In the Christian, Jewish and Muslim world, this is considered one of the Ten Commandments, and thought to have "super" authority over people of faith.
Ideas to work with:
- "that it might go well with you in the land" -- properity relates to honoring father and mother
- "Father and Mother" -- Parents of both sexes are to be held in honor, not just the Father.
- "Honor" -- what does that mean?
- does "honoring" involve communication?
- What if the parents are drug addicts, murderers of innocents, etc. How does this obligation apply?
- Is it possible that this is meant to support and sustain the "mainstream" where there is actually a family?
- Does prosperity come better to strong families of several generations than to fragmented family members?
Children in the United States often have problems with the word, "Honor". If they understand their parents to have been abusive, or emotionally distant, or to have abandoned them through divorce or even death, it is hard to understand this word, "honor" as something they should give. After all, shouldn't one's parents deserve honor? And if they deserve contempt, or death, or exclusion -- how can God possibly demand honor?
Honor is a somewhat ambiguous term, and there may be a better translation of the Hebrew. The other word I find that translates the Hebrew word is "respect". Respect your father and mother.
We think of the Old Testament covenant people as a patriarchal culture, and it was, but the mother gets equal billing here. In the next blog I want to look at what "honoring" or "respecting" might look like in the 21st century.
What do you think? Leave a comment and let us know.
No comments:
Post a Comment