"Mr. Bee" has 5 kids. He comes home everyday drunk, arrogant and rude to everyone except those who pour him more liquor or feed his ego. He lays out insults while name calling or abusing his wife and kids. When his neighbors tell him to tune down his erratic behavior, they too get insults and name calling. He is the head of the household who is expected to lead by showing the kids what respect means. Not perfect, rather, lead by taking the parental responsibility seriously. Instead, anyone who questioned Mr. Bee's ability to be a parent or challenged Mr. Bee was met with force and retaliation. Mr. Bee enjoyed his abuse of power because he was in fact in charge of his household. Even law enforcement was not immune to his insults. One day, kids numbers 4 and 5 got tired of the abuse from their Dad. They both told their Dad to stop the continuous abuse and start being a Dad. Kid number 3 was quick to jump in, essentially telling the other kids to be respectful of their parents. Kid number 3 believes no one has the right to speak truth to the power of the "parental office" regardless if they like the behavior of their Dad or not.Throughout the bible, respect is described as a two way street. Children are to obey their parents but the bible speaks about parents not provoking their children to wrath or anger (Ephesians 6:4). The same applies to all leaders and their subjects. After delivering the "blessings" and "woes" in Luke chapter 6, Jesus followed it by saying we should love our enemies. He then summarized his message in something that most people now describe as the "GOLDEN RULE" - do unto others, what you want done to you. Loving our enemies does not mean we get to condone their evil ways and respect is a two-way street (Luke 6:31).
We have created a one sided society that likes to focus on one "point of view" based on our personal preference or affiliation. We quote Ephesians 5:22 to say: "...wives, be SUBJECT to your husband..." and often ignoring verse 25: "...husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her..." - This is like telling people to respect any kind of "office" or authority without EVER telling the office holders to do the same. We cannot intentionally and continually CUT the truth in half and call it COMPLETE. We RESPECT our leaders but we DO NOT WORSHIP them (Daniel 3:16-18).
Holding an official position is NOT an excuse to be out of control and lawless. When you provoke people unto anger, it's on you to fix, not them. In this "parable" and as you may have already guessed:
- The "Parental Office" or position represents The office of the Presidency, which deserves respect.
- The Dad represents the current President of the United States and the concerned neighbors represent the leaders of other countries.
- The Wife represents other leaders in government working alongside the President.
- The five Kids represent the citizens of the United States of America
- The two kids (numbers 4 and 5) who spoke up represents people who understands the meaning of basic human decency. No, they are not being disrespectful by asking their abusive Dad to stop being abusive and show qualities required of a parent.
- The one kid (number 3) who told everyone to basically be quiet and show respect for "the parental office" represent the people that keep saying to respect the office of the presidency without ever going as far as to say the holder of the office himself needs to stop the insults and abuse of the office he holds.
- The other kids (numbers 1 and 2) represent people who don't want to speak up about what they know is wrong with their Dad. They also don't want to speak up in support of "the parental office" because of to the unacceptable behavior of the office holder - their Dad. Kids 1 and 2 don't want to offend either of their side of their siblings and certainly don't want to be classified as being disrespectful when they speak up. They choose to just be quiet, just like most people in society today.
It's sad to see most "churches" these days preach about respecting the office of the presidency because it's the only way they can defend the President's actions without actually saying it outright. Even when you disagree with the president's behavior, you are considered "disrespectful to the office of the presidency." The more I travel the more I hear the same thing, which sounds like a broken record. It's becoming a common theme in Churches but they forget that most people already know this and generally do respect the office. The truth is, some are politically motivated and it's their only way to campaign from the pulpit. Anyone who claims they don't see a "destructive tongue" in the White House today is either a wicked person or a liar as seen in Proverbs 17:4. A destructive tongue continually pours out vile words, insults and abuses with no conscience to ever acknowledge any wrong doing or issue apologies or repent. The last time I checked, the tongue remains the most powerful and divisive weapon we have and the bible agrees (Jame 3:5-12).
- Is this too much to ask?
- Can the president go 24 hours without name calling, self promoting, pouring insults, belittling, intentionally crafting lies, dividing people or bullying someone who disagrees with him?
- Why all the never ending made up stories for his base sake even when the truth will do him good?
- Why is every criticism of him considered "fake news" when these are mostly tapes of him saying or doing something? Are his tweets fake too?
Related Topic: Does God Pick Presidents?
