Redefining child abuse: 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 definitions of child abuse 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 that is sorely disappointed when they don't get the well-behaved child that they feel that they deserved. 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 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 translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers here to child abuse, as defined then. Child abuse was understood then as any entitlement in parents, leading to offense in children. Offense in children here consists of hurt feelings in children that parents refuse to apologize for, 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 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. Whenever a child grew up to be atheist, shame fell onto the parents - meaning not the child - for the parents being too harsh on their children. An atheist then was seen as an abused child, not a "lost soul" to be "won over". 

The ancients in the Bible even had their own understanding of child sexual abuse. The Greek root word translated "fornication" is πορνεία (Latin: porneia) and refers to anything outside of the Christian norm on sexual behavior, as understood then. This Christian norm prohibits 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 legal in terms of chronological age. A groom was only allowed a bride his age or up to 4 years older. Intergenerational marriages or sexual relationships were banned in the Early Church. as was any sexual advances towards a child. Even pornography was banned then, including when it depicted children, and was seen as contraband in the Early Church. Most child sexual abuse then came in the form of father-child incest, with daughters being the usual victims. Fathers then masturbated to thoughts of his child, meaning usually his daughter. Men in particular in the biblical context were open about their fantasies of children. Child sexual abuse was rare then, meaning it almost never happened. When children were being sexually abused then, they knew what was happening to them, and then 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 in major Greco-Roman cities, shunning the outside Greco-Roman world, and the world at large. The Early Christians even had their own court system, binding under Roman law into the end of the 1st Century.

Child abuse was prosecuted in the Early Church by way of internal church investigation. In most cases, the investigation 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 who would preside over the investigation. If the parents were at all defensive before the court, as opposed to answering to the oourt directly, they were swiftly excommunicated from the Early Christian Churches of God, alongside any witnesses that testified on the parents' behalf. 

The Bible is an anti-spanking document. All 88 books of the Bible were written by anti-spanking Jews, with Jewish law then and now prohibiting spanking a child. All of the biblical writers also wrote parenting manuals that advocated attachment parenting. Even King Solomon wrote an attachment parenting manual, with the rod 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 known only to the Jewish world.

The Bible is America's book. America is a Christian nation, founded on Judeo-Christian values. Much of our mannerisms as a society come from the Bible and its context. Even our legal codes, under the English common law, come from a basic understanding of the Bible. 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 in all 50 states, 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 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!