For Christian Children/Teenagers Who Have Unsaved Parents

***Gilligan*** · May 5th 2012, 02:24 PM

This post is for children and teenagers who are already Christians or are seeking salvation but have unsaved parents:

According to Jesus, no one is allowed to hinder you from seeking salvation or going to church. See Matthew 19:14, Mark 10:14, and Luke 18:16.

Acts 5:29 says you should obey God rather than man. God commands salvation (Isaiah 55:6-7 & 2 Corinthians 6:2), church attendance (Hebrews 10:25), and proselytizing (Mark 16:15 and John 20:21).

God warns against messing with Christians. This would include parents messing with Christian children. See 1 Chronicles 16:22 and Psalm 105:15. When a passage appears more than once in the Bible, it is for emphasis.

I know that the fifth of the Ten Commandments is going to come up, so I’ll try to address that. The commandment is in effect if the parents are believers. Ephesians 6:1 says “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.” Notice the qualifier “in the Lord”. It means if the parents are in the Lord (saved), or it can mean as long as your obedience does not go against God.

NOTE: If I go offline suddenly, it is because I use a public computer at a library and I'm only allowed two one-hour sessions daily, and my time ran out for the day. I don't go to library on Sundays.

**Youssarian** · May 9th 2012, 10:00 PM

This interests me. I'm 20 and live with my parents. Both are unsaved (well, my father believes in the Christian God but doesn't seem to actually have saving faith).

**Godslittleangel** · May 11th 2012, 03:43 PM

I think we still should honor and respect them even if they dont' believe. If they want us to help with the chores, clean our rooms, have us home by a certain time or not allow us to go to dairy queen or a movie wiht our friends, them being not christian doesn't mean that we can disobey them, we should still obey them then. but when it comes to faith, then we should choose God, like if they tell their child they can't be a Christian anymore, then that is a different story. But we should still pray for them though and be respectful towards them as anyone else.

If I'm misunderstanding your post, i apologize in advance.

***Gilligan*** · May 14th 2012, 01:08 PM

Originally Posted by Godslittleangel

I think we still should honor and respect them even if they dont' believe. If they want us to help with the chores, clean our rooms, have us home by a certain time or not allow us to go to dairy queen or a movie wiht our friends, them being not christian doesn't mean that we can disobey them, we should still obey them then. but when it comes to faith, then we should choose God, like if they tell their child they can't be a Christian anymore, then that is a different story. But we should still pray for them though and be respectful towards them as anyone else.

If I'm misunderstanding your post, i apologize in advance.

I agree with you. My post was regarding unsaved parents trying to stop their child from engaging in Christian activities or trying to get them to do things against what God commands. In every other area children should obey their parents.

**Dani H** · May 14th 2012, 02:31 PM

Originally Posted by Gilligan

I agree with you. My post was regarding unsaved parents trying to stop their child from engaging in Christian activities or trying to get them to do things against what God commands. In every other area children should obey their parents.

Okay well I'm glad you cleared that up because your OP had me scratching my head quite a bit.

But in fact, in nations where faith and family blends strongly together, we find exactly that: People come to Christ, and end up being disowned and cast out by their own families. That isn't to say a believer stops honoring their parents, but when a decision has to be made between God and tradition, then God should win out. He is able to bring people around. He is able to save households. But yes, there's a price to be paid for following Jesus, and unfortunately persecution often happens from people close to us.

HOWEVER

That's not a reason for someone to flaunt their beliefs in their parents' faces, because I can stand for the Lord and STILL be respectful and honoring in my conduct towards my parents even when it comes to decisions of conscience. It's all in HOW we do it. It should be our goal to live at peace with all people and do whatever we can to explain our decisions reasonably and peacably. Then what others decide, is up to them and we have to respect that too, understanding that God deals with all of us differently.

**BrianW** · May 14th 2012, 04:41 PM

There are some places in the world that will kill an entire family if it is found out that even one of them are Christian. There are places that if someone is found with even half a page of the bible they are executed.

What does that have to do with the OP? Just this. Sometimes becoming a Christian can get you killed and in certain countries parent will turn their children in to the authorities if they discover that they are Christian and the reverse is true as well. Children have turned their parents in even knowing that they will be killed.
Things like this are happening right now in North Korea for example.

So we see that geographical locations play a huge part in how we approach becoming Christian and how we live our Christian life when dealing with families and the world.