Do you ever wonder why some people are turned off by the Bible and even churches?

The Bible is full of laws that is hard to live up too. The Old Testament is more legalistic than the New Testament. Rules and regulations can trip a person up.

The Flagellants were known for their public displays of self-flagellation that they used as a form of penance as well as a way to demonstrate their devotion to God. They would often march in processions, chanting prayers and singing religious songs, while flogging themselves with whips.

You may wonder why they felt the need to do that. They felt unworthy.

The Old Testament is full of laws that most are not practiced in the church much anymore; thanks to what Jesus had done for us. This is why most Christians follows the New Testament over the Old Testament.

When Jesus was walking on earth, the Pharisees attacked Him because they felt that He was breaking the laws of Moses. They crucified Jesus because of it. Jesus wasn’t about legalism but rather about forgiveness and grace.

As Jesus was attacked by the Pharisees for not upholding the laws of Moses in the Old Testament; Donald Trump was/is attack for not upholding the laws of Washington D.C. He was a rule breaker much like Jesus was in His days.

This isn’t about that though; but rather Ephesians 6:1-9. This passage in the Bible is one of the hardest for me to swallow when I first came to accept the Lord. I will go through those verses and hopefully explain the difficulty. I then hopefully will explain the picture of my folks at the top, and how I finally came to understand those verses.

In Ephesians 6:1, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” 6:2, “Honor your father and mother-which is the first commandment with a promise.” 6:4, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”

Most people who haven’t been raised in a dysfunctional household doesn’t understand why it’s hard for those who had been raised in a dysfunctional household. They haven’t lived the abuse. There’s a fine line between discipline and abuse that some parents have overstepped. It’s hard to honor your parents in that situation. It’s hard to honor your real father when he abandoned you as a child or was never there for you emotionally.

Those who were raised in that situation, sees God as an authoritative. They sees God as controlling and abusive. They don’t see Him as a loving God. This is why there are some who feels that they have to whip themselves into submission. They don’t trust themselves and God; because they lack trust of their parents.

That mistrust leads to lack of trust to others as well. It doesn’t matter what abuse you went through, physical, sexual, mental, and emotional. You can get all the counseling but it takes years to actually recover and eventually learn to trust again.

If you tell one of your parents that you need to let go of the dysfunctional family. They don’t understand why and is hurt. They’ll even say that all family is a little dysfunctional.

If you tell someone who haven’t lived through what you went through, they don’t understand why you want to divorce your parents or family. They will just say, “you’ll regret it.”

Ephesians 6:5, “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.”

This isn’t necessarily just slaves but employees as well.

Ephesians 6:9, “And master, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.”

Yet there are bosses who treats their employees as slaves. Then they wonder why the employees have an attitude, and why they cannot keep help.

Those who were raised in an abusive family already has a lack of trust of those in authority; and it carried on into adulthood and the workforce.

They also don’t trust the government and God, because of the abuse they went through as a child.

You can say that I’m speaking from experiences.

This is one of the reason that keeps some away from church as well as reading their Bible.

Now to explain the picture of my folks at the top of this blog. They may be gone now. It was hard for me to honor them somedays. Now that they are passed away, I have to admit that I missed them. That picture was taken when they were married 25 years; and they were married 40 years before my mother had passed away first.

Since my parents are no longer with me, I can come to finally understand Ephesians 6:1-9. My parents weren’t perfect. Because of what I went through, I can come to understand the importance of raising up your children right. By raising them right, they eventually return to that teaching.

Kids today are not properly taught respect like I was. Because of that, look at the world we live in today.

I miss my parents now and I love them; despite of the abuse. At least dad was there more for me than my real father.

If you are anything like me and found it very difficult to comprehend Ephesians 6:1-9, I hope that this blog will help you deal with any issues you may have. I hope that I didn’t come across as being preachy. I just want you to understand that there is hope. You don’t have to live in the past of the pain. Take it from someone who lived it.