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Thus we see from the beginning of time family has been vital to the survival of the human race. It is the basic unit of organized society. God intended for us to be family before we could ever be tribe or nation. The strength of all our combined families determines the strength of our nation. It is family that creates the setting for stability within our country. Wisdom, decency, and honesty are established in the family. Parents have the best chance to make a positive influence on the world by the way they rear their offspring. Moral and spiritual values are instilled early in life or they may never be instilled at all. Of course, families can contribute to the deterioration of a nation. If the family is corrupt it will corrupt society. The lack of discipline at home by both parents and children has a demoralizing effect upon everyone whose life they intersect. Hostility developed at home in children often lingers for life and tends to complicate all relationships. The family has as much potential for bad as for good if God's purpose for it is not realized. The God of the Bible is a family God. He reveals Himself as loving Father. He comes to us through His obedient Son. He mothers us with the tender attention of a mother hen looking after her chicks. He gives us brothers and sisters in the context of church and calls us the "family of God." He calls on parents to rear their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. He requires children to respect authority and to honor their honorable parents. The family atmosphere is one of joy as God allows "goodness and mercy to follow us all the days of our lives." |
In the beginning when God created Adam and Eve as the original parents of the human race. He instilled the sense of family. As people began to populate the earth dependency was soon observed. Children needed parents to nurture and sustain them until they could nurture and sustain themselves. Parents needed children to care for them in their declining years. Larger families began to develop and patriarchs presided over and protected the several families of their offspring. The concept of tribe reached out and brought together all the families of a certain ancestor. Tribes came together to form nations of people with a common heritage. Civilization became a complex intermingling of families, tribes, and kin of all kinds. History emerged as a focus on the family where the continuity of ancestors was studied.[Click Here] for an index of all available article clippings.