IT is all too often claimed that conflict and misunderstanding between young people and their elders are inevitable. The fifth commandment, "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee" (Ex. 20:12), points to the need for a harmoniously self-disciplined relationship between parents and their children. It also indicates that this is an age-old problem, not by any means peculiar to this day and age.
It is suggested that this problem has become more acute through material prosperity, which has induced a false sense of values, or through youth's distrust of their elders' ability to handle world affairs, which would seem to many young people to be heading for disaster at frightening speed. Students of Christian Science, who base their study of this Science upon the Word as recorded in the Bible, find support and confidence with which to face these problems in a spiritually enlightened understanding of the Ten Commandments and the teachings of Christ Jesus.
The beloved disciple asks a pertinent question (I John 4:20), "He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" We may paraphrase this statement to suit our consideration of the fifth commandment as follows: "He that honoreth not his father and mother whom he hath seen, how can he honor his Father-Mother God whom he hath not seen?''
