Child abuse definitions: Why the Bible calls for tougher laws combatting 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. 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 when they don't get the well-behaved child that feel that they deserve. Parents are deserving have no rights in relation to children just for existing.  Even any parent anger directed towards a child 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 here 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 an informal apology, whenever you hurt your child's 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 foe hurting your child's feelings with your anger, such as "I apologize for losing my cool with you", and then commit never to lose your cool with your child ever again, as parent anger directed towards children alone in 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 ultimately received by the parish at Colossae as prohibiting causing offense in children as perceived by a child, at minimum. Paul, contrary ro 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 had their own understanding of childhood trauma. Whenever a child grew up to be atheist, shame fell onto the parents of the atheist, not the atheist themselves. 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" in the New Testament is πορνεία (Latin: porneia) and refers here to any sexual relations outside of the context of a Christian marriage between one adult man and one adult woman, with the marriage being equal in terms of chronological age. A groom was only allowed a bride his age or up to 4 years older. Mary was 14 when she married Joseph, but Joseph was 13 at the time. All sexual relations between an adult of a child, or any sexual advances from adults, was banned in the Early Church, including intergenerational marriages. Most child sexual abuse then came in the form of father-child incest, with daughters being the usual targets. Most fathers of young daughters in the Early Church masturbated to sexual thoughts of his daughters. Child sexual abuse then was rare, meaning next to non-existent apart from a few documented cases. Attraction to children then was at the joke level, meaning men in particular were honest about their attractions to children, albeit as a man of few words about it. In this setup, child sexual abuse was hidden only in a way that stood out, with children knowing what was happening to them in a way that they could self-report their abuser. A normal adult was honest about his child fantasies, whereas an abuser adult tried to hide what couldn't be hidden. 

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 urban enclaves, shunning the outside Greco-Roman world. These enclaves had their own court system, and also had their own customs and cuisine. 

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 appear before a council of 3 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, alongside all who testified on behalf of the parents.

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 being anti-spanking. All of the biblical writers also wrote parenting manuals advocating attachment parenting. Even King Solomon wrote an attachment parenting manual, with the rod in Proverbs referring to judicial corporal punishment in the form of the 40 minus 1 lashes. It just do happens that these attachment parenting manuals were only translated into English in the 1960s. Before then, this level of knowledge about parenting was known only to the Jewish world.

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, are based off of Christian teaching. However, the legal defense of "reasonable chastisement" is based off of dated biblical teaching. It is about time we repeal the "reasonable chastisement" defense, and redefine child abuse under the secular law as anything that 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 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 burning sulfur, suffering God's Wrath day and night forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!