The fifth of the Ten Commandments reads,

Honor your Father and your Mother.

This commandment is so important

that it is one of the only commandments in the entire Bible

that gives a reason for observing it,

that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Many people read that part of the Fifth Commandment as a reward,

but while it may be regarded as a reward,

the fact remains that it is a reason.

If you build a society in which children honor their parents,

your society will long survive.

And the corollary is, a society in which children do not honor their parents,

is doomed to self-destruction.

In our time, this connection between honoring parents

and maintaining civilization is not widely recognized.

On the contrary, many of the best educated parents

do not believe that their children need to show them honor

since honoring implies an authority figure.

And that is a status many modern parents reject.

In addition, many parents seek to be loved,

not honored by their children.

Yet neither the Ten Commandments nor the Bible elsewhere

...