We Must Stand Firm Against Society’s Attacks on Marriage and Children
As followers of Jesus, we need to reclaim what the Bible teaches about family. This is because the biblical ideal of family has taken a hit in today’s culture. Therefore, we must counter this and celebrate the family.
Today’s secular society views marriage as optional, divorce as inevitable, and children as a burden. They decry the nuclear family as old fashioned and irrelevant, even draconian.
The popular notion of traditional marriage is that it represses women, shackles men, and may not even be in the children’s best interest.
This perspective is wrong, and we know it. We must stand against this twisted perception of God’s intention for us.
The Path Forward
We must encourage one another to listen to what the Almighty says and ignore what our culture says, even when they attack us for it—especially when they attack us.
As we do so, we can turn to our faith communities and churches. They must take a lead in championing this cause, to reclaim and celebrate the family as God’s preferred plan for his creation.
He made us male and female in his image, with a holy mandate to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:27-28). The safety and security of family is his provision to accomplish this.
Yet too many churches today fall short of meeting this desperate need to elevate and celebrate the family.
Instead, they push aside what Scripture says and what Jesus teaches to embrace a non-biblical understanding in the areas of marriage, families, and sexuality.
Instead, our spiritual teachers must remind us of God’s way and counter the world’s perversion of it.
Sex is reserved for marriage, children are our delight, and divorce isn’t an option except in cases of unfaithfulness. Our spiritual leaders need to elevate and celebrate the family.
Yet too many of our faith communities are reluctant to celebrate the family for fear of alienating those who fall outside it. They’ve been criticized for gearing their programming to the needs of families, but this doesn’t mean they should stop doing it.
Instead, they should also provide support for those without families—regardless of their situation or reason. This includes single parents and single adults, be it not-yet-married, widow and widower, divorced, and celibate.
Everyone has a place in God’s family, and we need to acknowledge and support them. We need to make room for all of God’s children in our faith communities.
The Truth about Family
As we celebrate the family, we acknowledge that no family is perfect—just as none of us are perfect.
Each family has an element of dysfunction in it, but only in a few cases is this extreme. In most all families its function far outweighs its dysfunction.
We need to acknowledge the good that families offer when they do it God’s way.
We need to celebrate the family, offering support, encouragement, and a safe place from a world that criticizes and wants to stop it.
The Next Steps
We can start by celebrating our own family.
Then encourage others with their families too.
Next, we should seek a faith community that supports our efforts to honor God through our family.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.
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