Do churches really promote faith and family? When a family enters the building there are places for each age group to attend from infancy to adulthood; what does this teach?
I remember going to church with my grandmother, I sat beside her through the entire service. Infants, back in the day, stayed with the mother; when the child became fussy the mother left the sanctuary and quieted the baby by nursing, feeding, or changing the diaper. Children learned to sit and listen, they may not understand everything that was said but they did know what would happen if they tried to interrupt.
Churches have family days and family activities, it is as if being a family is optional on other days.
Children don’t have to be quiet in church today because children’s church incorporates noisy activities into their programs. Young people don’t have to sit respectfully, dress conservatively or even own a print Bible because everything is provided for them. By the time a child, who has grown up in these modern-day churches, reaches the age in which he or she will attend the adult church he comes in comfortable clothing and may or may not sit with family. Wives may sit with a friend she has not seen in a few months, husbands sit with an empty seat next to him just in case the wife may come.
What I see in many Christians today are optional families. People choose to get married, they just don’t tell the preacher they are living together. People choose to have babies, the number of individuals who attend church regularly and have abortions is higher than what most church leaders want to admit. Parents choose how they are going to raise their children: they allow the church to teach them about God, the Internet to teach them about social behavior, and the schools to teach them about sexuality.
The government has more influence on families today than the church. Courts tell fathers how much money they have to pay to support their children. Department of Social Services tells parents how to discipline their children. And Planned Parenthood tells women how many babies they should have. The government will provide a family: a roof over their heads, food in their bellies and additional funds to purchase clothing and such.
1 TIMOTHY 5:8
But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Faith and family are not optional activities. We are to be fruitful and multiply in an orderly fashion. God first, we have a personal relationship with God the Father through God the Son and help from God the Spirit. The husband is the head of the house, his word (should) represents the word of God thus is the final authority. The wife is the husbands help mate not the husbands head; her gifts are complimentary to the husbands which is why she is his crown- his good thing. Children are submitted to the parents they learn about submission, purpose and love from them. The church should edify, clarify, correct and encourage; the church should reinforce God’s creation- the family.
JOHN 17:20-23
“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
Today’s family is not unified it is worldly. Today’s churches do not promote family they promote family activities. The result is: many are not one with God the Father through Jesus.
written by Marsha L F Randolph
FAITH - MY JOURNEY reflects the opinions and property of the author MARSHA L F RANDOLPH. All rights reserved- do not use without permission. All Scriptures quoted are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise stated. Don’t miss weekly faith based post FOLLOW THIS BLOG and receive notifications when a new article is posted.
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