child's feelings with your anger, such as "I apologize for losing my temper with you", and then commit never to lose your cool with your child ever again, as losing your cool with your child alone is entitlement, and was seen as entitlement in the Early Church. This commandment cross-references the Eighth and the Tenth Commandments, with the Apostle Paul here convicting a group of Greek Christian parents who brought into the church their pagan custom of patrias potestas, which is a Latin phrase roughly translating to "power to the parent", namely the power to impose punitive sanctions on children, such as spanking or other forms of punishment of children. However, this commandment was received as prohibiting offense as perceived by a child. 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.
The Greek root word translated "they be discouraged" is αθυμέω (Latin: athumeo) and refers here to long-term damages, namely childhood trauma. The ancients in the Bible had a basic understanding of childhood trauma. Whenever a child grew up to be atheist, shame fell onto the parents, not the child. An atheist was seen in the Early Church as an abused child, not a "lost soul" to be "won over".
The ancients in the Bible even had a concept of child sexual abuse. The Greek root word translated "fornication" is πορνεία (Latin: porneia) and refers to any sexual relations outside of a Christian marriage between one adult man and one adult woman, including any sexual relations with a child. Marriage then had to be between equals in terms of age, namely if the bride was the same age as the groom, or else up to 4 years older. Most child sexual abuse then happened in the case of father-daughter incest. Most fathers then masturbated righteously to the fantasy of his daughter, at least some of the time. However, all pornography was prohibited then even on the possession of the person, including that which depicted children. Child sexual abuse was rare in the Bible, meaning it was almost non-existent apart from a handful of cases that shocked Jewish society then.
Child abuse was prosecuted in the Early Church by way of internal church investigation. In most cases, this investigation started with a child confiding into a clergyperson about their home life. From there, the parents were subpoenaed to appear before a council of 3 church elders. If the parents at all got defensive in court, instead of answering to the court, they were excommunicated from the Early Christian Churches of God.
The Bible is an anti-spanking document. All 88 books of the Bible - from Genesis to Revelation - were written by anti-spanking Jews, with most Jews throughout history not endorsing anything punitive with a child. Each of the biblical writers also wrote parenting manuals, with these parenting manuals advocating attachment parenting. Even King Solomon wrote an attachment parenting manual, with the rod in Proverbs referring to the 40 minus 1 lashes of a wayward adult son, as a sentence for a crime. It just so happens that the parenting manuals in the biblical context were not translated into English until the 1960s.
The Bible is America's book. We as a country are founded on Judeo-Christian values. We as a society use the Bible in order to know how to live and treat each other with respect. Even our legal codes are largely based off of the Bible. However, the legal codes on child abuse are based on dated biblical teaching. It is about time we repeal the "reasonable chastisement" defense and expand the legal definition of child abuse to include basically any abuse perceived by a child victim, in order to reflect more modern biblical teachings.
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!
