First of all, I wanted to thank all of you who read my first blog, the response was amazing and I did not know how many people would read what I had to say, well I was overwhelmed with the comments and the amount of people who took the time to read about some of my most personal beliefs.
It is amazing to me how life can really make us just stop and think. My wife’s Uncle had just passed away (RIP Uncle Rene, I admire you) and me and the girls had just dropped Brenda off at the airport in Las Vegas so she could attend his funeral. As we drove away, my three year old Emma was watching the airplanes fly in the sky and she lovingly said “Goodbye Mommy, I love you.” This hit me like a ton of bricks and I began to sob uncontrollably-luckily for me both kids were in the backseat saving me having to explain why I was sobbing. I managed to physically compose myself within a couple of minutes, however, mentally this has caused me to ponder and examine my responsibility as a Father of two young girls and my responsibility to bring them up in a way they should go.
We in America are saddled with a huge financial deficit in our national budget. This has led to astronomical debt. America is endlessly debating this issue on all the cable news networks. Each network has “experts” who argue or justify the spending and deficit of our national budget.
But there is another deficit which, in its long-term implications, is more serious. It is a moral deficit, a decline in values in the lives of the people, which is sapping the very foundation of our society. It is a serious issue that needs to be addressed.
There was an article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal what was spoken of as an index of what is happening to our culture. It states:
“Since 1960, the U.S. population has increased 56%; the gross domestic product has nearly tripled; and total social spending by all levels of government [has experienced] more than a sevenfold increase. …
“But during the same … period there has been a 560% increase in violent crime; a 419% increase in illegitimate births; a quadrupling in divorce rates; a tripling of the percentage of children living in single-parent homes; more than a 200% increase in the teenage suicide rate” (William J. Bennett, “Quantifying America’s Decline,” Wall Street Journal).
The article concludes with a statement from Alexander Solzhenitsyn:
“The West … has been undergoing erosion and [an] obscuring of high moral and ethical ideals. The spiritual axis of life has grown dim.”
One need not, of course, read statistics to recognize a moral decay that seems to be going on all about us. It is evident in the easy breakup of marriages, in widespread infidelity, in the growth of youth gangs, in the increased use of drugs (both illegal and prescription), the epidemic spread of AIDS, STD’s, and in a growing disregard for the moral lives of others. It is expressed in the language of the gutter, which is brought into our homes.
The endless pornography on the internet, the trash of so many motion pictures, the magnified sensuality found in much of modern literature, the emphasis on sex education, a widespread breakdown of law and order—all are manifestations of this decay.
It is seen in the movement for “equality” which has fostered anger and hate among the people of the world today. These worldly ways appear to be on a course that should be of concern to every thoughtful man and woman.
Do we recognize the example that the media puts out there for our children? Lady Gaga? Snookie? Paris Hilton? The Jersey Shore? Do you trust these people to be an example for your children? Sure, all of these people may have huge bank accounts and are financially set for life, but I ask you how are their spiritual bank accounts? I doubt they even recognize their own influence.
What is the answer? Is there any way to change the course of the ethical and moral slide we are experiencing? I believe there is.
What is happening is simply an ugly expression of the declining values of our society. Those who are concerned with the problem advocate more legal regulation, large appropriations for increased police forces, tax increases to build additional jails and prisons. These may be needed to deal with the present problems. They may help in the near term. But they will be only as a bandage too small for the sore. They may help in taking care of the fruits, but they will not get at the roots. In searching for remedies, we speak of a greater work that must be done in our schools. But educators have largely abdicated their responsibility for teaching values.
When all is said and done, the primary place in building a value system is in the homes of the people.
I read the other day of a father who pleaded with a judge to lock up his son because he could not control him. I do not doubt that he has tried. But it is now too late. Attitudes have been fixed. Habits have become rigid. If we are to turn this tide, the effort must begin with children when they are young and pliable, when they will listen and learn.
I have seen a similar thing, many times, in children whose lives I have observed. The parents who brought them into the world seem almost to have abdicated their responsibility. The results have been tragic. A few simple anchors would have given them the strength to withstand the forces that have shaped their lives. Now it appears it is too late.”
Every individual in the world is a child of a mother and a father. Neither can ever escape the consequences of their parenthood. Inherent in the very act of creation is responsibility for the child who is created. None can with impunity run from that responsibility.
It is not enough simply to provide food and shelter for the physical being. There is an equal responsibility to provide nourishment and direction to the spirit and the mind and the heart. In the Bible Wrote Paul to Timothy, “But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (1 Tim. 5:8). I am satisfied that Paul was speaking of more than physical nourishment.
Every father needs to realize this basic counsel. Yours is the basic and inescapable responsibility to stand as the head of the family. That does not carry with it any implication of dictatorship or unrighteous dominion. It carries with it a mandate that fathers provide for the needs of their families. Those needs are more than food, clothing, and shelter. Those needs include righteous direction and the teaching, by example as well as precept, of basic principles of honesty, integrity, service, respect for the rights of others, and an understanding that we are accountable for that which we do in this life, not only to one another but also to God.
Let every mother realize that she has no greater blessing than the children which have come to her as a gift from the Almighty; that she has no greater mission than to rear them in light and truth, in understanding and love; that she will have no greater happiness than to see them grow into young men and women who respect principles of virtue, who walk free from the stain of immorality and from the shame of delinquency.
Said the writer of Proverbs, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6).
The health of any society, the happiness of its people, their prosperity, and their peace all find their roots in the teaching of children by fathers and mothers.
The very structure of our society is now threatened by broken homes and the tragic consequences of those homes.
I believe that with effort we can change this course. We must begin with parents. We must provide understanding on the part of every man and woman of the eternal purposes of life, of the obligations of marriage, and of the responsibilities of parenthood.
To men who beget children and then abandon them, I say that God will hold you accountable, for these are also His children, whose cries over what you have done reach up to Him. With the obligation to beget goes the responsibility to nurture, to protect, to teach, to guide in righteousness and truth. Yours is the power and the responsibility to preside in a home where there is peace and security, love and harmony.
I hope that all Mothers will remember the importance of their role in the lives of their children. No other can adequately take a Mother’s place. No responsibility is greater, no obligation more binding.
To both parents, let no bickering cloud the spirit of your home. Set aside your selfishness in the interest of a far greater cause. Bring up your children in light and truth.
Could you wish for anything more than peace for your children? Could you benefit society in any better way?
Now, with all of this, I know there are very many people who are wonderful parents and whose children are growing in righteousness. Happy and productive will be their lives, and the world will be the better for them.
But there are others—too many among our own—whose children, to quote the revelation, are “growing up in wickedness” and who “seek not … the riches of eternity, but their eyes are full of greediness”. To these I make my appeal.
It may not be easy. It may be fraught with disappointment and challenge. It will require courage and patience.
—And patience, with a bridling of the tongue and self-mastery over anger. The writer of Proverbs declared, “A soft answer turneth away wrath” (Prov. 15:1).
—And encouragement that is quick to compliment and slow to criticize.
These, with prayers, will accomplish wonders. We cannot expect to do it alone. We need heaven’s help in rearing heaven’s child—your child, who is also the child of his or her Heavenly Father. Remember, our responsibility is not to please the world but, rather, to do the will of God.
