What could happen when you disrespect your parents?
1. It will not go well with you
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” is the first commandment with a promise that you may live long and that it may go well with you.
Many who live unsuccessful lives have a long history of troubled parent-child relationships, according to Dr. Judith Wallerstein. They were disobedient, especially during their formative years, so they are often rebellious.
This command was given to God’s people just before God gave them their promised land. It is true in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament, including the Gentiles. (Ephesians 6:1-2; Deuteronomy 5:16; Matthew 15:4)
WHAT HAPPENS TO PEOPLE WHO MOCK GOD?
2. You will die in obscure darkness
Cursing your parents comes with a greater curse to the child. It remains true in the Old and New Testaments as judgment to children who curse their parents has terrible consequences.
- Proverbs 20:20 Whoso curseth his father or mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.
- Proverbs 30:17: The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures.
TIRED OF BEING TOLD WHAT TO DO BY YOUR PARENTS?
3. You shall be put to death
Filial piety was deeply sacred in ancient cultures. The Mosaic law stressed the gravity of dishonoring parents, even though actual executions were unlikely, as societal reverence prevented such disrespect.
But the point is that the law allowed for capital punishment in extreme cases of children who deeply offended their parents.
- Exodus 21:17 – And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.
- Exodus 21:15 – Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.
- Leviticus 20:9 – If anyone curses his father or mother, he shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or mother; his bloodguiltiness is upon him.
- Matthew 15:4 For God said: Honor your father and your mother; and, The one who speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.
