Buckle in and get ready for a tome here folks, because when it comes to religious works like the Holy Bible, an all-time best seller I might add, there are no points granted for brevity.
I could wax for days, both on and off, but I’d rather let the good lord Himself tell us what it’s all about instead. No man alive can speak at greater length than me, but our Lord God almighty is not a man of this world, so he automatically has many powers I can not possess.
He has the ability to heal the sick, make the lame walk, turn water into wine, and write texts longer and more influential than my own. With that said, let’s delve right in.
"However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way." (Leviticus 25:44-46 NLT)
This means that it’s okay to trade in human beings as if they are cattle. You’re already on the hook for your kids’ raising, medical expenses and you’re liable if they commit malicious crimes. With that in mind, why wouldn’t you be able to trade them freely at your best discretion?
"If you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for only six years. Set him free in the seventh year, and he will owe you nothing for his freedom. If he was single when he became your slave and then married afterward, only he will go free in the seventh year. But if he was married before he became a slave, then his wife will be freed with him. If his master gave him a wife while he was a slave, and they had sons or daughters, then the man will be free in the seventh year, but his wife and children will still belong to his master. But the slave may plainly declare, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children. I would rather not go free.’ If he does this, his master must present him before God. Then his master must take him to the door and publicly pierce his ear with an awl. After that, the slave will belong to his master forever." (Exodus 21:2-6 NLT)
This passage is evidence that parents have every right over not just the children, but all sorts of people. If all sorts of people, why would you feel bad about taking charge of what’s best for your kid?
"When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are. If she does not please the man who bought her, he may allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her. And if the slave girl’s owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her as a slave girl, but he must treat her as his daughter. If he himself marries her and then takes another wife, he may not reduce her food or clothing or fail to sleep with her as his wife. If he fails in any of these three ways, she may leave as a free woman without making any payment." (Exodus 21:7-11 NLT)
This next passage explains why discipline, no matter how harsh, isn’t just acceptable, but actually perfectly normal.
"When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property." (Exodus 21:20-21 NAB)
This next passage explains how slaves are to act, and children are basically the same.
"Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ." (Ephesians 6:5 NLT)
This passage explains how Christian slaves, or children should give full respect.
"Christians who are slaves should give their masters full respect so that the name of God and his teaching will not be shamed. If your master is a Christian, that is no excuse for being disrespectful. You should work all the harder because you are helping another believer by your efforts. Teach these truths, Timothy, and encourage everyone to obey them." (1 Timothy 6:1-2 NLT)
This passage explains the punishment for the child that does not honor the master or parent.
"The servant will be severely punished, for though he knew his duty, he refused to do it, "But people who are not aware that they are doing wrong will be punished only lightly. Much is required from those to whom much is given, and much more is required from those to whom much more is given." (Luke 12:47-48 NLT)
And here’s what happens to the parents who do not properly address the greatest overriding needs of their children, whether it seems like the right thing to do or not.
LE 26:22 "I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children."
So why is it okay to do whatever you wish with your children? Moses addresses that, and he explains how savage these things may rightly become, even in the eyes of God.
NU 31:17-18 Moses, following the Lord’s command, orders the Israelites to kill all the Midianite male children and "… every woman who has known man …." (Note: How would it be determined which women had known men? One can only speculate.)
Here is another passage about how you can treat your children.
DT 20:13-14 "When the Lord delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the males …. As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves."
Ezekial even knew it was right to treat the children however it makes sense.
EZ 9:4-6 The Lord commands: "… slay old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women …."
In some cases, specifically those of the Lord God almighty, peace and blessings be upon His holy name, it can be acceptable to even kill the children, as exhibited in Genesis as follows:
GE 6:5 God is unhappy with the wickedness of man and decides to flood the earth to eliminate mankind. All living things including plants, animals, women and innocent children are also exterminated. (Note: This is like burning down a house to rid it of mice.)
So why is child trading right? It’s not so much about a husband and a wife. If you’re married already and your brother dies, you’re on the hook to take his wife on and give her a child, as explained in Deuteronomy.
DT 25:5-9 A man has an obligation to produce a child with his brother’s widow. If he refuses, his sister-in-law is to spit in his face in front of the elders.
And don’t think your ways and means and methods are so strange, because King Solomon himself was famously wise for suggesting a child be chopped in half. We don’t suggest that; we suggest the whole child be handed over in an agreeable forum.
1KI 3:12, 16-28 Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived, can think of no better way to determine the natural mother of a child in dispute than to threaten to divide the child in half.
In Genesis Jacob gets freaky, thanks to the sanctity of God, with two sisters and has kids by both of them. Just by being virtuous, it all works out for everyone.
GE 29:16-30 Jacob marries both Leah and her sister Rachel. He has children by both Leah and Rachel’s maid Bilhah, but Rachel remains barren. Due apparently to Rachel’s generosity to her husband, the Lord eventually allows Rachel to conceive.
