Parental Responsibility for Youthful Waywardness
By MRS. BELLE EMERSON
1. What is the great cause of young people's leaving the truth? “As I looked upon the perilous situation of our youth, and was shown how indifferent the parents are to their welfare, my heart was sick and faint; angels were troubled, and wept with grief.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. IV, page 200. 2. What is the result of this indifference? “The youth are passing into the world, and into the hands of Satan.”—Ib. 3. What do children need? “Children need watchful care and guidance as never before.”—Id., page 199. 4. What does this fearful state of the youth constitute? “The fearful state of the youth of this age constitutes one of the strongest signs that we are living in the last days.”—Ib. 5. But to what may the ruin of many be traced? “The ruin of many may be traced directly to the wrong management of the parents.”—Ib. 6. Insubordination is the fruit of what spirit? “The spirit of murmuring against reproof has been taking root and is bearing its fruit of insubordination.”—Ib. 7. How does a child learn to rebel against reproof? “The sin of parental neglect stands marked against many Sabbath-keeping parents. The spirit of gossip and tale-bearing is one of Satan's special agencies to sow discord and strife, to separate friends. . . . Brethren and sisters are too ready to talk of the faults and errors that they think exist in others, and especially in those who have borne unflinchingly the messages of reproof and warning given them of God.”—Id., pages 194, 195. 8. Is it ever necessary to reprove? “It will be necessary to reprove and exhort, and some will need to be rebuked sharply, as the case may demand.”—Id., Vol. III, page 360. 9. How is reproof received by some? “We hear the plea, ‘Oh, I am so sensitive, I cannot bear the least reflection!’ If these persons would state the case correctly, they would say, ‘I am so self-willed, so self-sufficient, so proud-spirited, that I will not be dictated to; I will not be reproved. I claim the right of individual judgment; I have a right to believe and talk as I please.’”—Ib. 10. What effect does this talk have upon the children? “The children of these complainers listen with open ears, and receive the poison of disaffection.”—Id., Vol. IV, page 195. 11. What are parents thus doing? “Parents are thus blindly closing the avenues through which the hearts of the children might be reached.”—Ib. 12. What do children not fail to hear? “The children have not failed to hear the disrespectful remarks of their parents in reference to the solemn reproofs and warnings of God's servants. They have understood the scornful jests and depreciatory speeches that from time to time have met their ears, and the tendency has been to bring sacred and eternal interests, in their minds, on a level with the common affairs of the world.”—Ib. 13. What are parents thus doing? “What a work are these parents doing in making infidels of their children even in their childhood!—Ib. 14. What, then, has parental example to do with insubordination? “This is the way that children are taught to be irreverent, and to rebel against Heaven's reproof of sin. . . . These very fathers and mothers . . . wonder that it is so difficult to reach them by moral and religious influences. . . . This deplorable condition of things is the result of their own home influence.”—Id., pages 195, 196.