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Garner Ted Armstrong
SPIAKS OUT!
Our
Family Life Stinks!
S
omething sinister is happening
to the insti tution of the family
and the home in the United
States and throughout the Western
world . The traditional structure of
the family - the basic bui lding
block of a strong society - is being
systematically destroyed! And we'd
better wake up to the con–
sequences!
The watchwords of the American
home used to be terms such as
permanence, stability, security.
Father was the head of the home,
the breadwinner, the wage earner.
Mother was at home caring for the
children and managing the house
- and happy and proud of her role.
But rn this day of women's " liber–
ation " and changing sex roles,
father , frequently, no longer as–
sumes his dominan! posi tion, one
upon whom the other family mem–
bers depend. Mother, in addi tion,
has left the home to seek "fulfill–
ment" through a job of her own .
" But what's wrong with that?"
many ask. "What difference does it
make?Who's getting hurt?"
Who's getting hurt? The children
are . The parents of future genera–
tions are. Look what's happening.
Preschoolers often grow up without
the vital parental contact, guidance
and example so critica! in those
early formative years. School-aged
children , returning to an empty
house alter school, are left lo their
own devices. The result is some–
trmes shocking.
Not long ago an appalling story
appeared in the Los Angeles
Times
44
which revealed that an estimated
30,000 children - primari ly boys,
ages six to 17 - in the Los Angeles
area are being sexually abused by
the thousands of " gay" perverts
with which the city teems.
An investigation by the Los An–
geles Police Department revealed
that in nearly every inslance, these
victimized kids carne from a broken
or neglected home, a home in
which no strong father figure was
present, or a home where mom was
at work, or where the parents had
abandoned their parental responsi–
bilities. Many of these youngsters,
the report showed , are simply
starved for a little affection. And so
they fall easy prey lo the seduction
of homosexual deviates who ply the
streets of L.A. looking for sorne sex–
ual titillation while offering " love " to
their vict ims.
Those children fortunate enough
to avoid being victimized in such
manner may instead become in–
volved in juvenile crime, which is on
the upswing nalionwide.
lllegitimacy is also a growing
threat to the family instilution. Na–
tionwide over 13% of all children
are born to unmarried women, who
- in 50% of the cases - are stil l
teenagers.
Nearly one mill ion leen–
agers become pregnant every year.
In fact,
it
was recently reported that
having babies out of wedlock is ac–
tually becoming a
status symbol
among teenage girls!
Skyrocketing divorce rates are
also assailing lhe family institution.
Couples are lhrowing in the towel
and calling il quits more than ever
before. One out of every three mar–
riages in the United States ulti–
mately ends in divorce. And again,
it's the children who suffer.
Talk with sorne of the police offi–
cers who have to deal with the con–
stant stream of juvenile offenders.
Ask the officers about lhe fami ly
backgrounds of these kids, and
they'll tell you about homes broken
by divorce, abusive or neglectful
parents, fathers who spend no time
with their children, mothers who are
rarely home.
Curiously, there are still those
who say nobody is gett ing hurt, that
the changes we' re seeing relative to
home and fami ly are
positive!
We in the United States and the
nations of the Western world are
bringing a
curse
upon ourselves. and
many are too blind to see it. lf we
don ' t change our ways, turn around
and halt the disintegration of the
building blocks of family and home,
then the entire structure of our so–
ciety wil l come crashing down.
Many of the samemistakes that led
to the ultimate collapse of the once–
mighty Roman Empi re are being re–
peated in America, Britain, and other
Western nations. The disintegration
of the home is only one
ot
many
factors speeding us along the same
path . Write for our free booklet
The
Modern Romans
fo r a com–
prehensive look at what líes in store
- if we don't change our ways.
o
COMING NEXT ISSUE
.. .
A PEOPLE WHO
"CAN'T AFFORD"
TO TITHE
This article will discuss the biblical
principie of tithing and the dra–
matic, bountiful blessings that ac–
crue to the faithful tithe payer.
In the meantime, why not wr ite for
our free booklet entitled TITHING?
lt offers an informative, in-depth
look at a practice that remains as
vitally importan! today as it was in
biblical times. Thousands of people
have found that tithing is the best
investment they ever made. (Piease
use the literature req uest coupon
on the back cover.)
The
PLAIN TRUTH February 1977