1 00:05:07,780 --> 00:05:15,440 it may sometimes be, the chances are far greater that they will honor you. 2 00:05:02,370 --> 00:05:07,780 And remember this, if your children see you honor your parents, no matter how difficult 3 00:04:58,310 --> 00:05:02,370 There are such cases. But they are rare. 4 00:04:46,500 --> 00:04:52,660 And, yes, we all recognize that some parents have behaved so cruelly -- and I mean cruelly, 5 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:46,500 Having no contact with parents is the opposite of honoring them. 6 00:04:52,670 --> 00:04:58,310 not annoyingly -- that one finds it morally impossible to honor to them. 7 00:04:35,780 --> 00:04:41,040 And when you leave their home and make your own, you maintain contact with them. 8 00:04:30,740 --> 00:04:35,780 but you don't with a parent. You don't call them by their first name. 9 00:04:27,020 --> 00:04:30,740 For example, you might use expletives when speaking to a friend; 10 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:26,940 You don't talk to them in quite the same way you do anyone else. 11 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:18,680 They get special treatment. 12 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:23,560 Parents are unique; so they must be treated in a unique way. 13 00:04:10,820 --> 00:04:15,520 Finally, there are many ways to honor parents. The general rule is this: 14 00:04:06,580 --> 00:04:10,820 the more it usurps the parental role. 15 00:03:59,639 --> 00:04:02,719 from parents to the state. 16 00:03:52,799 --> 00:03:59,639 seek to do is to break the child-parent bond. The child's allegiance is shifted 17 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:06,580 Even in democratic societies the larger the state becomes, 18 00:03:45,209 --> 00:03:52,799 Honoring parents is the best antidote to totalitarianism. One of the first things totalitarian movements 19 00:03:29,730 --> 00:03:35,890 the father of psychiatry and an atheist, theorized that one's attitude toward one's father 20 00:03:35,890 --> 00:03:40,400 largely shaped one's attitude toward God. 21 00:03:40,409 --> 00:03:45,209 There is one more reason why honoring parents is fundamental to a good society. 22 00:03:22,689 --> 00:03:29,689 to honor God without having had a parent, especially a father, to honor. Sigmund Freud, 23 00:03:17,620 --> 00:03:22,680 who is therefore higher than even our parents. But it is very difficult to come 24 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:17,620 Of course, for the Ten Commandments, the ultimate moral authority is God, 25 00:03:08,989 --> 00:03:13,720 And without this, we cannot create or maintain a moral society. 26 00:02:57,340 --> 00:03:03,909 Second, honoring parents is how nearly all of us come to recognize that there is a moral 27 00:03:03,909 --> 00:03:08,989 authority above us to whom we are morally accountable. 28 00:02:51,500 --> 00:02:57,340 are more likely to seek the wrong men and to be promiscuous at an early age. 29 00:02:39,920 --> 00:02:47,020 to grow up and commit violent crime, mistreat women, and act out against society in every other way. 30 00:02:47,020 --> 00:02:51,500 Girls who do not have a father to honor -- and, hopefully, to love as well -- 31 00:02:33,640 --> 00:02:39,920 the terrible consequences of growing up without a father. Fatherless boys are far more likely 32 00:02:26,819 --> 00:02:33,640 adult peers of their children. They are not parents. No generation knows better than ours 33 00:02:19,340 --> 00:02:26,819 but children need to honor parents. A father and a mother who are not honored are essentially 34 00:02:15,100 --> 00:02:19,340 Parents may want to be honored -- and they should want to be -- 35 00:02:11,410 --> 00:02:15,100 One reason is that we, as children, need it. 36 00:02:05,750 --> 00:02:11,410 society could not survive if this commandment were widely violated? 37 00:01:59,740 --> 00:02:05,740 So, then, why is honoring parents so important? Why does the Ten Commandments believe that 38 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:59,740 only with regard to parents. There is no one else who the Bible commands us to honor. 39 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:51,720 impossible. But it does demand that we show honor to our parents. And it makes this demand 40 00:01:38,210 --> 00:01:44,560 do not love a parent. Therefore, it does not demand what may be psychologically or emotionally 41 00:01:26,500 --> 00:01:32,330 to love our neighbor, to love God, and to love the stranger. 42 00:01:32,330 --> 00:01:38,210 The Bible understands that there will always be individuals who, for whatever reason, 43 00:01:19,570 --> 00:01:26,500 commands us to love our parents. This is particularly striking given that the Bible commands us 44 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:19,560 not honored, by their children. Yet, neither the Ten Commandments nor the Bible elsewhere 45 00:00:59,609 --> 00:01:05,909 their children need to show them honor, since "honoring" implies an authority figure, 46 00:01:05,909 --> 00:01:13,160 and that is a status many modern parents reject. In addition, many parents seek to be loved, 47 00:00:52,829 --> 00:00:59,609 widely recognized. On the contrary, many of the best-educated parents do not believe that 48 00:00:47,160 --> 00:00:52,820 In our time, this connection between honoring parents and maintaining civilization is not 49 00:00:40,470 --> 00:00:47,160 A society in which children do not honor their parents is doomed to self-destruction. 50 00:00:26,249 --> 00:00:33,749 as a reward, the fact remains that it is a reason: If you build a society in which children 51 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:26,249 Many people read that part of the Fifth Commandment as a reward. But while it may be regarded 52 00:00:33,750 --> 00:00:40,470 honor their parents, your society will long survive. And the corollary is: 53 00:00:12,340 --> 00:00:18,000 that gives a reason for observing it: "That your days may be long in the land that 54 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:20,640 the LORD your God is giving you." 55 00:05:15,540 --> 00:05:16,960 I'm Dennis Prager. 56 00:00:05,970 --> 00:00:12,340 This commandment is so important that it is one of the only commandments in the entire Bible 57 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:05,960 The Fifth of the Ten Commandments reads: "Honor your father and your mother."