Parents

**Written in June of 2019**

My dad hates baseball.  I hate baseball.  My dad played basketball in high school.  I played basketball in high school.  My dad is pretty ‘eh’ about football. He doesn’t hate it but he’s also not super passionate about it.  How do you think I feel about football?

We generally follow our dad or parents’ lead in many ways.  I used sports because it’s a simple and easy example that is often true.  Another example is country music. Dad hates it and I hate it.  Why is this important? As I often do, I thought about this in a spiritual context.

In the church, parents are implored to raise their children with the scriptures and to teach them of Jesus Christ.  To teach them of their Heavenly Father.  The scriptures are the gateway into this knowledge.  I’ve recently been thinking about the importance of raising kids to have knowledge of what’s truly important.  That, with love, will shape children into what they will become. 

It’s hard to quantify how the way I was raised impacted who I am today.  I wouldn’t say my parents were the most vigilant scriptorians.  To be honest, I don’t remember reading the scriptures as a family, though I’m sure there were times.  Despite that, I always knew they were important.  Even if we didn’t always read them, I respected them.  That’s potentially the most important thing my parents gave me, a respect for scripture.  The same thing goes for church.  We may not have gone every week but growing up I knew it was important.

Consider a scriptural example of young men raised right. They were raised to love their parents and love their freedom.  The account of the two thousand stripling warriors in the book of Alma shows us the profound influence good parents can have on children.  The parents of those 2,000 young men made a covenant not to raise weapons ever again against their brethren.  They were willing to die first.  Their children made no such covenant.  Since these children loved their parents, God, and their freedom, they willingly went to battle.

The story is well known in the Church.  For those who aren’t familiar, go read chapter 56 in Alma of the Book of Mormon.  Of those 2,000 young men, not a single life was lost.  Many were hurt and injured, but not one killed.  They fought in a war and all were accounted for.  What explains this?  Their faith.  Alma 56:47-48 reads “Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.  And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.”  These young men were raised to trust God.  The impact of their parents’ teachings made them powerful warriors. 

Scripture becomes even more important because of the world we live in today.  We are surrounded by temptation.  The world has turned from God, turned from Christ.  We’ve started to depend on our own knowledge and understanding.  It’s interesting, at the time we have the most access to scripture and to the lessons of the past, we have most aggressively turned from God.  The time will come as it always does when God will remind man of their weak and feeble state.  We’ve become so used to buying food at the grocery store, we forget where that food ultimately comes from.  Drought and famine will happen, even in our modern, comfortable world.  Then people will turn to God.  It will be too late, as we see in scripture.

Now is the time to raise children with a love of God.  Not a fear, a love.  That love comes from reading the scriptures.  Love for God comes from seeing all that He has given us.  We are nothing and have nothing without Him.

Alma 57:21 reads, “Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them.” And in verse 27, “Now this was the faith of these of whom I have spoken; they are young, and their minds are firm, and they do put their trust in God continually.”

It’s so important that youth today are raised with faith.  Our future depends on them.  Their faith will be the most important thing they have as the world becomes increasingly faithless.  Parents must be examples to their children first and lead them to the scriptures second.  I’m not a parent yet, but I hope one day to have kids that are filled with faith, love for others, and a humble appreciation for all that God has given them.  I often ponder what I can do to instill these values in my future children. 

The answer is simple:  direct them to the scriptures. 

If you liked this post and also love the scriptures because of your parents, share this with them to thank them.