FAMILIES: FULFILLMENT or FAILURE?
by Dougald Gander
According to the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, "the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state" (Art.16).
This declaration is not a quote from the Bible, but it has endorsement by Scriptural examples, the many God-fearing families and lineages described, including the family-life of our Lord during his formative years and His care for Mary even from the Cross.
Yet Jesus calls us to look beyond our natural families to the greater kinship found in Him among Christian people of every clan and nation. Our unity and love finds even greater strength in shared fellowship and worship than the best blood relationships could provide. This is not a rejection of the "natural law" of family life, but the fulfilment of it. Families grow ever stronger as the man and woman, the head and the heart of the family, grow together in deepening relationship and communion with God. This spiritual root flowers and fruits with the blessing of children who love (and "fear") the Lord.
However, there are other ways that society tries to "build" upon natural family ties. The increasing incidence of separation and divorce is an indication, not of families growing stronger but weaker according to the moral and spiritual vacuum prevalent in today's society. According to Jesus, God's law is harder and goes deeper than commonly believed in His time, or ours. This includes His observations about divorce and adultery (see Matt.5:17-31 etc.), which remain challenging for us today... we have not progressed in our collective understanding over 2000 years, but perhaps regressed.
If God is not recognized and entreated through prayer, church, Bible study and Christian fellowship, how can His design for family life be recognized and followed? Our natural family ties are good (by God's grace from creation) though designed for greater things in Christ. But alternatives are sought in false idols (or ideals) when Christ is absent.
Abortion is one radical "alternative" to natural family life which is being sold as an improvement. Active euthanasia is another, though not yet widespread (except in some "progressive" European countries). Since God is not recognized as the designer and guide of family life, and since the prerogative of life and death isn't recognized as His, man takes it upon himself to decide these things. Medical procedures and drugs have made the womb and the wheelchair vulnerable to quick and supposedly painless "solutions". Ethics becomes irrelevant when the heart of ethics, the personal Designer of love and law alike, is ignored.
Another "improvement" to the family these days is the noxious notion that any combination of human liaisons constitutes a family. At the recent Women's Conference in Bejing, China, the delegation from Canada was in the forefront unfortunately trying hard to introduce rights for any "sexual orientation", and such quills are advancing in Canadian legislation and courts (quietly, since most Canadians are opposed to this redefinition of family). A delegation to China from the European Union (EU) also tried to change the UN declaration above to read "families" instead of "family" in order to include alternative lifestyles. Their feminist agenda later ran the risk of contravening laws in several European countries, and when they were challenged (by Vatican participant Mary Ann Glendon) about their support at home, one EU delegate complained "Why did you have to bring all this out in the open?"
If the family is indeed the "fundamental group of society entitled to protection", then it is apparent that many irresponsible initiatives and innovations these days have the effect of undermining the family, thus weakening the foundation of society itself.
We have a greater-than-natural kinship in the kingdom of heaven, with one Father, one Lord. But without God's blessing our human relationships fail, falling far short of the full, transforming life of the Christian family.
According to the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, "the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state" (Art.16).
This declaration is not a quote from the Bible, but it has endorsement by Scriptural examples, the many God-fearing families and lineages described, including the family-life of our Lord during his formative years and His care for Mary even from the Cross.
Yet Jesus calls us to look beyond our natural families to the greater kinship found in Him among Christian people of every clan and nation. Our unity and love finds even greater strength in shared fellowship and worship than the best blood relationships could provide. This is not a rejection of the "natural law" of family life, but the fulfilment of it. Families grow ever stronger as the man and woman, the head and the heart of the family, grow together in deepening relationship and communion with God. This spiritual root flowers and fruits with the blessing of children who love (and "fear") the Lord.
However, there are other ways that society tries to "build" upon natural family ties. The increasing incidence of separation and divorce is an indication, not of families growing stronger but weaker according to the moral and spiritual vacuum prevalent in today's society. According to Jesus, God's law is harder and goes deeper than commonly believed in His time, or ours. This includes His observations about divorce and adultery (see Matt.5:17-31 etc.), which remain challenging for us today... we have not progressed in our collective understanding over 2000 years, but perhaps regressed.
If God is not recognized and entreated through prayer, church, Bible study and Christian fellowship, how can His design for family life be recognized and followed? Our natural family ties are good (by God's grace from creation) though designed for greater things in Christ. But alternatives are sought in false idols (or ideals) when Christ is absent.
Abortion is one radical "alternative" to natural family life which is being sold as an improvement. Active euthanasia is another, though not yet widespread (except in some "progressive" European countries). Since God is not recognized as the designer and guide of family life, and since the prerogative of life and death isn't recognized as His, man takes it upon himself to decide these things. Medical procedures and drugs have made the womb and the wheelchair vulnerable to quick and supposedly painless "solutions". Ethics becomes irrelevant when the heart of ethics, the personal Designer of love and law alike, is ignored.
Another "improvement" to the family these days is the noxious notion that any combination of human liaisons constitutes a family. At the recent Women's Conference in Bejing, China, the delegation from Canada was in the forefront unfortunately trying hard to introduce rights for any "sexual orientation", and such quills are advancing in Canadian legislation and courts (quietly, since most Canadians are opposed to this redefinition of family). A delegation to China from the European Union (EU) also tried to change the UN declaration above to read "families" instead of "family" in order to include alternative lifestyles. Their feminist agenda later ran the risk of contravening laws in several European countries, and when they were challenged (by Vatican participant Mary Ann Glendon) about their support at home, one EU delegate complained "Why did you have to bring all this out in the open?"
If the family is indeed the "fundamental group of society entitled to protection", then it is apparent that many irresponsible initiatives and innovations these days have the effect of undermining the family, thus weakening the foundation of society itself.
We have a greater-than-natural kinship in the kingdom of heaven, with one Father, one Lord. But without God's blessing our human relationships fail, falling far short of the full, transforming life of the Christian family.