There is a pandemic in the Western world — especially, but not only, in America — that few are talking about, let alone addressing.
This pandemic doesn’t actually kill people. But it does destroy people, ruin lives, crush families and cause permanent, debilitating pain — far more than have the vast majority of cases of COVID-19.
This pandemic consists of adult children who have decided never again to speak to one or both of their parents. The vast majority of these people were never sexually or physically abused. In fact, nearly all were loved by their parents. ....
In our post-biblical age, there are no Ten Commandments. In fact, there are no commandments, period. That’s what “no shoulds” was all about — no Commandments. Instead, you do what you feel is right. If you don’t feel like talking to your mother or father, you don’t. My father, governed by the Ten Commandments and many other shoulds, called his mother every night despite the fact that he rarely felt like doing so.
Though the Bible commands us to love our neighbor, love the stranger and love God, there is no commandment to love our parents. On the other hand, there is no commandment to honor anyone except our parents.
Dennis Prager, A Pandemic of Cruelty
4 comments:
I don’t believe that children owe parents for doing their job of raising them especially as the parent chose to bring them into this world, but in many cultures people do. We're just carrying out responsibilities by virtue of who or what we are.
God says your parents are owed your honor. Period.
Children are people, too. Honouring your parents sometimes means walking away. Otherwise, you might end up saying things you did not mean or doing things you will later regret. Parents choose to do nothing, or blame the children instead of getting help and figuring it out. Then when they grow up, they understand how easy it would have been to just ask for help, or ask for an explanation and parents can't cope with their own mistakes and shortcomings. IF a person is a narcissist, it will always be someone else's fault.
I understand all that, but that does NOT negate the command to honor your parents. You are not commanded to love them, just honor them.
Post a Comment