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Listen to Parents? Really?

What would a man endowed with great wisdom from God say about life? Well, among many other things, he would say (about a dozen times) to listen to our parents.


(Prov. 1:8) My son, hear the instruction of your father, And do not forsake the law of your mother; (Prov. 6:20) My son, keep your father’s command, And do not forsake the law of your mother. (Prov. 10:1) A wise son makes a glad father, But a foolish son is the grief of his mother. (Prov. 23:22) Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old.


Even though God gave special wisdom to Solomon (1 Kg. 4:29), the wisdom about parents was already in the 10 Commandments. God’s first law regarding how people acted toward each other was a blanket command to “honor your father and mother, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.” (Ex. 20:12). Honoring always includes obeying.

The Holy Spirit used Paul to keep that parental wisdom flowing into the Christian age. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother...,’ (Eph. 6:1-3).

Few children like having rules or restrictions imposed upon them. For that matter, we adults aren’t too keen on rules and restrictions either! But rules are an absolute necessity for any kind of reasonable life to exist with a group of people.


During the 1967 so-called “summer of free love,” thousand of teens and young adults took rebellion against the rules to the extreme. Moving into one section of San Francisco, almost 100,000 “hippies” gave a perfect demonstration of what happens when people only do what they want to do. The area became such a stinking sewer of humanity that within a matter of a few weeks even the “hippies” couldn’t stand the ugly, raw lawlessness anymore and left! Lawlessness protests more recently included burning stores, destroying businesses and cars.


“The Rules” of society, and of all good parents, are for the benefit of both children and everyone else. Bedtime is good. Alcohol and drugs are bad. Bathing is good. Smoking is bad. Limiting contact with bad friends is good. Stealing is bad. Doing your homework and chores is good. Sex outside of marriage is bad. Learning to follow the rules is very good, and - surprise - surprise - your parents knew this all along. Imagine that...!

- Tim Orbison

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