Father

Much of the response to the recent riots and looting of shops has had to do with the question of parenting. Calls for a new 'moral code' suggest that we need to return to the strictures of the Ten Commandments, and in particular the fifth, which adjures us to 'honour thy father and mother'. But it is surely unlikely, as the text then suggests that if we do so, our 'days shall be long in the land.' Why should respect for parents increase our longevity? It is considered by some that the commandment may not refer to parents at all. What if the intention was to advise people to honour 'father' as our spiritual nature and 'mother' as our physical nature? It makes a lot more sense to think that if we nurture ourselves spiritually and physically, then we are more likely to have a satisfactory and constructive, even long, life. Of course it is important to honour our parents, although there are cases in which a child would do well to avoid the example set by a brutal father. Jesus' reference to  his 'Father in Heaven' assumes a concept of father hood of the highest quality. But is Jesus referring to 'the Father' being that spiritual level of reality - the universal fundamental loving energy (God) - which seeks to penetrate and influence our temporal world?  Understood like that helps make for a betterr meaning of all references to 'Father' in the New Testament., and certainly illuminates the meaning of the fifth commandment. They don't, presumably, riot in heaven !.