Honor Due Parents
221
sponsibility for the souls committed to their charge, has ordained that
during the earlier years of life parents shall stand in the place of God to
their children. And he who rejects the rightful authority of his parents
is rejecting the authority of God. The fifth commandment requires
children not only to yield respect, submission, and obedience to their
parents, but also to give them love and tenderness, to lighten their
cares, to guard their reputation, and to succor and comfort them in old
age
God cannot prosper those who go directly contrary to the plainest
duty specified in His word, the duty of children to their parents.... If
they disrespect and dishonor their earthly parents, they will not respect
and love their Creator
When children have unbelieving parents, and their commands
contradict the requirements of Christ, then, painful though it may be,
they must obey God and trust the consequences with Him
Many Are Breaking the Fifth Commandment—In these last
days children are so noted for their disobedience and disrespect that
God has especially noticed it, and it constitutes a sign that the end is
near. It shows that Satan has almost complete control of the minds of
the young. By many, age is no more respected
There are many children who profess to know the truth who do not
render to their parents the honor and affection that are due to them,
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who manifest but little love to father and mother, and fail to honor them
in deferring to their wishes or in seeking to relieve them of anxiety.
Many who profess to be Christians do not know what it means to
“honor thy father and thy mother” and consequently will know just as
little what it means, “that thy days may be long upon the land which
the Lord thy God giveth thee.
In this rebellious age children who have not received right instruc-
tion and discipline have but little sense of their obligations to their
parents. It is often the case that the more their parents do for them,
the more ungrateful they are and the less they respect them. Children
who have been petted and waited upon always expect it; and if their
4
Patriarchs and Prophets, 308
.
5
Testimonies For The Church 3, 232
.
6
The Review and Herald, November 15, 1892
.
7
Testimonies for the Church 1:217, 218
.
8
Messages to Young People, 331
.