From our Introductory Post:
“The righteous have sat back and allowed the wicked to take over our relationships to God, families, churches, governments, schools and colleges, journalism, entertainment, sports, sciences, and a whole litany of other endeavors in our society.”
Families – Threats – End of Child Bearing
In our previous post we considered the topic of Threats to Families, specifically the End of Marriage. We will now take a look at another threat to the family, the End of Child Bearing. As incredible as it seems, humans, the pinnacle of God’s Creation, are bent on ending the human race through “population control.”
God told Adam and Eve to “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish (fill) the earth.” (Genesis 1:28) The command was repeated to Noah and his family. (Genesis 9:1) God later gave the commandment to children to “Honor thy father and thy mother.” (Exodus 20:12) In the New Testament instructions are given to parents and children regarding mutual responsibilities. (Ephesians 6:1-4) It is safe to assume, therefore, that child bearing is an expectation for humanity on the part of the Creator.
Current world population statistics are not encouraging. Fertility rate statistics are available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fertility_rate_world_map_2.png.
“Replacement fertility is the total fertility rate at which newborn girls would have an average of exactly 1 daughter over their lifetimes. In more familiar terms, women have just enough babies to replace themselves.” “Taken globally, the total fertility rate at replacement is 2.33 children per woman. At this rate, global population growth would trend towards zero.” See website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replacement_rate#Replacement_rates
In the United Nations report, ASSUMPTIONS UNDERLYING THE RESULTS OF THE 2008 REVISION OF WORLD POPULATION PROSPECTS, found at: http://esa.un.org/unpp/assumptions.html , is the statement, “Total fertility in all countries is assumed to converge eventually toward a level of 1.85 children per woman. However, not all countries reach this level during the projection period, that is, by 2045-2050. Projection procedures differ slightly depending on whether a country had a total fertility above or below 1.85 children per woman in 2005-2010.”
Therefore, with a total fertility at 1.85 and the replacement value at 2.33, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that we are in trouble, especially in the traditional Western cultures. In fact, some of the traditional high birth rate regions are leveling off and beginning to decline. I invite you to do your own research.
Summary
This post has examined the End of Child Bearing as a major threat to families. World population statistics point to a decline in human population by 2050, which is contrary to the will of God. Our next post will take a look at another threat to families, Divorce.
I remain yours in the name of Jesus Christ, the Creator and Name above every name.
“Mr. Phil”
Friday, September 25, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Families – Threats – End of Marriage
From our Introductory Post:
“The righteous have sat back and allowed the wicked to take over our relationships to God, families, churches, governments, schools and colleges, journalism, entertainment, sports, sciences, and a whole litany of other endeavors in our society.”
Families – Threats – End of Marriage
In our previous post we introduced the topic of Threats to Families with a broad overview of the many evils aligned against this first human institution ordained by God (See Genesis 1:26 - 28). Beginning with this post we will take a detailed look at some of the most egregious wickedness weakening and destroying families in the twenty-first century.
Giving up on marriage and divorce are two sides of the same coin. We will look at how these two phenomena are working together to destroy the foundations of society. Perhaps we should call the combination of these “The End of Marriage.” Since God ordained the human family based on a loving life-long commitment of a man and a woman resulting in children, we can safely say that He hates anything that would go against His will in that area.
See Emmanuel Research Review, http://www.egc.org/research/issue_36.html.
