That is what I was asked a few weeks ago concerning parents going through a teenager’s stuff, like his room, computer, email, iPod, facebook, phone, etc. So, should parents be able to do that?
My answer in short is YES!
I know that’s not the answer that you might want to hear, but I think it’s the right one. Here are a few thoughts to consider.
- Your parents are your authority. You live in their house. They are in charge, and not you. Simply put, that’s the way God made things. He has given them the opportunity and responsibility of raising you and if they believe they need to go through something of yours, they can.
- Accountability to your parents is a good thing.We all need accountability. You can read more about that in this post from a few days ago. Personally, my wife knows every password to all of my stuff and she can check any of it at any time. This does make it hard to surprise her with something and ensure she doesn’t know it’s coming, but other than that, it is a great accountability.
- The stuff isn’t yours anyway…it’s Gods. I Corinthians 4:2 tells us that we are stewards, we are people that have been given things to take care of. All that we have is from the gracious hand of God, so when your parents go through your stuff, they’re not really checking out your stuff, they’re checking out God’s stuff that He has entrusted you with.
One objection I heard raised was this, “but if they go through my stuff, it shows that they don’t trust me.” To that I simply say that I understand what you are saying and want to agree, but then I look at my own heart and I read what the Bible says about all our hearts, that they are deceitful and desperately wicked. You say, when they look through my stuff that shows that my parents don’t trust me and I say, to some degree yes…and you shouldn’t trust you either.
Having said all this, I am not advocating that parents should always look through their teens stuff, but simply that they have the right and responsibility to do so from time to time.
