Basic HTML Version
nities to grow
in
godly character
tha t will fit and prepare us for eter–
nallife in the family ofGod.
The greatest microcosm of the
Kingdom of God is the fami ly unit.
God is our Father. Jesus calls us
brethren- His own brothers (Heb.
2: 12). We are God's children (1
John 3: 1-2). God is concerned with
the family unit. He is using it in His
great plan to bring human beings
into the family ofGod.
But, tragically, too many are ne–
glecting their families today. Too
many are failing to grow in charac–
ter and use their experiences in the
human family to prepare them for
eternity, with immortality and glory,
sharing the activities of God for–
ever.
Today society has made such in–
roads against the family that not
only is divorce a rampant curse, but
many never even bother with mar–
riage in the first place. Living in sin
is in style today. "According to the
U.S. Census Bureau, sorne 1.3 mil–
lion American adults share 660,000
two-person households with an
un–
related
adult of the opposite sex–
double the number in 1970"
(The
National Observer,
May 30, 1977).
One million runaways in the
United States is a story all by itself.
Apparently their family environ–
ment was so absolutely intolerable
that they couldn't stand ita moment
longer. The second highest cause of
death for 18-year-olds is suicide.
Many young and middle-aged
parents have abandoned important
moral values. They teach their ch il–
dren virtually nothing, letting them
fend for themselves.
So why blame the Bible for the
disintegration of the fami ly unit? lf
the Western world had followed its
teaching, civilization wouldn't be
witnessing the collapse of the family
on such a grand scale.
The True Blbllcal Message
Three
of the Ten Commandments
were given for the protection of the
family u
ni
t. Half of the last six com–
mandments, which embody the
principie of the golden rule, are
family oriented. The spirit of the
fifth commandment is expounded in
the New Testament: "Children,
obey your parents in the Lord, for
this is right. Honor your father and
10
mother (which is the first command–
ment with a promise), that it may be
well with you, and that you may live
long on the earth. And, fa thers, do
not provoke your children to anger;
but bring them up in the discipline
and instruction
of the Lord" (Eph.
6: 1-4, NASB).
A very vital part of that instruc–
tion ought to be teaching about
family roots. Chi ldren should know
something about their immediate
ances tors a nd thei r present ex–
tended family of uncles, aunts and
cousins, etc. Nearly two full chap–
ters in the New Testament are taken
up with the lineage of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth. No small portian of the
OId Testament is comprised of fam–
ily genealogies. Early patriarchal
marriages were contracted
in
order
to maintain and preserve the roots
of a specific family.
Noted marriage cou nselor David
R. Mace, in his book about Jewish
family life, said: "The family unit
itself withstood the shock, and the
ideal itself was preserved. It sur–
vived the upheavals of monarchy.
lt
survived the disruption of the exile.
It survived the final disintegration
of the Jewish race as a national
community. And it has made pos–
sible the preservation of the sepa–
rate identity of the Jew throughout
all the vicissitudes of his tem–
pestuous experience, which is one of
the miracles of history"
(Hebrew
Marriage,
p. 75). The Jewish people
have always been conscious of the
necessity of mainta ining a strong
family bond! They generally still
marry other Jews. They a re very at–
tentive to preservi ng knowledge
about great-grandparents, grand–
parents, and the whole extended
family of aunts, uncles and cousins.
Even in the family of Jesus Christ,
at least two of His half brothers
were converted and later inducted
into the ministry. Throughout his–
tory God has often worked through
families. Among Chris t's twe lve
leading disciples, James and John,
Peter and Andrew were brothers.
The Restitution of Famlly Llfe
Civilizat ion is waiting for the resto–
ration of our bornes and families.
One major accomplishment of that
Work which is to pave the way for
the second coming of Jesus Christ
will be to " turn the heart of the
fathers to the children, and the
heart of the children to t he i r
fathers" (Mal. 4:6).
One of the most important as–
pects of the message of this maga–
zine,
The Plain Truth,
must be to
announce the
restoration
of the
fam–
i/y structure
to this earth. Our Work
must be in the forefront of turning
parents back to their children and
children to their parents; of seeing
that the very strongest of family ties
are maintained, or, where broken,
are healed.
As my father has said to me and
written so many times, we (he and 1)
must be as close together as are Jesus
and His own Father in heaven. We
have human examples in the biblical
record of
el
ose, affec tionate bonds in
Abraham and his son, David and
Jonathan, Jesus and John, and others.
And all of us in Christ's family (of
whom He is the older brother) should
as brothers and sisterswith a common
Father in heaven draw closer and
closer together!
Amold Toynbee, one of the most
famous of our modern historians,
knew that humankind must learn to
live together as one family if we a re
to survive. He wrote: "I believe that ,
if mankind cannot now bring itself
at last to live as one family, the
penalty, in our new situation, must
be genocide sooner or later. And l
wish, with all of my heart, that the
human race may survive, because 1
be lieve that man has been given the
capaci ty to see God, and I believe
that this is the
summum bonum
[the
chief good] toward which all cre–
ation groans and travails" (A
Study
ofHistory,
vol. 12, p. 620).
What did the people of God do
when they saw that the very survival
of civilization itself was threatened
by the breakdown of the family and
the onslaught of a host of other ter–
rible evi ls?
"Then they that feared the Lord
spake often one to another:
and the
Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a
book of remembrance was written
befare him for them that feared the
Lord, and that thought upon his
name. And they shall be mine, saith
the Lord of hosts, in that day when 1
make up my jewels; and l will spare
them, as a man spareth his own son
(Continued on page 44)
The
PLAIN TRUTH June/July 1978