Obey Your Parents

Are you a sincere seeker who has questions about Christianity, or a Christian with doubts about your faith? Post them here to receive a thoughtful response.
Post Reply
Daniel P.
Newbie Member
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2009 6:20 pm
Christian: Yes

Obey Your Parents

Post by Daniel P. »

I was curious what to do with the passage in Colossians 3:20 "Children,obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord."

And the Commandment in Exodus 20:12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you."

There is quite a distinction between obey and honor, though out of the two I usually hear people say "the Bible said obey your parents" while honor your father and mother is a commandment I don't hear honor that much. And it seems that people put prevalence on "obeying" over honoring.

So I think we can all admit our parents are not perfect. So how do "children" act when their parent wants them to do something that would not be such a good idea, or if the child just has higher morals than their parents. Do they give them respect and honor them, but still make choices that are better, or obey?

Also, when do we determine they're adults?
User avatar
Echoside
Valued Member
Posts: 314
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2009 5:31 pm
Christian: Yes
Sex: Male
Creation Position: Undecided

Re: Obey Your Parents

Post by Echoside »

I think it is important to note that the bible also says to put god before all else. So while a child should obey their parents, I dont think it applies when doing so goes against God's/Jesus' teachings. I actually hear honor your parents more than obey.

As to determine when children should be considered adults, the reason this is a tricky issue seems to be that some children are more intelligent/mature/etc. than others. Honestly, I feel that a general age representative of most of the population is fine. To illustrate this point, you can look at common age limits for things such as movies, age to be able to drive, or even age before a child is allowed out of the house past a certain time. Sixteen may be the age to drive alone (at least here), but many people could be excellent drivers at 14 or 15. However, even more people might be bad drivers at 14 or 15, so there needs to be a limit on these things. If a child complains that they are mature enough to handle something, then usually they are not mature enough to realise the reason for the limit in the first place.
Post Reply