It may be time to re-focus on the family




The institution of the family won’t die. Or will it? Does this brave new world that our culture is intent on constructing have room for a family with one man, one woman and with children in the equation? Or is this too traditional, too stilted, too restrictive, too non-inclusive, too 20th century for the revolutionaries who are driving the agenda toward the family’s end?

God forbid that His order become our disorder; that His plan for, dare I say it, our flourishing, become Satan’s plan for our destruction.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist; a Chicken Little who believes the sky is falling. I know that God is in control; I know there is an end to this earth; but it is in God’s good timing, and I am at peace with His will being done. But that doesn’t mean that we should ignore the warning signs of trouble ahead and of trouble at hand.

Question is, what do we do about it?

Promote and model healthy family living. Our neighbors need to see the way it should be, in contrast to the way it is. That’s why enclaves of Reformedness need to be seen, not hidden from the rest of the culture. The family is a bedrock institution, launched at the beginning, one man, one woman, in unity functioning together for God’s glory and for creation’s stability, raising children to praise the Lord.

It’s no wonder that the devil has been doing his utmost to destroy the family. He couldn’t get to Jesus Christ, but he will attack with all his might the seed of Abraham.

A book by George C. Scipione called The Battle for the Biblical Family was recently released (2nd Edition) by Crown & Covenant. If ever there is a book in need of reprinting at this time, it may be this one.

At the end of Chapter 1 he describes the family as “a reflection of the very reality and nature of God.” That’s an enormous responsibility for anyone entering marriage. And that is also why compromising or redefining the nature of marriage is a direct attack on the norm that God has set for the family, and making gender choice acceptable and normal, is in the same category.

State laws that effectively shut down a 95 year old Catholic Foster Care and Adoption agency in Buffalo, New York is just another example of the battle lines being drawn. When compromise is not possible then capitulation or closure become the options. Some choose capitulation. A recent tweet by a Member of the Liberal ruling government in Canada shared the news that a Reformed church checked off the box declaring its support for the government’s stance on abortion, allowing it to accept funds for a summer jobs program.

When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do? Hope in the Lord.
The Soviet Union did its utmost under Communism to destroy the family. It did not succeed. But North American culture is doing it in other ways that are more subtle yet are incredibly corrosive.

The family will not fail, but the attacks are real, they are increasing, and it’s on our watch.

John Van Dyk, Editor

Christian Renewal Magazine

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