Thank you for tuning in today to another episode of apostolic life in the 21st century.

Today we're going to talk about honoring your parents.

You've got a question that was submitted by one of our audience members via YouTube.

Dr. Bernard, this person asks a question that I think is that many people have asked over the years.

So I felt like it was probably important to address on this podcast.

This person is a born-again Christian, and they want to know how can they fulfill the fifth of the Ten Commandments, which tells us to honor our father and mother with the caveat that they're, apparently they're in a situation where their parents or maybe it's somebody they're ministering to, this particular person's parents or the parents in the situation are not believers.

And I sort of got the impression from their question that maybe

there was a lot going on in this family, some maybe perhaps some abuse, regardless of what this

particular situation is, there are families out there where the parents maybe are abusive or

they've made really bad choices and those sinful choices have affected the family in very negative

ways.

I know that you've helped people, have talked to people that have been in this situation.

Are Christians off the hook when it comes to honoring their parents if their parents are not believers?

Well, let's talk about some principles.

First of all, there is a principle of authority. So I think the Ten Commandments and then

there are other passages of scripture, such as the epistles of Paul, that talk about children

obey your parents. So in an ideal situation, if you have godly parents who are doing the will of

God, then children are to obey their parents. And there's a little

principle of management that I often cite, authority equals responsibility. So if parents have the

responsibility to care for their children, provide for them, protect them, nurture them, train them,

which they do, then they have a corresponding authority from God

so they can get their job done.

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