I am looking for a really good story (emotional element) to illustrate the fifth commandment. Is there a story about Ellen White honouring her parents or parents-in-law? Is there a story about honouring your parents, especially parents who believe differently to you? Thank you.
I remember of often hearing my mother pray for us; one night in particular after I had retired. I shall never forget that earnest prayer for her unconverted children. She appeared to be much distressed, as she wrestled with God for us. I never shall forget these words which kept in my mind day and night. "O! Will they wade through so many prayers, to destruction and misery." As I looked the matter over, thoughts would rush into my mind like this: The saints, and especially my parents, desire to save me from destruction, and yet I am so unthinking and cruel as to wade through their prayers, or drive off conviction that pressed upon me, and by my heedless course, plainly show that I choose death rather than life. {YI, December 1, 1852 par. 6}
Dear children, if you have praying parents, prize their prayers, heed their instructions, and remember that you will have to give an account for the privileges you now enjoy. All heaven is interested in your salvation. God has given his only beloved Son to die for your transgressions, angels are watching over you, and are trying to turn your attention to God, to seek your soul's salvation. Christians are interested for you, and labor and pray for you. Your parents, who have watched over you all your life, if they are Christians, are deeply interested for you. They bear your case to the throne, and earnestly plead for God to spare you, to not cut you off in sin, and you be lost forever. Their aching hearts will find no rest until they see you followers of the meek and lowly Saviour. And will you steel your hearts to all their prayers offered for you? Will you not be interested in your own soul's salvation? Will you think it brave (as I once thought) to appear unconcerned and thoughtless, as though you disregarded a mothers tears and prayers? O, will you "wade through so many prayers to destruction and misery?" When all are willing to help you, will you not help yourselves? {YI, December 1, 1852 par. 7}
I now have a mother's feeling of strong attachment and love for my children, and have often wished that I had my youthful days to live over again. O, how careful I would be of my parents feelings. I would love to obey them. I would open my whole soul to my anxious parents, and not do as I once did. {YI, December 1, 1852 par. 8}
If I was reading my Bible, and my parents would be coming into the room, I would hide it for shame. Children, if there is any one entitled to your confidence, it is your dear parents who have spent so many anxious hours for you in your infancy, and all your life, have watched over you, and loved you as none but a parent can love. {YI, December 1, 1852 par. 9}
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#2.
September 14, 1849
At that meeting I learned that my mother had stepped upon a rusty nail which had passed through her foot. She had tried every remedy, but nothing removed the inflammation, or relieved the pain. We went immediately to Gorham, and found her foot dreadfully swollen. The neighbors had proposed every remedy they could think of, but they accomplished nothing. Mother was threatened with lock jaw. The next morning we united in prayer for her. I believed that God would restore her to perfect soundness. She was unable to kneel. With a deep sense of my unworthiness, I knelt at my mother's feet and besought the Lord to touch her with his healing power. We all believed that the Lord heard prayer. With the Spirit of the Lord resting upon me, I bid her in the name of the Lord rise up and walk. His power was in the room, and shouts of praise went up to God. Mother arose and walked the room, declaring that the work was done, that the soreness was gone, and that she was entirely relieved from pain. That day she rode thirty-eight miles to Topsham to attend a conference there, and had no more trouble with her foot. {LS80 261.1}
There are many simple herbs which, if our nurses would learn the value of, they could use in the place of drugs, and find very effective. Many times I have been applied to for advice as to what should be done in cases of sickness or accident, and I have mentioned some of these simple remedies, and they have proved helpful. {2SM 295.1}
On one occasion a physician came to me in great distress. He had been called to attend a young woman who was dangerously ill. She had contracted fever while on the campground, and was taken to our school building near Melbourne, Australia. But she became so much worse that it was feared she could not live. The physician, Dr. Merritt Kellogg, came to me and said, "Sister White, have you any light for me on this case? If relief cannot be given our sister, she can live but a few hours." I replied, "Send to a blacksmith's shop, and get some pulverized charcoal; make a poultice of it, and lay it over her stomach and sides." The doctor hastened away to follow out my instructions. Soon he returned, saying, "Relief came in less than half an hour after the application of the poultices. She is now having the first natural sleep she has had for days." {2SM 295.2}
