Episode 40 discusses three great modern threats to the family, the importance of pre-marital training, and the necessity of the human family to the survival of civilized society.

—
Transcript
—

13. Modern Threats to the Family

Divine and ideal pattern. The family is a divinely ordained institution. The divine and ideal pattern for the family was demonstrated on the earth by Adam and Eve. The ideal family begins with the marriage of one man and one woman-true monogamy-and their founding a home for the reception of children. The mother acknowledges the rule of the father, while the father acknowledges the equality of the mother, his dependence upon her, and her co-rulership in family affairs. They share in the parenting of their children, and the government of the family is ideally fraternal.

Co-ordinate function of the father and mother. In a well-run family the father and mother are co-ordinate, and function in their respective spheres. The growing children learn most of the essentials of life in the home and from their parents. Sons learn from their fathers the ways of a man while daughters likewise learn the feminine arts from their mother. The father is the head of the family and generally assumes responsibility for the leadership, protection, and provision of the family. The mother is the heart and center of the family and provides for the loving care and nurturing of the family, especially young children.

         Great modern threats to family. The greatest modern threat to the family is the rising tide of self-gratification, the modern pleasure mania. In the past the primary incentive for marriage was economic while in modern times personal choice and love are becoming the idealistic motive. A lasting marriage must be founded on something more stable and enduring than changeable emotion and mere sex attraction. It must be based on genuine and mutual personal devotion. However, all this is threatened by the Godless secularism and immorality of modern society, which leaves behind religious and moral values in a headlong pursuit of pleasure and self-gratification. Marriage instead of becoming a loyal partnership for rearing children accompanied by sexual fidelity is often viewed as only a means of pleasure. This modern pursuit of pleasure and self-gratification has indeed cost a fatal price if it bring about the collapse of marriage, the decadence of the family, and the destruction of the home. In the past this selfish viewpoint towards marriage based on the pleasure pursuit was generally held only by men while women struggled to hold the family together. In modern times even women are scumming to this destructive approach towards marriage.

         A second threat to the family. A second great threat to the family is the refusal of many modern women to bear children. In the ideals of modern marriage women have finally won recognition, dignity, independence, equality, and education. The great test of modern women is how will they to respond to these hard-won achievements of social liberation. Will they continue to bear the offspring which are humanity’s future, or will they indulge in idleness, indifference, barrenness, and infidelity. The future of humanity rests on the willingness of women to bear the sons and daughters who will make up the future of mankind. The security of civilization itself rests on the willingness of one generation to invest in the welfare of the next and future generations.

A third threat to the family. A third modern threat to the family, especially the children, arises from the fact that parents are so often out of the picture. A child learns most of the essentials of life in the home and from the parents. The family is the basic educational institution for the child. It is the basic channel through which the culture of the parents is passed to the present generation The absence of the parents deprives the child of the example, guidance, and discipline that is so necessary to the child’s full development. The child is not able to gain culture and learn how to properly respond to life’s varied situations by imitating parents. And because these children have lacked proper parental training, they are quite unprepared to assume the responsibilities of adulthood, and of marriage and the raising of children. Any attempt to replace home life, parental control, and discipline with governmental or religious schools would prove disastrous. Parents must be present in the home to insure the proper development of the child.

Modern insubordination. The fact that many homes lack the presence of one or both parents means that many children are raised in homes that fail to teach children moral and ethical reactions. Parents feel guilty because they realize on some level that they have failed to properly prepare their children for the demands of life. This lack of parental effort, guidance, and discipline often results in the parents protecting their children from the natural consequences of their behavior. It is this parental (and civilization’s) failure to allow and affirm the natural consequences of bad behavior to occur that contributes much to modern insubordination.

         The failure of modern marriage. Many marriages are unhappy, and many homes are dysfunctional. Thus, many marriages end in divorce and result in family break-up. This is very hard on all involved, especially the children who are adversely affected and carry the unhappy memory of this experience throughout their lives. The institution of marriage with accompanying family life is presently moving out of the economic and property stage into the personal era, and this is a positive development. However, these modern marriages based on personal choice and more idealistic values such as love are less stable than marriages of the past. Society must address this problem.

Pre-marital training. What can be done to stabilize modern marriage and family life? Perhaps the most important step is for society to develop pre-marital training. The youthful idealization of marriage is good thing, but it should be tempered with an understanding of the basic requirements for a successful marriage. Men and women need be taught the practical and common place realities of marriage and family life. They must realize that marriage with resultant family life entails a lifelong partnership of unselfish devotion to one’s spouse, and moral responsibility for the proper care and raising of their children. Parents must understand that in modern times children, which used to be an economic advantage, are now an economic burden. Bringing a child into the world instead of conferring certain parental rights entails the supreme responsibility of human existence.

Social importance of the family to the continuation of civilization. Society itself is really the aggregation of family units. Individual lives are quite fleeting as planetary factors. Only families are continuing factors in social evolution. The family is the channel through which the river of culture and knowledge flows from one generation to another. Marriage and family lead directly to the founding and maintenance of the home which is the structural basis of society. The family institution is the only hope for the survival of humanity under the mores of civilization.

Conclusion. In spite of the significant modern threats to marriage, it remains our greatest hope for living a good and successful life, as well as a necessary condition for the survival of civilized society. To live as a child of God is to follow the way of Jesus and hold to the highest ideals of marriage and family life. It is to realize that family life is our ideal human estate and the worthy goal of all those who choose to live as loyal sons and daughters of God.

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download