According to the Bible, God himself ordained the family as the basic
building block of human society, because He deemed it "not good that man
should be alone" (Genesis 2:18).
That verse stands out starkly in the biblical creation narrative,
because as Scripture describes the successive days of the creation week,
the text punctuates each stage of creation with the words, "God saw
that it was good" (Genesis 1:4,10,12,18,21,25,
italics added). The goodness of creation emerges as the main theme of
Genesis 1, and the statement "God saw that it was good" is repeated
again and again, like the refrain after each stanza of a lengthy song.
Then finally, after the sixth day of creation, we're told with emphasis,
"God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good" (italics added).
But then Genesis 2:18 takes us back to the end of day six and reveals that just before God ended His creative work, just one thing was left that was "not good."
Every aspect of the entire universe was finished. Each galaxy, star,
planet, rock, grain of sand, and tiny molecule was in place. All the
species of living things had been created. Adam had already given "names
to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the
field" (v. 20). But there was still one glaring unfinished aspect of
creation: "For Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him" (v.
20). Adam was alone, and in need of a suitable mate. Therefore God's
final act of creation on day six — the crowning step that made
everything in the universe perfect - was accomplished by the forming of Eve from Adam's rib. Then "He brought her to the man" (Genesis 2:22).
By that act, God established the family for all time. The Genesis
narrative says, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and
be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (v. 24). Jesus
quoted that verse in Matthew 19:5
to underscore the sanctity and permanence of marriage as an
institution. The same verse is quoted practically every time two
believers are united in a Christian marriage ceremony. It is a reminder
that marriage and the family are ordained by God and therefore sacred in
His sight.
So it is no mere accident of history that family relationships have
always been the very nucleus of all human civilization. According to
Scripture, that is precisely the way God designed it to be. And
therefore, if the family crumbles as an institution, all of civilization
will ultimately crumble along with it.
Over the past few generations, we have seen that destructive process
taking place before our eyes. It seems contemporary secular society has
declared war on the family. Casual sex is expected. Divorce is epidemic.
Marriage itself is in decline, as multitudes of men and women have
decided it's preferable to live together without making a covenant or
formally constituting a family. Abortion is a worldwide plague. Juvenile
delinquency is rampant, and many parents have deliberately abandoned
their roles of authority in the family. On the other hand, child abuse
in many forms is escalating. Modern and postmodern philosophies have
attacked the traditional roles of men and women within the family.
Special interest groups and even government agencies seem bent on the
dissolution of the traditional family, advocating the normalization of
homosexuality, same-sex "marriage," and (in some cultures nowadays)
sterilization programs. Divorce has been made easy, tax laws penalize
marriage, and government welfare rewards childbirth outside of wedlock.
All those trends (and many more like them) are direct attacks on the
sanctity of the family.
These days whenever families are portrayed in films, television
dramas, or sitcoms, they are almost always caricatured as grossly
dysfunctional. Someone recently pointed out that the only television
"family" who regularly attend church together are "The Simpsons" — and
they are cartoon exaggerations deliberately saddled with the worst
imaginable traits, designed mainly to mock and malign both church and
family. It's no joke, though. A relentless parade of similarly
dysfunctional assortments of people assaults us on television and in the
movies. Hollywood has defined a broad new meaning for the word family.
Meanwhile, traditional nuclear families with a strong, reliable
father and a mother whose priorities are in the home have been banished
from popular culture, made to feel as if they were the caricature.
Although many Christian leaders have been passionately voicing
concerns about the dissolution of the family for decades, things have
grown steadily worse, not better, in society at large. Secular social
commentators have lately begun to claim that the traditional nuclear
family is no longer even "realistic." An article published not long ago
by the on-line magazine Salon said this: "The 'ideal' American
family — a father and a mother, bound to each other by legal marriage,
raising children bound to them by biology — is a stubborn relic, a
national symbol that has yet to be retired as threadbare and somewhat
unrealistic."¹ The nuclear family simply won't work in 21st-century
society, according to many of these self-styled "experts."
I know those voices are wrong, however, because I have
witnessed literally thousands of parents in our church who have put into
practice what the Bible teaches about the family, and they and their
families have been greatly blessed for it.
As society continues its mad quest to eliminate the family, and as
our whole culture therefore unravels more and more, it becomes more
important than ever for Christians to understand what the Bible teaches
about the family, and to put it into practice in our homes. It may well
be that the example we set before the world through strong homes and
healthy families will in the long run be one of the most powerful,
attractive, and living proofs that when the Bible speaks, it speaks with
the authority of the God who created us — and whose design for the
family is perfect.
No comments:
Post a Comment