THE QUESTION OF AUTHORITY
Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. Ex. 20:12, N.I.V.
So much of what we think about God stems from what we think about our parents--how they disciplined us, their feelings about authority, and our responses to their methods. All this adds up to how well (or how poorly) we relate to our heavenly Father. Conversely, how we relate to God inevitably decides how we relate to family members and, ultimately, society in general.
In giving the Ten Commandments, God hoped to bring healing to a nation that had all but lost the meaning of the family unit. The authority figures in their lives had been Egyptians. Little dignity had been allowed the Hebrew people, and children were heavily influenced by the way their parents had been treated. As their parents had been regarded, they regarded them; and no doubt there were resulting power struggles in the home. God had to reestablish correct relationships within the family circle. By evoking reverence for parents, God superseded the example of the Egyptian taskmasters.
Despite the wordage of the fifth commandment, however, God was not exclusively addressing children. As parents taught their offspring the principles of the Decalogue, they were alerted to the tremendous responsibility entrusted to them. The attitudes their children gained under their tutelage would depend largely upon them. Implied in the spirit of this commandment is the thought that parents should conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the respect of their children.
The central issue in the great controversy between God and Satan is the character of God--most particularly His authority. Satan has accused God of being arbitrary in His dealings with His created beings. He has claimed that God wants to control everyone just for sheer pleasure, that His demand for our worship of Him is to satisfy His need to show off His power. In establishing the family unit on earth, it was God's plan to display a working model of His true authority.
With hearts full of selfless love, parents were to nurture and wisely guide their children. In turn, children would learn to appreciate their parents' values--because what they had been taught was sensible and reliable. They would see that their parents had only their best interests in mind, that whatever authority was exercised was to preserve quality of life, never to satisfy parental power needs.
And so it is with God.
Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. Ex. 20:12, N.I.V.
So much of what we think about God stems from what we think about our parents--how they disciplined us, their feelings about authority, and our responses to their methods. All this adds up to how well (or how poorly) we relate to our heavenly Father. Conversely, how we relate to God inevitably decides how we relate to family members and, ultimately, society in general.
In giving the Ten Commandments, God hoped to bring healing to a nation that had all but lost the meaning of the family unit. The authority figures in their lives had been Egyptians. Little dignity had been allowed the Hebrew people, and children were heavily influenced by the way their parents had been treated. As their parents had been regarded, they regarded them; and no doubt there were resulting power struggles in the home. God had to reestablish correct relationships within the family circle. By evoking reverence for parents, God superseded the example of the Egyptian taskmasters.
Despite the wordage of the fifth commandment, however, God was not exclusively addressing children. As parents taught their offspring the principles of the Decalogue, they were alerted to the tremendous responsibility entrusted to them. The attitudes their children gained under their tutelage would depend largely upon them. Implied in the spirit of this commandment is the thought that parents should conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the respect of their children.
The central issue in the great controversy between God and Satan is the character of God--most particularly His authority. Satan has accused God of being arbitrary in His dealings with His created beings. He has claimed that God wants to control everyone just for sheer pleasure, that His demand for our worship of Him is to satisfy His need to show off His power. In establishing the family unit on earth, it was God's plan to display a working model of His true authority.
With hearts full of selfless love, parents were to nurture and wisely guide their children. In turn, children would learn to appreciate their parents' values--because what they had been taught was sensible and reliable. They would see that their parents had only their best interests in mind, that whatever authority was exercised was to preserve quality of life, never to satisfy parental power needs.
And so it is with God.
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