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ment." Couples live together in a ..
"marriage" which is not bound le-
.g
gally and which can be dissolved as
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quickly as it carne into being.
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For others, tbe "solo-parent" con-
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cept has appeal. Because unmarried
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mothers are not as often ostracized
·ª
by society, numerous young girls
j
have far less fear of the ''fatherless
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family."
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Anthropologist Margaret Mead
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summed up these modero trends:
"Students in rebellion, the young
people living in communes, unmar–
ried couples living together, call into
question the very meaning and
structure of the stable family unit as
our society has known it."
But while a vocal minority
searches for a successful alternative
to the family, others see grave dan–
ger in its abolition.
The Family: Basis of
Society
"The extinction of faith in the
familistic system," warns Harvard
Professor Emeritus Carie Zimmer–
man, "is identical with the move–
ments in Greece during the century
following the Peloponnesian Wars,
and in Rome from about A.D. 150.
In each case the change.in the faith
and belief in family systems was as–
sociated with .. . crises in the very
civilizations themselves."
History documents the vital role
which the family plays in preserving
a nation. Said Dr. Paul Popenoe,
founder of the American Institute of
Family Relations: "No society has
ever survived after its family life de–
teriorated."
Although down through history
the family has been challenged on
numerous occasions, it has always
survived. It is the oldest of human
institutions, and society after society
has proved it cannot be replaced
successfully.
To understand why no society has
been able to get along without mar–
riage, we need to ask how the family
began and why.
The only rational explanation for
this unique institution is given in the
ancient biblical record of the book
PLAIN TRUTH March 1974
DR. PAUL POPENOE. " No
society has ever survived
after its family lite deteri–
orated."
of Genesis. Here we fi.nd that mar–
riage was ordained by the Creator
himself to be the basic building
block of society.
God decreed that humans should
live together in the family relation–
ship, and he reveals that we were
made male and female for this very
purpose.
Jesus Christ referred to this divine
origin of marriage when he said,
"Have ye not read, that he which
made them at the beginning made
them male and female, and said,
For this cause shall a roan Ieave
father and mother, and shall cleave
to his wife: and they twain shall be
one fiesh?" (Matthew 19:4-5.)
Since marriage did not originate
from human experimentation, it
isn't the prerogative of humans to
determine whether it should con–
tinue as the basis of society.
It
is
precisely because God
decreed
the
institution of marriage that humans
have been unable to fi.nd a better
way!
Why the Family ls
lmportant
In recent years, there has been a
great deal of research into the role
of both father and mother in the
proper development of a child.
Writes Dr.
Louisa
Eickhoff,
consultant child psychiatrist at Selly
Oak Hospital, Birmingham,
England: "The stable borne back–
ground with its balanced parent–
complex is as vital as the placenta!
link in pregnancy. Without it the
child cannot prosper or profit, how–
ever good the available facilities."
(Education: Threatened Standards,
"The Primacy of the FamiJy.")
Can we begin to grasp that a
happy family is the very best pos–
sible environment for the devel–
opment of children? There simply is
no way in which father and mother
can be replaced if children are to be
balanced and well-adjusted.
Marriage is the basis of the borne,
and it enables meo and women to
share their lives and to rear children
in an atmosphere of security and
!ove.
It
ties two individuals together
in a manner that guarantees a stable
environment for offspring. Without
it, children could enter into loose
moral relationships and might suffer
insecurity for life.
Civilizations which have lost sight
of the importance of the family have
perished! So will ours if the family is
not preserved.
The Happy Family
To preserve the family, God set in
motion certain laws to regulate the
home. When these laws are broken,
an automatic penalty is exacted.
When they are obeyed, happiness
results. These laws, revealed in the
Bible, forro a protecting hedge
about our families so that they are
not toro apart in a world where
marriage is increasingly ridiculed
and right standards are scorned.
These laws governing marriage in–
volve the roles that God has or–
dained for husbands and wives.
Now see why movements which
threaten the future continuation of
the family relationship are so
wrong:
Women
need
to be emancipated
from the down-trodden, second–
class-citizen status which they have
long held
in
a materialistic-minded
world! But there are those
in
the
Women's Lib movement who do not
seek merely a rise in status for
women. Writes Arianne Stassino-
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