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 understanding 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 in the Bible is πλεονέκτης (Latin: pleonektés) and defined as, officially speaking, wanting things from children, to the point of imposition. Unofficially speaking, parental entitlement consists of a parent being sorely edisappointed when they don't get the well-behaved child that they feel that they deserve. 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 then was perceived by the 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 translating "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers here to child abuse, as defined then. Child abuse here is defined as any entitlement in parents, leading to offense in children. Offense in children involves refusal from parents to apologize for hurting their child's feelings, at minimum. With that said, 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 a 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 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 by the parish at Colossae as prohibiting causing offenses in children 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. If a child grew up to be atheist, shame fell on the parents - meaning not the child - for the parents apparently being too harsh on children. An atheist was seen then 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 in the New Testament translated "fornication" is πορνεία (Latin: porneia) and refers here to anything outside of the Christian norm on sexuality, as understood then. This ultimately can be summed up further as prohibiting 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 than him. Intergenerational marriages or sex relationships were prohibited in the Early Church. Most child sexual abuse then came in the form of father-child incest, with daughters being the usual victims. Most fathers masturbated to sexual fantasies of his daughter. Child sexual abuse was rare in the Early Church, meaning it almost never happened. Sexual attraction to children existed on the surface level, with men openly admitting to sexual fantasies of children, albeit as a man of few words.  Whenever a child was sexually abused, they knew what was happening to them, and then they self-reported their own abuse. Whenever children were sexually abused then, it was seen as a huge moral outrage. 

It is a myth that the Early Christians were well-integrated into Rome. Instead, the Early Christians lived in urban enclaves in major Greco-Roman cities, shunning the broader Greco-Roman world, and also the outside world at large. The Early Christians even had their own court system, with these courts being binding into the end of the 1st Century. 

Child abuse was investigated in the Early Church by way of internal church investigation. In most cases, this 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 church elders who would preside over the investigation. If the parents defended themselves in court, as opposed to answering directly to the court, they were swiftly excommunicated from the Early Christian Churches of God, alongside all of the witnesses that 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 spanking a child being unlawful under Jewish law then and now. All of the biblical writers also wrote parenting manuals advocating attachment parenting. Even King Solomon wrote an attachment parenting manual, with the rod of correction referring instead to the 40 minus 1 lashes. 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. Many of our mannerisms come from the Bible. Even our legal codes, under the English common law, come from a basic understanding of the Bible, namely the Ten Commandments. However, the criminal defense of "reasonable chastisement" is based off of dated biblical understanding. It is about time that we repeal the "reasonable chastisement" defense in all 50 states, and expand 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 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!