Should we honor our parents even if it leads us to sin?
score:23
- Honor your parents? Yes absolutely.
- Sin? No never.
- What is trump? Don't sin!
However it should be noted that the trump card will never need to be used because on closer inspection these two things are never actually in conflict. If your parents ask you to murder your neighbor (clearly sin) it would be no honor to them if you obeyed. The same principle can be extrapolated back to "smaller" sins. While your parents own sinfulness might cloud their perspective on what is or is not honoring, ultimately you are trying to honor God through honoring your parents.
The commandment to honor our parents does not say that we must obey every edict they may give us. However it is also clear that obedience is on of the primary ways that we can show honor and respect. Obey in so far as you are not being asked to sin. If in doubt, honor your parents. If something comes up that you understand to be sin and can Biblically demonstrate how something would be dishonoring to God, decline in an honorable way!
If it's your family's tradition to cuss (or to be bank robbers) there is nothing in the commandment that mandates that you also pursue that lifestyle. You can still act honorably towards someone as your parent even if they reject you as a child because of your choice.
This is particularly evident in extreme cases. For example say your parents are Muslims. From their perspective that their offspring would believe in Jesus as God, go to a Christian church, pray, read the Bible and fellowship with other Christians is an unthinkable shame. In their mind nothing you do will be honoring as long as you persist in your beliefs. However is it really dishonoring them that you have chosen to follow the truth? Of course not. Can you still treat them respectfully and in an honorable way even if they reject you and ostricise you? Yes you can, and you should.
But it doesn't take an extreme case for to apply this principle. It starts being applicable when they ask you to come finish the dishes but you feel like you ought to finish that great post you're working on for a Christian Q&A site.
1 Peter 3:14-17 (ESV)
But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.
Upvote:0
Honoring and Obeying the parents depends upon the context. If parents are cruel and disobeys God, then "Honoring and Obeying Parents" cannot be applied on that context.
Let me give examples from the Bible. Ahaz was a King who did extremely evil in the sight of God (2 Kings 16, 2 Chronicles 25).
Ahaz's son Hezekiah became King after the death of his father Ahaz. He did exactly the opposite of what his father Ahaz did. He was righteous in front of God (2 Chronicles 29-31). We even read this in 2 Kings 18:5 (NIV) - "Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him."
Amon was a King who did evil in the sight of God (2 Chronicles 33:21-25). After the death of Amon, his son Josiah became King. Josiah did exactly the opposite of his father Amon. Josiah did what was right in front of God (2 Chronicles 34).
The children also have the right to punish their parents and grandparents if they do evil in the sight of God. Let me give an example.
1 Kings 15:9-12 (NIV) - "In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king of Judah, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty-one years. His grandmother’s name was Maakah daughter of Abishalom. Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done. He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his ancestors had made. He even deposed his grandmother Maakah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive image for the worship of Asherah. Asa cut it down and burned it in the Kidron Valley."
Upvote:4
You only do a disservice to yourself and others when you sin to "appease" them. God wants us to stand for Him, not for others. Sinning to you can "honour"/help/fix/appease others it telling them they're more important to you than Jesus - and that's not good.
To honour your father and mother means to yes respect them, listen to them, help them, but if you see them doing something wrong, to talk to them about it.
Upvote:8
It should be noted that "honor" is not the same as obey. Children are instructed to obey their parents, and all of us are commanded to honor them.
Now, I don't believe children should obey their parents by sinning either, but that's a separate question.
One would wonder how it's possible for the honoring of one's parents to ever necessitate sin? We can honor them in many different ways--none of which requires sinning.
More post
- 📝 From a Calvinist perspective, does Limited Atonement make the Gospel offer empty?
- 📝 Why did Augustine attempt to stop Christians from walking barefoot?
- 📝 Do Anglicans use Latin anymore? If so, how much and for what?
- 📝 How do we know we aren't worshipping the same God?
- 📝 Is intercessory prayer valid?
- 📝 Are some people created to go to Hell?
- 📝 What are the beliefs and practices of Evangelicals regarding ecumenism?
- 📝 Why should communion be "closed"?
