Posts by Beth

The family is very important in God’s economy. In the Bible He frequently identifies people by their family (Numbers 26). He often shows concern for a family name to be continued (Numbers 27:4-8). Sometimes He rewarded or punished a whole family because of their sin (1 Chronicles 13:14; Jeremiah 8:3).

The demise of the family seems to be spiraling downward as the roles of Mom and Dad are compromised by the culture we live in. Even the understanding of the two becoming one is lost on a generation where some couples keep separate bank accounts and where some split their bills by percentages. Sadly, there are kids who know the day of the week by whose home they are spending the night in — Mom’s or Dad’s.

There are many outside influences that are affecting the family structure. Surely public school teaching that there are multiple genders, men can have babies, and even “chest feed” them is adding to the demise of the family.

But, today I heard a homeschool mom saying that there are boys so addicted to video games that they are pretty useless at anything else. These are homeschooled children so we can’t blame the public school. The family has failed these boys.

Biblically, being a mother and father is a big responsibility. The Lord teaches that fathers are not to exasperate their children (Ephesians 6:4) and that parents are to teach their children God’s commands, including that they are to love the Lord God with all their hearts, souls, minds, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5-8).

Deuteronomy 6:1-2 instruct the parents in Israel like this; “Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the LORD your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.”

The rest of the chapter goes on to explain in more detail how they should fear the Lord as an example so that when their sons ask the question about the meaning of these commandments and statues they could answer them, pointing them to God’s faithfulness (Deuteronomy 6:20-25). That generation will then have the answer for the next generation.

R.J. Rushdoony (Law and Liberty, page 100) points out that the family is a child’s first school and first government. It is also where they experience their first job and first community. It is where they learn to live in the fear of the Lord or the love of the world. That is a lot of responsibility for parents but also for all of those in the “community” a child first experiences.

In His grace, God has left us His Word to teach us so that we can use it to teach the next generation. If your son (or your neighbor or a child in your church or anyone else) asked you (from Deuteronomy 6:20), “What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?” how would you answer?

Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. Colossians 4:6