Expanding 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 ultimately consists of a parent being sorely disappointed when 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 being parents. 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 then 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. Whenever you hurt someone else's feelings, you need to apologize. It is no different when dealing with children. Thus, in order to avoid offense in children, you need to be willing to apologize whenever you hurt your child's feelings. In many cases, 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 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 hurting your feelings with my temper" and then commit never to lose your cool with your child ever again, as any parent anger directed towards children 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 with them their pagan custom of patrias potestas, and 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. But, this commandment was ultimately received by the parish at Colossae as prohibiting causing offenses in children as perceived by a 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 had a basic understanding of childhood trauma. If a child grew up to be atheist, shame fell on the parents of the non-believing child, not the child themselves. An atheist in the Early Church was seen as an abused child, not a "lost soul" to be "won over".

The ancients even had an understanding of child sexual abuse. The Greek root word translated "fornication" in the Bible 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 this marriage having to be equal in terms of chronological age. A groom was only allowed a bride his age or up to 4 years older. Any sexual relations with a child then, including intergenerational marriage, was banned in the Early Church. Mary may have been 14 when Joseph married her, but Joseph was 13 at that time. Any pornography in general was prohibited in the Early Church, including that which depicted children. Most child sexual abuse then came in the form of father-child incest, with daughters being the usual victims. Fathers who had an attraction to their children usually masturbated to thoughts of their children. Attraction to children then existed on the surface, with there being no shame in admitting to being attracted to a child. Child sexual abuse in the biblical context was rare, meaning next to non-existent. When a child was being sexually abused, they knew exactly what was happening, and self-reported their own abuse.

It is a myth that the Early Christians were well-integrated into Rome. Instead, the Early Christians lived in urban enclaves that shunned the broader Greco-Roman world, and the world at large. The Early Christians even had their own court system that was binding into the end of the 1st Century. 

Child abuse in the Bible was prosecuted 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 summoned to appear before a panel of 3 church elders who would preside over the investigation. If the parents were defensive at all, instead of answering to the court directly, they were excommunicated from the Early Christian Churches of God, as well as any witnesses that came to testify 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 anything punitive with a child being banned under Jewish law. All of the biblical writers also wrote parenting manuals that advocated attachment parenting. Even King Solomon wrote an attachment parenting manual for minor children, with the rod in Proverbs referring to the 40 minus 1 lashes administered to an adult child 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 known 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, come from biblical teaching. However, the criminal defense of "reasonable chastisement" is based off of dated biblical teaching. It is about time that we repeal the "reasonable chastisement" defense, and amend the child abuse definitions under state and federal law to include 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 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 abuss 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!