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PASTOR'S REPORT, June 25, 1979
Page 14
Ar.other major itern is the reinstaternent, at least partially, of the national
level programs. We have our fourth National Tr�ck and Field meet scheduled
for Big Sandy on July 24 and 25th. We hope to be able, in a short time,
to reinstate the whole national level program. (Our thanks to Mr. Bicket
and Mr. Rader for their support and financial approval of the track meet.)
With all these things happening and with S.E.P. in full swing with about
300 in attendance, it appears Y.o.u. is ready to move ahead once again.
Thank you all for your patience and continued support.
--Mike Blackwell, Y.o.u.
ON THE WORLD SCENE
While being engaged in a PLAIN TRUTH assignment overseas, I've asked my
long-time associate, Don Schroeder, to submit the following "change-of
pace" topic in my stead this week.
--Gene Hogberg
THE FR�CTUFED FAMILY:
Over thirty years ago, George Orwell wrote the
book, 1984, describing the horrors of a thought-controlled totalitarian
state.�er 100 ::if Orwell's 137 predictions about the future have already
come true. Some of these include the development of think tanks, de
foliants to strip the earth barren, helicopter gunships voice analyzers,
data banks, etc.
Orwell also predicted the breakup of the family and the dissolution of
emotional ties between men and women and their children.
Already only one U.S. household in three consists of parents and their
children (if we consider people living alone or apart from parents as a
household). An increasing number of homes are already one parent, and
they are growing much faster than two parent families.
One of the most perceptive articles on the alarming trends in the modern
family unit was written by Armand M. Nicholi II, faculty member of the
Harvard Medical School and on the staff of Massachusetts General Hospital.
He writes in Christianity Today, May 25, 1979: "Early family experience
determines our adult character structure, the inner picture we harbor of
ourselves, how we see others and feel about them, our concept of right and
wrong, our capacity to establish the close, warm, sustained relationships
necessqry to have a family of our own, our attitude toward authority and
toward the Ultimate Authority in our lives, and the way we attempt to make
sense out
our existence. No human interaction has greater impact on
our lives than our family experience."
Nicholi emphasizes, "What has been
emotional development of the child is a
tinuous relationship with both parents.
make this most difficult today."
shown to contribute most to the
close, warm, sustained, and con
Yet certain trends in our society
A_major fracturing element is the trend toward quick and easy divorce
/in some states, a "no-fault" divorce7 and the ever-increasing divorce
rate which subjects more and more children to physically and emotionally
absent parents. The divorce rate has risen 700% in this century and
continues to rise. Over a million children a year are involved in divorce
cases in the U.S. alone.