Neglected Training by O. B. Kuhn

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 5, 1911

Neglected Training

By O. B. Kuhn

O. B. KUHN

“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.”—“Patriarchs and Prophets,” page 308.

“The fifth commandment requires children not only to yield respect, submission, and obedience to their parents, but . . . it also enjoins respect for ministers and rulers, and for all others to whom God has delegated authority.”—Ib.

“Even after they are of age, children are required to respect their parents, and to look after their comfort. They should listen to the counsel of godly parents, and not feel that because a few more years are added to their life, they have grown out of their duty to them.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. I, page 217.

“Heaven has placed a fearful responsibility upon parents.” Children must be taught that they are not their own, for they are bought with a price, and that “every physical and mental capability should be carefully preserved, and put to the best and highest use, to advance the glory of God.”—Id., Vol. V, page 115.

“Religion lays the soul under the greatest obligation to her claims, to walk by her principles. . . . The claims of religion point to the glory of God. You are bound, by your baptismal vows, to honor your Creator, and to resolutely deny self and crucify your affections and lusts, and bring even your thoughts into obedience to the will of Christ.” “Religion should dictate and guide you in all your pursuits, and should hold absolute control over your affections.”—Id., Vol. III, pages 45, 47.

If children are thus taught to have an eye single to the glory of God, they will not, when they enter the years of manhood and womanhood, suffer love-sick sentimentalism so to blind their vision that they can not discern the high claims God has upon them as Christians. No motive will be sufficient to move them from the straight line of duty; they will be loyal and true to God. The pleadings of affection and love, the yearnings of friendship, will not move them aside from truth and duty. They will not sacrifice duty to inclination. See “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. III, pages 44, 45.

It is neglect of such training and teaching that permits Satan to weave “his meshes about them in unwise attachments and poor marriages.”—Id., Vol. V, page 114. “They see no danger, and do not guard against his devices. He prompts them to fasten their affections upon one another without seeking wisdom of God, or of those whom he has sent to warn, reprove, and counsel.”—Id., Vol. V, page 106. Satan sees

that this is the most successful way to “allure them from the path of holiness.”—Id., Vol. V, page 115. “The minds of the youth run in this channel because Satan leads them there, making them believe that they must be married in order to be happy, when they have not the ability to control themselves or support a family. . . . This is one of the alluring snares of the last days, in which thousands are ruined for this life and the next.”—Id., Vol. V, page 123.

“Most of that which the youth of today term love is only blind impulse,”—unsanctified passion,—“which originates with Satan to compass their destruction.”—Id., Vol. V, page 109. “Imagination, love-sick sentimentalism, should be guarded against as would be the leprosy.”—Id., Vol. V, page 123.

“There are men . . . whose lives God would accept and make full of usefulness on earth and of glory in heaven, but Satan is working persistently to defeat his purposes, and drag them down to perdition by marriage with those whose character is such that they throw themselves directly across the road to life.”—Id., Vol. V, page 124. “There are many of the young whom God would accept as laborers in the various branches of his work; but Satan steps in and so entangles them in his web that they become estranged from God and powerless in his work.”—Id., Vol. V, page 105. “Under this bewitching delusion the momentous responsibility felt by every sincere Christian is laid aside, spirituality dies, and the judgment and eternity lose their awful significance.”—Id., Vol. V, page 110.

“Unsanctified marriages are filling up the ranks of Sabbath-keepers.”—Id., Vol. V, page 122. “Anciently, children were not permitted to marry without the consent of their parents. . . . It was considered a crime for children to contract marriage upon their own responsibility.”—Id., Vol. I, page 218. Isaac accepted and loved the one chosen by the Lord through his delegated authority.

Disobedience to the fifth commandment is one of the special sins of the last days, and is a sign of the end.

If, in ancient Israel, this question was considered of so much importance, how much more significance and importance should be attached to it in these last days of God’s closing work! Should not the youth consult godly parents and the church before taking one step that would lead to a matrimonial alliance? If they are led by truth rather than error, they will obey their parents, and sacredly regard the voice of the church. See “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. V, pages 107, 108.

“The sincere Christian will make no plans that God can not approve.” Those of the youth who consecrate their “whole spirit and soul and body” to the work of God will never unite their interests with another in marriage unless the glory of God can be advanced thereby. Who is better fitted to choose life companions for the youth than those whose delegated authority makes them capable through the wisdom of God,—God-fearing parents?

“Pure and holy affection is not a feeling but a principle. Those who are actuated by true love are neither unreasonable nor blind. Taught by the Holy Spirit, they love God supremely.”—“Ministry of Healing,” pages 358, 359.