Listen to Your Parents

Today I read Numbers 36, the last chapter in the book of Numbers.  This chapter has to do with inheritance again, specifically the inheritance of daughters and whether or not it can move from tribe to tribe.  Since inheritance can be inherited by daughters, that caused some concern among the Israelites because that would mean that if they married someone out of their own tribe, then the inheritance would move with them.  The Lord's answer was simple that if such is the case, they are only to marry within their own tribe.

As I was reading this, I couldn't help but wonder how many times this created a problem.  Visions of Romeo and Juliet flashed through my head.  Every sob story of a princess in love with a commoner, you name it.  I don't really think it was a huge issue however since I think the Israelites were doing arranged marriages at the time.  I could be wrong about that, but I'm pretty sure they were.  Marrying for love is a relatively new concept for the world, only a couple of hundred years old. 

The other thought I had about all this was that it is very similar to Latter-day Saints.  We are not forced to marry another Latter-day Saint per se, but we are urged to set a goal of being married in the temple, which would require us to marry another Latter-day Saint.  As such, it is a lot easier on young people if they only date those who are also Latter-day Saints.  It can hopefully save some heartache too.  Dating those with different values can be hard when they want to have sex or go to parties or dance clubs.  If you set your standards high and go out with only Latter-day Saint, those issues are minimized quite a bit.  I'm not niave enough to think that there will be no issues with it because humans are humans.  Sex is natural and a very powerful urge, even for those with the best intentions.  However, if you are dating someone who also wants to wait to have sex, the likelyhood of you both waiting is much better. 

Children and teenagers can be quite headstrong and don't always listen to their parents.  This is sad because if they did it could potentially save them a lot of problems and heartache.  They just want what is best for their children just like Heavenly Father wants what is best for all of us.  If we will set our wills aside and will follow His instead, we will be much better off.  Until tomorrow.