{"id":27148,"date":"2016-07-15T00:10:17","date_gmt":"2016-07-15T05:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/?p=27148"},"modified":"2025-07-25T13:44:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T18:44:37","slug":"respect-is-a-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/respect-is-a-reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"Respect and Relationships"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Healthy family relationships are based on truth, which is established with trust and respect.\u00a0 But these values are being redefined and challenged by our culture.<\/h2>\n

Just in the last few years, the cultural definition of respect has altered drastically. It no longer means to highly regard or to honor someone or something, now it is just a general term that refers to praise or a simple \u2018pat on the back\u2019 and most of the time it is usually based on someone\u2019s personal opinion.
\nMany young adults today adhere to this different view of respect rather than choosing the values of the previous generation.\u00a0 Character qualities that were once considered against society have been questioned, redefined and are now culturally justified. \u00a0Values like – honoring older people and civil authority or being loyal to an employer or family traditions – have fallen away and have been replaced with an attitude of self-management.<\/p>\n

When I was a teen, my dad modeled high standards, respect for authority, and reminded me that discipline is part of loving.\u00a0 He often quoted 1 Corinthians 6:12, \u201cEverything may be permissible, but not everything is beneficial.\u201d <\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>I can\u2019t say I was the perfect teen, but I can say I had a wise dad who loved me and established in me a work ethic, and a caring spirit.<\/p>\n

Today, my father is the typical outdoors-man, with a special love for the land and watching things grow.\u00a0 He loves the smell of apple trees and berries on a summer\u2019s day, and the joy of teaching his grandchildren how to fish from a pond.\u00a0 He enjoys a simple life surrounded by God\u2019s creation, and takes pride in his everyday work.
\nMy sons are independent young adults, and I have caught myself quoting the same scripture verse to them.\u00a0 I have come to realize that just because something is lawful doesn\u2019t make it beneficial for us.\u00a0 Teens and young adults need to know that God allows us to have an individual choice.\u00a0\u00a0 Our choices will determine the values we instill in our relationships.<\/p>\n

Respect is a reflection of our choices, and should not be defined by our culture but by our relationships.<\/p>\n

\n

If you want to learn more about our culture and how to navigate in it, you might be interested in reading Josh’s book, The Beauty of Intolerance<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

*************************<\/p>\n

Written by Donna Linquist, a former staff member of Josh McDowell Ministry and currently an elementary teacher.\u00a0 She lives in the Dallas area with her family and enjoys all kinds of creative arts and crafts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Healthy family relationships are based on truth, which is established with trust and respect.\u00a0 But these values are being redefined and challenged by our culture. Just in the last few years, the cultural definition of respect has altered drastically. It no longer means to highly regard or to honor someone or something, now it is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23327,"featured_media":27222,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"How is respect defined? by our relationships or by our culture? Healthy relationships are based on truth, which is established with trust and respect.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[320,54,58,321],"translator":[],"blog-author":[78],"class_list":["post-27148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-relationships","tag-culture","tag-family","tag-relationships","tag-respect","blog-author-josh-mcdowell-ministry-team"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/607\/2016\/06\/blog_relationships_respect.jpg","meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23327"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92528,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27148\/revisions\/92528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27148"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/translator?post=27148"},{"taxonomy":"blog-author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog-author?post=27148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}