USA Today reported on December 28, 2012 of a new law in China, saying, “Beijing – visit your parents.  That’s an order.  So says China, whose national legislature on Friday amended its laws on the elderly to require that adult children visit their aging parents ‘often’ – or risk being sued by them.  The amendment does not specify how frequently such visits should occur… The move comes as reports abound of elderly parents being abandoned or ignored by their children… Three decades of market changes have accelerated the breakup of the traditional extended family in China.”

CNN reported on July 2, 2013, “On Tuesday Xinhua reported that a 77-year-old woman from Jiangsu City of Wuxi sued her daughter for neglecting her.  In the first case after the new law came into effect, the local court ruled that her daughter must visit twice a month and provide financial support.”

The rationale for the law is that about 25% of China’s elderly live in poverty (asiahealthcareblog).  It is thought that adult children should be helping their parents.

Regardless of what you think of China’s new law, shouldn’t children care for their parents?  Consider –

Proverbs 23:22, “Do not despise your mother when she is old.”

Matthew 15:5-6, “Whoever says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God’ – Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.”

Ephesians 6:2, “Honor your father and mother.”

1 Timothy 5:4, “If any widow has children or grandchildren, let them show piety at home and to repay their parents; for this is good and acceptable before God.”

1 Timothy 5:8, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

1 Timothy 5:16, “If any believing man or woman has widows, let them relieve them, and do not let the church be burdened, that it may relieve those who are really widows.”