Parents

1. Under the laws of divine establishment the parents are the authority in divine institution # 3, i.e. the home.

2. The parents are the most basic authority in human life and have been since Adam and Eve were the first parents. As goes your attitudes toward your parents, often so goes your attitude toward authority.

3. Parents are responsible to train the children in both the functions and the principles of life. That means the parents must train both the body and the soul of their children.

4. Therefore parents are not only responsible for food shelter, clothing, and health of their children but parents are responsible foe the thinking, the attitudes, the poise, the manners, the self-discipline of their children.

5. All children must be inculcated in both the fundamentals of freedom as well as the principles of authority in life, and how the two have been merged into the divine establishment for blessing.

6. Children must be trained and taught to respect the freedom, the privacy, the property and the rights of others. (Some adults are never thoughtful of others because they were never taught thoughtfulness in the home)

7. Add to the laws of divine establishment respect for law and the police officer.

8. In addition, Christian parents have the responsibility of evangelising their own children through the communication of the gospel.

9. Once the children are saved by faith in Christ the parents must provide doctrinal teaching for their children under the command of Deuteronomy 6:6-9; 7:9.

10. As children become oriented to the concept of the local church they must be taught to recognise the authority of the pastor-teacher, and they must be trained to concentrate on his message — Hebrews 13:7,17.

Principle: As long as they live at home the child is under the authority of the parents. Basic authority in life and respect for authority comes from the home. As goes the home, so goes any generation. Each generation determines its own role in history on the basis of parental discipline and respect for authority which is taught in the home. Disorientation to life begins when the child either rejects parental authority or is able to overcome it by emotionalism, i.e. you must love the child or he will grow up to be some sort of a misfit. Nothing is more destructive to the individual than to go through life rejecting authority because of the ingrained habit from childhood.