The large family system made Korea called “The country of courteous people in the East”. It was normal that 3 or 4 generations of a family to live together. All family members obeyed the strict hierarchy order in the family and whole the family was at peace since no one went against each other. It was impossible to disobey and defy parents. Above all, children knew how much their parents love them so they were grateful and behaved well with their parents.
Nowadays, living in a small family became common so the hierarchy order easily collapsed. In a large family system, they don’t live for themselves but for one another. But now, family troubles keep coming up because family members live only for themselves.
In the last age, many people disobey God following the custom of the world. It happens because they committed sins by being deceived by the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient (Ephesians 2:2). The Devil causes the children to disobey their parents by differences of viewpoints.
Today, children disobey their parents because of the generation gap. It’s natural to have a generation gap between parents and children. The problem is that the children think the generation gap comes from parents. They think that parents are old-fashioned while children are new-fashioned and advanced since they are young. But parents are wiser than children because they experienced many things in their lifetime. Therefore, parents are rather advanced. Compared to parents, children are old-fashioned and not advanced because they don’t have much experience and deep knowledge yet.
Parents already experienced the ages that their children had not lived yet. Therefore, they confidently can give advice to their children based on their experience. It is difficult for Children to go through difficulties by their lack of experience. Therefore, obeying parents is the best blessing and the best way.
Pastor Seok-Jeon Yoon
Extracted from Yonsei Newspaper #720
