When I started to write the title of this article, I was going to write, “The Christian Family Under Attack,” but then I realized that we are seeing a much deeper problem today. While the Christian family is certainly a special object of his assault, Satan and his hosts are seeking to destroy the family everywhere, whether Christian or otherwise. The ramifications of this are serious indeed, and if the progress of this destruction is allowed to continue unchecked, it will result in the downfall of society as we know it.
In saying this, we hasten to point out that we do not expect to see a turnaround of the tendencies all around us today, for God has told us that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (2 Tim. 3:1313But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:13)). All this will reach its zenith in the Western world — the part of the world that has known the Word of God and heard the gospel. Isaiah tells us that it is only “when Thy judgments are in the earth” that “the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (Isa. 26:99With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. (Isaiah 26:9)). Attempts by Christians to straighten out this world today will end in failure; only by judgment will everything be set right. However, it is important to recognize what is happening today, in order for us to brace ourselves against it and to order our own families and homes in accordance with God’s Word.
Male and Female
Attacks on the family have come from all sides, perhaps starting with mistaken ideas concerning human sexuality and what it means. In the Word of God, we read, “Male and female created He them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth” (Gen. 1:27-2827So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:27‑28)). While it is true that God has called some men and women to live a single life, nonetheless it is clear from these verses that God intended human sexuality to be enjoyed within marriage and that its primary intent was to bear children within a family setting. God ordained the family right from the beginning, so that children might be born into a stable environment and raised in a way that made them into responsible young men and women.
Redefinition of Sexuality
But beginning with the sexual revolution of the 1960s, men and women began to view their sexuality as part of their identity, having no relation either to marriage or family. This, in turn, has resulted in a redefining of our sexuality, as if we can use it any way we like. Sex outside of marriage has become the norm instead of being considered an aberration, and this, in turn, has led to an increasing frequency of cohabitation without marriage, children born to single parents, and an increasing divorce rate. Along with this came the rise of pornography, which is rampant in the Western world. A Christian whom I know well told me that in his interaction with Christian men, approximately 80% of them are addicted to pornography. The percentage is quite possibly even higher in the world at large. It is sobering to realize that most of this pornography originates in America.
As we might have predicted, these sins against God soon led to more sordid and despicable sins. At the end of the 1960s, abortion became legal in Canada and the United States, and soon it was legal in many other countries. This wholesale murder of unborn children has now reached the staggering figure of 55 million annually in the world. But if we were willing to do away with unwanted children, another step was to be expected — the euthanizing of adults who, for various reasons, want to end their lives. While the practice of this kind of euthanasia is limited at the moment, we can expect it to become more widespread.
Legalization of Homosexual Practices
A later by-product of all this was the legalizing of homosexual practices, and this soon resulted in the legalization of same sex marriage. Then, as if this were not enough, this evil line of thinking began to involve young people, who are now encouraged to question their biological sex and to identify themselves with any gender they choose. Even very young children are encouraged to explore all this, at an age when they may well be a bit confused at times about masculinity and femininity. It is now illegal in Canada to seek to counsel such children in a direction that might be construed as bringing them to accept their biological sex. It seems that there is no limit to the depths to which man can sink when he gives up God, for now there are children who are even acting like animals, meowing like cats and demanding to use litter boxes. The most shocking thing about this is that many are viewing it as normal behavior.
Masculinity and Femininity
But again, masculinity and femininity themselves are now being called in question, with normal “maleness” being considered toxic and wrong. The scriptural thought of men as leaders and providers and of women as submissive “helpmeets” who trust and affirm their husbands’ leadership is now considered totally out of date and a wrong view of life. Those who lead a family life in accordance with God’s Word are now thought to be “weird” and “out of line.” God’s wisdom in His Word and His guidelines for family life have been discarded in favor of the thoughts of sinful man. Those who speak against all this may be considered guilty of “hate speech.”
The Immensity of the Damage
The result of all this is staggering, and the immensity of the damage cannot be overstated. This destruction of the family leads to divorce, violence, undisciplined and rebellious children, battered wives (and sometimes husbands), abortion, child abuse, sexual molestation, and often alcoholism and drug abuse. Such entities as increasing suicide on the part of young people, lonely elderly people, poverty of single-parent families, and psychologically disturbed children are other fallouts, and the list could go on and on. (Elderly people are lonely and left out of “family life,” because there often is no family life.)
In one sense, we should not be surprised, for Satan is clever, and he knows that the destruction of the family will affect every area of life — spiritual, cultural, moral and political. Many years ago, it was men like Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels who advocated abolishing the family. Engels was an atheist, and while Marx was not, strictly speaking, yet his worldview was certainly atheistic. As most of you know, they were coauthors of The Communist Manifesto. The fact that men like this were among the advocates of destroying the family ought to wake us up, as we realize where this thinking originated.
The Seriousness of the Situation
It gives me no pleasure to detail all of these repugnant results of the destruction of the family life, but if we are going to rise up in defense of the family, then we must first of all realize the seriousness of what is happening in the world today and the results of the destruction of family life as it is portrayed in the Word of God. In another article, we will consider how to defend ourselves against all this as Christians.
W. J. Prost