Honoring Our Elderly Parents

In his commentary on the Westminster Larger Catechism Chuck Baynard makes the following remark in his discussion of the 5th commandment's call to honor our parents:

Proper understanding and application of this commandment will empty the nursing homes, retirement communities, and other places of storage man has developed for his parents. Rather than completing their golden years in peace and harmony sharing the lessons they have learned from life, we find our senior members so much rubbish, to be properly stored until it can be disposed of...

This is not to say that there are no need for these facilities and that some need a level of care that cannot be given in the home. Though I think man plays that card too easily and too soon in the life of too many elderly parents. I think the industry of elder care flourishes because of material considerations, not the ability of the children to honor their parents. For example it costs several thousand dollars per month to keep parents in such places. If this money came from the pockets of the children, I think they would accept the "burden" of caring for their parents at home. In most cases it does not, the children remove all assets from the name and control of the parents so they are truly destitute and then the government pays most or all of the costs for the storage of these unwanted parents. Another instance of civil government and society standing opposed to the word of God. The sin is ours, and we must own it as such, repent of it, and take care of the elderly in our midst, or else we as a nation will continue down this slippery slope into the very pit of hell.