Ron Cosby
After creation, the first act by the Father was to institute and establish the home. Family is not just part of a commercial for the American way of life, it far surpasses baseball and apple pie. It is the foundation of any society, including America, though you would not know it by the way society has sought to dissolve God’s view of home. For a society to be blessed, the nation must obey God’s law regarding the family.
Attempts To Destroy The Home
Materialists, atheists, communists, humanists, and feminists have their theories on marriage, family, and the home. Their agenda ought to alarm us. The few quotes that I am about to place before you express the heart and soul of a variety of philosophies that carry great influence in America.
Feminists blame the home as the reason for their supposed oppression and lack of worth. To their way of thinking, if they can destroy the family they can establish their own good. Linda Gordon said,
The nuclear family must be destroyed, and people must find better ways of living together… Families have supported oppression by separating people into small, isolated units, unable to join together to fight for common interests… (“Functions of the Family,” Women: A Journal of Liberation, Fall, 1969).
Feminist Roxanne Dunbar encourages women to leave their husbands, saying, “How will the family unit be destroyed?… [W]omen can begin establishing a community of work with each other and we can fight collectively. Women will feel freer to leave their husbands…”
This materialist way of life has sent more women to the divorce courts, seeking freedom. Robert Hughes, Jr., PhD, Former Professor, Department of Human Development & Family Studies, College of Human Environmental Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia, said,
The divorce rate in the United States has generally been going up throughout the 20th century until its peak in the late 1970s. The rate of divorce has been slowly declining since that peak. In the most recent data, there were about 20 divorces for every 1,000 women over the age of 15. This number is down from about 23 divorces per 1,000 women in 1978, but it is still significantly greater than the rate of divorce during the 1950s. At that time, the rate of divorce was about 5 per 1,000 women (www.missourifamilies.org/quick/divorceqa/divorceqa3.htm)
Some may think that the quoted statistics refute our assertion that modern philosophies have aided the breakup of the home. However, we need to hear Dr. Hughes tell us the reason for the lower divorce rate. Among the reasons, he says, “A variety of factors are producing the current leveling off of the divorce rate… more young people are cohabiting rather than getting married. The breakup of this kind of relationship does not get recorded as a divorce.” It sounds to me like the philosophers have gotten their message across.
Of course, husbands are not helping much. Without the bond of love and the moral constraint of God’s Word, they are chasing their neighbor’s wives just as Israel of old. They are fulfilling the Humanist’s view of society. Humanists attack a God-like society. The paper that expresses their core belief, Humanist Manifesto II, says,
In the area of sexuality, we believe that intolerant attitudes, often cultivated by orthodox religions and puritanical cultures, unduly repress sexual conduct. The right to birth control, abortion, and divorce should be recognized. While we do not approve of exploitative, denigrating forms of sexual expression, neither do we wish to prohibit, by law or social sanction, sexual behavior between consenting adults. The many varieties of sexual exploration should not in themselves be considered evil… Moral education for children and adults is an important way of developing awareness and sexual maturity.
Though I have given only a few of the thousands of quotes, they are enough to establish the agenda of those that would do harm to a godly way of life. Children and society pay the price for this ungodliness.
The Home As God Would Have It
Contrary to the popular thinking of many, marriage is of divine origin. God decided, planned and established the home (Gen. 2:18-25; Matt. 19:3- 9). Since God is the Creator and since He knows the core needs of His creation, our happiness depends on following His plan. If you leave His prescribed purpose and design for a happy life, you will get hurt. Pain will follow. It is amazing how many people blame God for their pain, when they bring it upon themselves.
God’s plan for marriage was to be monogamous in its character (Gen. 2:18-24; Matt. 19:4-5). Lamech was the first man to decide God did not know what He was talking about. He was the first polygamist (Gen. 4:19). The Patriarchs found out the trouble that polygamy can cause.
Abraham hurt Sarah and Hagar when he practiced the customs of men (Gen. 16). His grandson Jacob fared no better when he married two sisters, Leah and Rachel (Gen. 29:30-30:24). Did God want polygamy? No. However, He allowed it because things could have gotten even worse (Matt. 19).
Sex is not wrong. Sex outside of the bounds established by God is wrong (Heb. 13:4). Marriage is intimate in its relationship. The man and woman were/are to cleave one to the other (Gen. 2). Jehovah placed the sexual urge in the human personality. Throughout human history it has been recognized as one of the strongest drives known to man. However, God made provision for it to be enjoyed in one relationship and one only–marriage (1 Cor. 7:2-8; Heb. 13:4).
Though the laws of man allow divorce, marriage is permanent in its duration (Rom. 7:2-3; 1 Cor. 7:10-11, 39). Heed Jesus’ warning (Matt. 19:5, 6). “Asunder” is from an original word which means “to be of no value, not to matter, to have no meaning.” A North Dakota judge addressing a young couple who sought a divorce, said, “According to the laws of this state I must declare you free from the bonds of marriage, but I remind you that probably on the books of Almighty God you are still husband and wife” (4SGN, Keys, #10).
Why is society in such sordid moral shape? Its foundation—the home—has crumbled and the superstructure is fast being destroyed.