- 📝 How can we be sure our specific Christian confession is true, when every other Christian group claims that it's not?
- 📝 Has the Catholic Church responded to the apparent implausibility of a census as described in Luke?
- 📝 What is the Seventh-Day Adventist view of hell?
- 📝 Why was it not necessary to break Jesus' legs during crucifixion?
- 📝 Apostle John lived in Ephesus - what sources claim that?
- 📝 What is the purpose and basis for the special garments issued to temple-going Mormons?
- 📝 Are there any denominations that defend their doctrines by appealing to extra-biblical evidence from the 1st/2nd century of the early Church?
- 📝 What is the basis for ascribing any fiscal policy to Jesus?
- 📝 Which Apocrypha are part of the Catholic and the Orthodox traditions and which are not? Why?
- 📝 How old is the earth?
- 📝 Relationship between God's power and God's will
- 📝 Who was the Christian missionary who helped reform English Missions?
- 📝 What are the natures of the different "priesthoods" mentioned in the old testament
- 📝 What is the the difference between the monotheism of Trinitarian Christianity and Judaism?
- 📝 Did St. Paulinus of Nola sell himself into slavery to redeem one slave?
- 📝 Is there any biblical support for the world ending in 2029?
- 📝 Did the virgin Mary worship Jesus?
- 📝 According to Protestants, what is the lesson being taught by scripture when God killed so many men for looking into the Ark?
- 📝 What are Christian theologeans referring to when they talk about "God's glory"?
- 📝 What do we know about the Council of Nicaea's ban of celebrating the Lord's Supper on the day before Passover?
- 📝 Did Jesus really had to be God for the atonement of sin to work?
- 📝 Can a Catholic Priest in the Ordinariate be married to a non-Christian?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Should we honor our parents even if it leads us to sin?
- 📝 Should we love Satan since he is our greatest enemy?
- 📝 How should a Christian evaluate whether a particular action a sin or not?
- 📝 If baptism cleanses original sin then why do the children of baptised parents still need to be baptised?
- 📝 Since Jesus death paid our sin debt in full, why do Christians still die?
- 📝 When people sin against us but don't repent, should we forgive and forget?
- 📝 Does the seal of confession apply even when the sin is intended and there is no desire to repent?
- 📝 Should we 'let our light shine' and tell people the good works that we do?
- 📝 What is the difference in original sin and our nature to sin from a Reformed or Calvinist view?
- 📝 How does Original Sin come back in man even after being washed at the time of baptism?
- 📝 Are there Christian Denominations or Movements who believe that Jesus didn't actually pay our sin debt?
- 📝 If our body is the church, why should we go to a place called church?
- 📝 Seeking a richer Catholic understanding of passion vs intellect as it applies to our first parents
- 📝 Saints Who Disobeyed Parents or Superiors in Order to Avoid Committing Sin
- 📝 Do Evangelical Christians interpret James 1:2 and Romans 5:3 to mean that we should enjoy our problems?
- 📝 Why doesn't the Bible also say a woman should leave her parents to be united to the husband?
- 📝 What should a priest who commits a mortal sin just before Holy Mass do, if confession is not available?
- 📝 Do Biblical literalists believe we should gouge our eyes out or cut off our hands?
- 📝 Verse that says we should spend much or most of our money on food?
- 📝 Is the wages of sin our natural death?
- 📝 Our prayers should be aimed at who?
- 📝 According to Catholicism, if we sin and become repentant will our sins be forgiven too like St. Peter?
- 📝 Can a sin lead one to hell even under grace? (this is not a Catholic post regarding mortal and venial sin)
- 📝 Should dating couples who put themselves regularly to the occasion of sin be granted absolution if they do not have a will to avoid such situations?
- 📝 I feel really guilty killing insects, even though it isn’t a sin
- 📝 Why should a sinner suffer forever in hell fire?
- 📝 How should I understand the emphasis on "begotten, not made" in the Nicene Creed?
- 📝 If God controls our decisions, does this mean we don't have free will?
- 📝 How should one reconcile a wrong against another person?
- 📝 On what basis should Christians oppose child marriage?