Child abuse definitions: Why the Bible calls for stronger laws against child abuse

Many parents think that the Bible has no concept of child abuse apart from obeying the law of the land. Most American parents support the present-day child abuse definitions under state and federal law. However, God's Law is above the law of the land. The Bible has its own definition of child abuse - 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 a parent being sorely disappointed when they do not get the well-behaved child that they feel that they deserve. Parents are deserving of absolutely nothing in relation to 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 in parents, in the Early Church, 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 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 pretty much the same as avoiding offense in other adults. Just as hurt feelings are inevitable in relations between adults, hurt feelings are inevitable in children when dealing with them. Thus, in order to avoid offense in children, you need 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 an informal apology, whenever you hurt their feelings with limits 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 limits 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 any parent anger directed towards a child 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 Christians who brought into the church their pagan custom of patrias potestas, which is a Latin term 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 ultimately received as prohibiting any offenses as perceived by the child, at minimum. 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 on parents for being too harsh on their children. An atheist in the Early Church was seen 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 here to any sexual relations outside of a Christian marriage between one adult man and one adult woman, with the marriage being required to be equal in nature. A groom was only allowed a bride his age or else up to 4 years older than him. Most child sexual abuse then came in the form of father-child incest, with daughters being the usual targets for sexual abuse. Fathers dealt with their sexual attraction to his daughter in particular through masturbating righteously, meaning masturbation without pornography. Child sexual abuse was a rare occurrence in biblical times, meaning it almost never happened .When it did happen, it cause a huge moral outrage against the perpetrator, with the whole community in shock. Child sexual abuse was not hidden on the gaslighting level like it is today. It was hidden, but just above the surface for the child victim to come forward and self-report the abuse that they suffered. Children growing up in the Early Church knew that they were being sexually abused, and self-reported their abuser, usually taking offense at how they were being treated.

It is a myth that the Early Christians were well-integrated into Rome. The fact of the matter is that the Early Christians lived in enclaves in major cities, shunning the broader Greco-Roman world, and the world at large. The Early Christians were policed into urban ghettos by the Roman authorities, with many Christian practices being banned under Roman law. One of those practices was attachment parenting.

Child abuse was prosecuted in the Early Church by way of internal church investigation. This investigation usually started with a child confiding into a clergyperson about their home life. From there, the parents were summoned to testify before a council of 3 elders, who would decide the fate of the parents. If the parents at all defended themselves in court, as opposed to answering to the court directly, they were excommunicated from the Early Christian Churches of God for their entitlement alone.

The Bible is an anti-spanking document. All 88 books of the Bible - from Genesis to Revelation - were written by anti-spanking Jews, with no Jew worth mentioning ever condoning the punitive treatment of children. All of these biblical writers also wrote parenting manuals that advocated attachment parenting. Even King Solomon issued an attachment parenting manual for minor children, with the rod verses in Proverbs referring to the 40 minus 1 lashes, as a sentence for a crime. It just so happens that these attachment parenting manuals were not translated into English until the 1960s. Before then, this level of parenting knowledge was only found in the Jewish world, and was seen as binding customary law.

The Bible is America's book. America is a Christian nation, and was founded on Judeo-Christian values. We as a society glean from the Bible and its context in order to know how to live and treat each other with respect. Even our legal codes, under the English common law, are based off of biblical teaching. However, the "reasonable chastisement" defense is based off of dated biblical teaching. It is about time that we repeal the "reasonable chastisement" defense, and update out child abuse definitions to be in line with the Bible - 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 torrents, suffering God's Wrath day and night forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!