Expanding child abuse definitions: Why the Bible calls for tougher laws on the books protecting children from 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 who is sorely disappointed whenever they don't 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 was perceived by children 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 your child. Avoiding offense in children is the same as avoiding offense in other adults. Just like hurt feelings are inevitable in relations between adults, hurt feelings are also inevitable in children when dealing with them. 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, including while setting limits, you definitely need to give a formal apology to your child for hurting their feelings, such as "I apologize for losing my temper with you", and then commit never to losing 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 Christian parents who brought into the church their pagan custom of patrias potestas, which is a Latin phrase roughly translated as "power to the parent", namely the power to impose punitive measures on children, such as spanking or other forms of punishment of children. However, this commandment was received in the parish at Colossae as prohibiting any offenses stemming from entitlement as perceived by children. 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 their own understanding of childhood trauma. Whenever a child grew up to be atheist, shame fell onto the parents, meaning never the atheist child. An atheist in the Early Church was seen as an abused child, not a "lost soul" to "win 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 equal in terms of age. A groom was allowed a bride his chronological age or else up to 4 years older. Intergenerational marriages were banned under Christian law then  The most common form of child sexual abuse in the Early Church was father-child incest, with daughters being the usual targets. Fathers avoided sexually abusing his child by way of righteous masturbation, meaning masturbation to mental images of children as opposed to pornography of any kind. Pornography of all sorts was prohibited under Christian law then. Child sexual abuse, in the Early Church, happened rarely, meaning it was next to non-existent. Whenever it happened then, it was a huge moral outrage.

It is a myth that the Early Christians were well-integrated into broader Greco-Roman society. The Early Christians lived in enclaves in big cities across the Greco-Roman word, shunning the outside world. The Early Christians had their own customs and culture, apart from the broader Greco-Roman culture.

Child abuse was prosecuted in the Early Church by way of internal church investigation. The investigation usually started with a child confiding in a clergyperson about their home life. From there, the parents were summoned to appear 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, the parents 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 no Jew worth mentioning ever endorsing anything punitive with a child. All 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 of correction in Proverbs referring to the 40 minus 1 lashes. It just so happens that these parenting manuals were not translated into English until the 1960s. However, these parenting manuals were known to the Jewish world much earlier.

The Bible is America's book. America is a Christian nation, founded on Judeo-Christian values. We as a society glean from the Bible and its context as to how to live and treat each other with respect. Even our legal codes under the English common law come from the Bible, However, the "reasonable chastisement" defense is based off of dated biblical understanding, We now know what childhood was like for children in the Early Church .It is about time we repeal the "reasonable chastisement" defense in all 50 states, as well as expanding the scope of child abuse definitions - under state and federal law - to prohibit anything that is perceived by the child victim 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!