“Emerging Marriage Trends
In the past two centuries, the world has seen an unprecedented scientific, financial, and intellectual growth which has come with a heavy price tag. It has crossed cultural and ethnic boundaries in its course. Until the beginning of the 20th century societies believed in a ‘Biblical morality,’ which meant that there is such a thing as right and wrong and people knew why. For the next fifty years societies moved to a state of ‘abiblical morality.’ Societies knew there were such things that were right and wrong but did not know why. The 60s and 70s saw the influx of immorality where, even though people knew that certain things were right and wrong, they did not care. Since then, both developed and developing societies have been under the influence of a state of ‘amorality’ or ‘relative morality,’ which simply means that there is no such thing as right or wrong. Over the past fifty plus years, the number of single-parent households has skyrocketed to one-third of all U.S. families. The traditional American family structure appears to be crumbling. Furthermore, the world has seen six major trends emerging in the past fifty years that have crossed ethnic and cultural boundaries. They are:
• Overall 50% decline in the number of marriages that are formally solemnized
• 40 to 50% increase in divorce rate
• 10-fold increase in unmarried cohabitation (1000%)
• Decrease in average children per household from four to two
• Increase of single parent families and children born without fathers from 9 to 28%
• Overall changing attitudes about sex, marriage and family, alternatives to marriage, unwed childbearing (35%), abortion, homosexuality, extramarital relationships, and virtual pleasure.”
The solution to these threats to the family is quite simple. Obey God! If one is involved in a live-in arrangement, get married. If one is already married, stay married. Of course either of these must remain within the Biblical definition of marriage. How hard is that?
Summary
This post has examined the “End of Marriage” threat to the family. The solution to this threat is marriage according to the Biblical definition. Our next post will look at another threat to marriage, “The End of Child-Bearing.”
I remain yours in the name of Jesus Christ, the Creator and Name above every name.
“Mr. Phil”
“The righteous have sat back and allowed the wicked to take over our relationships to God, families, churches, governments, schools and colleges, journalism, entertainment, sports, sciences, and a whole litany of other endeavors in our society.”
Families – Threats – End of Marriage
In our previous post we introduced the topic of Threats to Families with a broad overview of the many evils aligned against this first human institution ordained by God (See Genesis 1:26 - 28). Beginning with this post we will take a detailed look at some of the most egregious wickedness weakening and destroying families in the twenty-first century.
Giving up on marriage and divorce are two sides of the same coin. We will look at how these two phenomena are working together to destroy the foundations of society. Perhaps we should call the combination of these “The End of Marriage.” Since God ordained the human family based on a loving life-long commitment of a man and a woman resulting in children, we can safely say that He hates anything that would go against His will in that area.
See Emmanuel Research Review, http://www.egc.org/research/issue_36.html.
“Emerging Marriage Trends
In the past two centuries, the world has seen an unprecedented scientific, financial, and intellectual growth which has come with a heavy price tag. It has crossed cultural and ethnic boundaries in its course. Until the beginning of the 20th century societies believed in a ‘Biblical morality,’ which meant that there is such a thing as right and wrong and people knew why. For the next fifty years societies moved to a state of ‘abiblical morality.’ Societies knew there were such things that were right and wrong but did not know why. The 60s and 70s saw the influx of immorality where, even though people knew that certain things were right and wrong, they did not care. Since then, both developed and developing societies have been under the influence of a state of ‘amorality’ or ‘relative morality,’ which simply means that there is no such thing as right or wrong. Over the past fifty plus years, the number of single-parent households has skyrocketed to one-third of all U.S. families. The traditional American family structure appears to be crumbling. Furthermore, the world has seen six major trends emerging in the past fifty years that have crossed ethnic and cultural boundaries. They are:
• Overall 50% decline in the number of marriages that are formally solemnized
• 40 to 50% increase in divorce rate
• 10-fold increase in unmarried cohabitation (1000%)
• Decrease in average children per household from four to two
• Increase of single parent families and children born without fathers from 9 to 28%
• Overall changing attitudes about sex, marriage and family, alternatives to marriage, unwed childbearing (35%), abortion, homosexuality, extramarital relationships, and virtual pleasure.”
The solution to these threats to the family is quite simple. Obey God! If one is involved in a live-in arrangement, get married. If one is already married, stay married. Of course either of these must remain within the Biblical definition of marriage. How hard is that?
Summary
This post has examined the “End of Marriage” threat to the family. The solution to this threat is marriage according to the Biblical definition. Our next post will look at another threat to marriage, “The End of Child-Bearing.”
I remain yours in the name of Jesus Christ, the Creator and Name above every name.