If you don’t think it’s right for children to be taken from their homes, consider this:
GE 34:13-29 Hamor, his son, and the men of their village agree to be circumcised so as to be allowed to marry the daughters of the Israelites. On the third day, "when they were sore," the Israelites kill Hamor, his son, and all the men of the village, and plunder their wealth, taking their wives and children, thus getting revenge for the defiling of Dinah.
And if you think your wife has a say in the matter, consider this spicy, sultry passage from the Good Book.
HO 1:2 (KJV) "And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom.’"
The Bible even punishes a child for the way his parents failed to raise him. He may have done nothing wrong, but YOU did, and HE gets to go to hell, even if that neglect was a failure to mutilate his phallus.
GE 17:14 A child is to be punished when his parents neglect to have him circumcised.
If you do wrong, even by not trading your kids, those same kids can be punished, and their kids too, theirs as well, and their kids yet again. Please read this passage from Exodus to understand how many generations of mistake the Good Lord can exact. Don’t fail to trade your kids when it’s right, because failing to do so is wrong.
EX 20:5 We are not to worship a likeness. The children to the third and fourth generation will be punished for infractions.
And if you think the kids doth protest too much, consider this:
EX 21:17, LE 20:9, DT 21:18-21 A child who curses his parent(s) is to be put to death. A stubborn and/or rebellious child is to be put to death.
And if you think "trading off your kid" is not good enough for your son, think of this passage from Exodus:
EX 22:29 Firstborn children should be sacrificed to the Lord.
Spare the rod and spoil the child?
PR 13:24, 22:15, 23:13 Children are to be disciplined with the rod–if beaten with a rod, they will not die. (Note that many Christian parents have inadvertently beaten a child to death following this precept, a notion we patently disavow.)
So is it wrong to "abandon" your children?
MK 10:29, LK 18:29 A man who leaves his house, wife, brothers, parents, or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will receive special rewards.
And as if all that hasn’t already been sufficiently compelling, read on about Daniel et al.
LK 14:26 One cannot be a disciple of Jesus unless he hates his mother, father, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and even his own life. Darius, being then a believer in the true God, sent for the men who had accused Daniel, and for their wives and their children, and cast them all into the lions’ den. "Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow; let his children be continually vagabonds and beg; let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places; let the extortioner catch all that he hath, and let the stranger spoil his labor; let there be none to extend mercy unto him, neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children." "And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body — the flesh of thy sons and daughters."
So whether you do right, or you do wrong, it’s okay for your children, because either way this is how it goes, according to Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and Isaiah:
EX 20:5, 34:7, NU 14:18, DT 5:9, IS 14:21-22 Children are to suffer for their parent’s sins.
Although sometimes they say it’s okay. When parents do right by their kids, it’s okay to let them NOT suffer.
DT 24:16, EZ 18:19-20 Children are not to suffer for their parent’s sins.
And if you think your kids have some say in the matter, they don’t. It’s not me saying it, it’s God, and you know because it’s referenced in Exodus, Deuteronomy, Mark, Luke, and Matthew.
EX 20:12, DT 5:16, MT 15:4, 19:19, MK 7:10, 10:19, LK 18:20 Honor your father and your mother is one of the ten commandments. It is reinforced by Jesus.
So what’s wrong with dividing families? Nothing, and if you don’t believe me, read on.
MT 10:35-37, LK 12:51-53, 14:26 Jesus says that he has come to divide families; that a man’s foes will be those of his own household; that you must hate your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and even your own life to be a disciple.
MT 23:9 Jesus says to call no man on earth your father.
So don’t do wrong by your kids. If you don’t love them, you not only have the right, but the obligation to trade them
DT 24:16, 2KI 14:6, 2CH 25:4, EZ 18:20 Children are not to suffer for their parent’s sins.
But if you think there is some contradiction in God, you need to better understand his convoluted messages.
DT 6:5, MT 22:37, MK 12:30, LK 10:27 Love God.
DT 6:13, PS 33:8, 34:9, 111:10, 115:13, 128:1, 147:11, PR 8:13, 16:6, 19:23, 22:4, IS 8:13, LK 12:5, 1PE 2:17 Fear God.
1JN 4:18 There is no fear in love.
And if you don’t think you or your kids can get into the Kingdom of heaven despite adversity, you’ll have to read this passage from Mark. (Bear in mind that this is from the New Testament, NOT the Old Testament, so it’s that much newer and more up to date.)
MK 16:17-18 A believer can handle snakes or drink poison and not experience any harm.
So all said and done, the biblical support is done. Several of our top scholars invested themselves fully into the writing of this essay for a full week. We took the time, consulted with the scholars and dug as deep in to the good book as any human, or group of humans, can possibly dig. The evidence is evident, and the Bible is the very good book, both by name and by sales record, not to mention by reputation of the very author Himself.
