I. Reasons for this commandment. The parents have been instrumental in giving their children existence.
Children are naturally dependent upon their parents.
Their parents love and protect them, and provide for them. Their parents are their natural instructors and guides. Their own well being demands that they should honor their parents, because it is in accordance with the laws of their being, and with the great law of gratitude. The virtue, and of course the happiness of society, requires that children honor their parents. The good of the world demands that children honor their parents.