“Mr. Phil”
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Families – Threats - Introduction
From our Introductory Post:
“The righteous have sat back and allowed the wicked to take over our relationships to God, families, churches, governments, schools and colleges, journalism, entertainment, sports, sciences, and a whole litany of other endeavors in our society.”
Families – Threats - Introduction
In our previous post we discussed the various resources available to help build strong families according to the will of God. We will now consider threats which are weakening and even destroying families. According to a survey of church pastors by the Minnesota Family Council (MFC) the top three threats to the family are divorce, negative influences from the media, and materialism.
Other concerns listed in the MFC survey are absentee fathers, families that lack a stay-at-home parent, cohabitation before marriage, pornography, morality not being taught in schools, poverty, and unemployment and/or a poor economy. In addition child/teen and parental alcohol/drug use/abuse, teen sexual activity/pregnancy, adultery, sexual predators, sexual abuse, and the expense of child care are listed.
Focus on the Family (FOF) says new forms of human relationships (e.g. trial marriages), loss of power to transmit values to the younger generation, and homosexual “marriage” even with the blessing of the churches. Also mentioned are having sex more for recreation than for procreation, court assaults, and anti-family biases of the media elite as major threats to the family.
Catholic News Service (CNS) considers war and violence, exploitation of the weak, rampant poverty and underdevelopment, destruction of the environment, the arms race, and everything that serves to weaken the family based on the marriage of a man and a woman. Everything that directly or indirectly stands in the way of its openness to the responsible acceptance of a new life and everything that obstructs its right to be primarily responsible for the education of its children are also threats to the family.
Summary
This post has presented an overview of some of the threats to the family identified by the MFC, FOF, and CNS organizations. Just reading the list may give us the impression that the situation is very dark regarding the family in our world. However, we know that God still rules the universe and knew about all of these things before they entered the evil hearts of humanity. As we consider some of these threats in detail in the following posts, we will also look at their solutions. A great resource available to us is prayer, and we should be praying as we read over this list. (See 1 Thessalonians 5:17)
I remain yours in the name of Jesus Christ, the Creator and Name above every name.
“Mr. Phil”
“The righteous have sat back and allowed the wicked to take over our relationships to God, families, churches, governments, schools and colleges, journalism, entertainment, sports, sciences, and a whole litany of other endeavors in our society.”
Families – Threats - Introduction
In our previous post we discussed the various resources available to help build strong families according to the will of God. We will now consider threats which are weakening and even destroying families. According to a survey of church pastors by the Minnesota Family Council (MFC) the top three threats to the family are divorce, negative influences from the media, and materialism.
Other concerns listed in the MFC survey are absentee fathers, families that lack a stay-at-home parent, cohabitation before marriage, pornography, morality not being taught in schools, poverty, and unemployment and/or a poor economy. In addition child/teen and parental alcohol/drug use/abuse, teen sexual activity/pregnancy, adultery, sexual predators, sexual abuse, and the expense of child care are listed.
Focus on the Family (FOF) says new forms of human relationships (e.g. trial marriages), loss of power to transmit values to the younger generation, and homosexual “marriage” even with the blessing of the churches. Also mentioned are having sex more for recreation than for procreation, court assaults, and anti-family biases of the media elite as major threats to the family.
Catholic News Service (CNS) considers war and violence, exploitation of the weak, rampant poverty and underdevelopment, destruction of the environment, the arms race, and everything that serves to weaken the family based on the marriage of a man and a woman. Everything that directly or indirectly stands in the way of its openness to the responsible acceptance of a new life and everything that obstructs its right to be primarily responsible for the education of its children are also threats to the family.
Summary
This post has presented an overview of some of the threats to the family identified by the MFC, FOF, and CNS organizations. Just reading the list may give us the impression that the situation is very dark regarding the family in our world. However, we know that God still rules the universe and knew about all of these things before they entered the evil hearts of humanity. As we consider some of these threats in detail in the following posts, we will also look at their solutions. A great resource available to us is prayer, and we should be praying as we read over this list. (See 1 Thessalonians 5:17)
I remain yours in the name of Jesus Christ, the Creator and Name above every name.
“Mr. Phil”
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