I have ordered the same treatment for others who were suffering great pain, and it has brought relief and been the means of saving life. My mother had told me that snake bites and the sting of reptiles and poisonous insects could often be rendered harmless by the use of charcoal poultices. When working on the land at Avondale, Australia, the workmen would often bruise their hands and limbs, and this in many cases resulted in such severe inflammation that the worker would have to leave his work for some time. One came to me one day in this condition, with his hand tied in a sling. He was much troubled over the circumstance; for his help was needed in clearing the land I said to him, "Go to the place where you have been burning the timber, and get me some charcoal from the eucalyptus tree, pulverize it, and I will dress your hand." This was done, and the next morning he reported that the pain was gone. Soon he was ready to return to his work. {2SM 295.3}
I write these things that you may know that the Lord has not left us without the use of simple remedies which, when used, will not leave the system in the weakened condition in which the use of drugs so often leaves it. We need well-trained nurses who can understand how to use the simple remedies that nature provides for restoration to health, and who can teach those who are ignorant of the laws of health how to use these simple but effective cures. {2SM 296.1}
He who created men and women has an interest in those who suffer. He has directed in the establishment of our sanitariums and in the building up of schools close to our sanitariums, that they may become efficient mediums in training men and women for the work of ministering to suffering humanity. In the treatment of the sick, poisonous drugs need not be used. Alcohol or tobacco in any form must not be recommended, lest some soul be led to imbibe a taste for these evil things.--Letter 90, 1908 (To J. A. Burden and others bearing responsibility at Loma Linda). {2SM 296.2}
#4. ( my father ) The recent obituary notice of Sr. Nichols, wife of Bro. Otis Nichols, of Dorchester, Mass., called to mind the fact that many of the faithful friends of present truth, who from the Second-advent ranks were the first to embrace the Sabbath, now sleep in Jesus. {RH, April 21, 1868 par. 1}
They bore the Sabbath cross when it was heavier than it now is, on account of its friends being few, and its enemies and their persecutions being many and bitter. Now the Sabbath cross is comparatively light, because of the many friends of the Sabbath, and the well-known fact that the Sabbath of the Bible is clearly sustained by sacred and secular history. {RH, April 21, 1868 par. 2}
Bro and Sr. Nichols were among the first to embrace the Sabbath, and liberally hand out their means to sustain the cause in its infancy. It was money from her hand that bore our expenses from their door, in 1844, to the first Conference of believers in the third message, held at Rocky Hill, Conn. Of these who then bore the cross, and with their means sustained the cause, and have since toiled and suffered for the good of others, and have died in hope, it is said, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them." {RH, April 21, 1868 par. 3}
Among these are also my venerable parents. They both rest in hope: my mother in Illinois, my father in Connecticut; but when the trump of God shall awake the dead, and they be caught up to meet their Lord in the air, these who have toiled side by side in their Master's vineyard, will meet in immortal vigor, to see in many of those who shall be saved by the influence of the third message, the fruits of their labors and their prayers. {RH, April 21, 1868 par. 4}
Learning that my father was very feeble and near his end, and that he was anxious to see me before his death, I left my sick husband in Brookfield, Nov., 1866, and went alone to see him. He was living with one of my sisters, in Kensington, Conn. When I met my dear father, I saw a great change had come over him since last we parted. I at once saw that the feebly-burning taper of life must soon go out. As we met, he wept like a child, and expressed his gratitude that I had made the sacrifice of leaving my sick husband to come to see him. He often remarked that he felt that it was our last meeting, and that he felt that he could not be denied the privilege of seeing me and hearing me speak once more to the people. I immediately sent for my three sisters, living in Maine. They all came, and together we, five sisters in all, surrounded the bed of our dying father, who had then passed his fourscore years. {RH, April 21, 1868 par. 5}
But before these sisters came, we enjoyed a Sabbath meeting in which my father took part. Although very feeble, he was dressed, sat up during the meeting, and finally arose and bore an excellent testimony. His mind was very fruitful on Bible subjects, and he seemed sweetly ripened for the heavenly garner. This was his last testimony, and its memory is precious. {RH, April 21, 1868 par. 6}
In two weeks I enjoyed another Sabbath with my father. The large kitchen was well filled with brethren and sisters, some from a distance. My sisters from Maine were present, and there I had the privilege of speaking to them. It was suggested that the meeting be at the next house on account of my father's feebleness; but this he would not listen to for a moment. He stated that this would be the last time he should hear me speak, and he could not be denied the privilege. It was a most solemn, affecting meeting. This was evidently the last meeting we should all enjoy together in the present state of things. One at least, of our family, would be severed from us before we could meet again. And the solemn inquiry was, Shall we all meet again in that world where sickness and death will be known no more? {RH, April 21, 1868 par. 7}
This visit with my dear sisters was most satisfactory, and I trust profitable. Although we were not practically agreed on all points of religious duty, yet our hearts were one. {RH, April 21, 1868 par. 8}
My father, as he sank nearer and nearer the grave, did not lose his clearness of intellect, but to the last his mind was active, and especially fruitful in the things relating to the kingdom of God. He often stated that it was a great pleasure to him to have so many of his children around him in his last hours.His patience in his afflictions, and willingness, and even anxiety to have the hours of his probation close, were remarkable. The praise of God, and grateful expressions of his goodness were continually upon his lips, and thus he died. {RH, April 21, 1868 par. 9}
He sleeps in Jesus, and we are awaiting the coming of the Life-giver to break the fetters of the tomb, and release the captives from their prison-house, and reunite the severed links of the family chain. All who have kept the word of his patience, shall be exalted to the right hand of God, and be rewarded with an inheritance in the better world, and possess everlasting life. {RH, April 21, 1868 par. 10}
We cherish feelings of the tenderest regard of our dear Bro. Nichols. More than twenty years since, we shared his hospitalities when friends were few and poor. For several years nearly all the means necessary to bear our expenses came from his purse. And although his lot may still be in the furnace of affliction, he should be comforted with the fact that his was the great privilege of doing for the advancement of the cause of truth, when one dollar would count more than one hundred at its present stage. May the sentiment of his heart be in harmony with the words of the prophet, so frequently quoted his house more than twenty years since: {RH, April 21, 1868 par. 11}
"Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation."
I like the council EGW lays out here and scripture,
"Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Exodus 20:12. {SD 60.1}
Those who would truly follow Christ must let Him abide in the heart, and enthrone Him there as supreme. They must represent His spirit and character in their home life, and show courtesy and kindness to those with whom they come in contact. There are many children who profess to know the truth, who do not render to their parents the honor and affection that are due to them, who manifest but little love to father and mother, and fail to honor them in deferring to their wishes, or in seeking to relieve them of anxiety. Many who profess to be Christians do not know what it means to "honour thy father and thy mother," and consequently will know just as little what it means, "that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." . . . The Heart-searcher knows what is your attitude toward your parents; for He is weighing moral character in the golden scales of the heavenly sanctuary. O, confess your neglect of your parents, confess your indifference toward them, and your contempt of God's holy commandment. {SD 60.2}
Parents are entitled to a degree of love and respect which is due to no other person. God Himself, who has placed upon them a responsibility for the souls committed to their charge, has ordained that during the earlier years of life, parents shall stand in the place of God to their children. And he who rejects the rightful authority of his parents, is rejecting the authority of God. The fifth commandment requires the children not only to yield respect, submission, and obedience to their parents, but also to give them love and tenderness, to lighten their cares, to guard their reputation, and to succor and comfort them in old age. {SD 60.3} The fifth commandment is binding upon children as long as their own lives and the lives of their parents are spared." {SD 60.4}
Chances are that children who do not honor their father and mother do not honor God and Jesus Christ as should be.
1Jo 4:4 ¶ Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
Here is a specific case: The child of a Catholic parent is sent to an Adventist school on the condition that they will not convert. The young person does convert to Adventism. How should they approach baptism when they know their parent is completely opposed? Do they keep their baptism secret for a time? Do they seek their parents permission knowing the answer will be no?
There are lots of complications when there are differences in religion. However, I noted in one of Ellen White's statements that she was in unity with her sisters even though they had some religious differences.
