Two Fathers, Two Families and Two Fates

Suppose you suffered a severely broken leg and upon arrival at the emergency room, a doctor came up to you with a large bandage and said, “This ought to fix it.” You’d probably either think the physician was out of his mind or you’d grab your smartphone and dial one of those TV lawyers to file a malpractice suit.

And yet, that’s what many of the “experts” seem to be doing in addressing the overarching ills afflicting our society today. We’ve got violence in the streets, chaos in the classrooms, anarchy wherever we look. What’s the answer? Many leaders think it’s just a matter of passing more laws, as if our country doesn’t already have enough laws to which people pay little or no attention.

 

I’m not opposed to laws. We need them, obviously. But if the nature of humankind could have been changed by laws, that would have happened long ago. The ancient Israelites had more than 1,000 laws to which they were expected to abide. That didn’t deter them from committing all manner of illegal, immoral and unethical acts of rebellion and disobedience.

 

What we don’t need are simple-minded solutions. One thing I’ve learned about everyday life is that it’s complicated. But is it unreasonable to think that with gang violence continuing to escalate in cities with the toughest gun laws, and unruly students still disrupting their classes even with the threat of expulsion hanging over their heads, maybe we need to look in a different direction for answers?

 

One place I’d suggest looking is in the home. Years ago, Hillary Clinton coined the phrase, “It takes a village,” but for raising responsible, disciplined and productive young people, history has shown that what’s even more important is a stable, caring home with parents working together.

 

Recently a friend sent out an email called “Two Fathers, Two Families, Two Fates” that showed a startling comparison of families from the same era. Consider:

 

Jonathan Edwards, one of the wisest individuals God has given America, lived in the state of New York. He was a Christian and a strong advocate of Christian training. He married a young woman of like character. From this union, a study was done of 729 of their descendants. Out of this number came 300 preachers, 65 college professors, 13 university presidents, 60 authors of good books, three U.S. congressmen, and one vice president of the United States.

 

Max Jukes also lived in New York around the same time. He did not believe in Christian training and married a woman who thought the same way. From their union the lives of 1,026 descendants were traced. Three hundred of them died prematurely. One hundred were sent to prison for an average of 13 years each, and 190 were public prostitutes. There were 100 drunkards. The expense to society for their wayward living was substantial.

 

Could it be that the difference between the two fathers, their families and the fates of their descendants was largely shaped by their disparate values, beliefs and practices? The Bible admonishes, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6).

 

In the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, Moses described the learning environment that fathers and families should establish for their children. He wrote:

“These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe…so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all His decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life…. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 6:1-7).

 

Does this guarantee that if we surround our children with biblical principles and live consistently as followers of Christ that they will turn out to be model citizens? No. It’s a principle the Bible presents and not an absolute promise. I’m sure that Mr. and Mrs. Edwards’ offspring and descendants had flaws just as everyone does. But they were taught timeless, godly standards for faithful, fruitful living.

 

The Scriptures also show us the contrast. Proverbs 29:18 observes, “Where there is no [prophetic] revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.” And the book of Judges concludes with this description of the people of Israel, who had rebelled against God and abandoned His teachings: “In those days Israel had no king; all the people did what seemed right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25).

Maybe the time has come for us to forget about bandages and remedies that are temporary at best, and return to the one sure cure, prescribed by the Great Physician. 

What Happens When We Remove God from the Equation?

As a student in high school, I did reasonably well in math until I ran smack into trigonometry, when it became abundantly clear that my career course needed to be somewhere that didn’t involve an emphasis on mathematics. Up until then, I had enjoyed algebra and geometry, especially the formulas and equations. 

 

I remember glancing at the back of the book where you could find answers to problems in each chapter, marveling at how complex equations could be worked out to arrive at simple answers. The theorems and corollaries we had to memorize were intriguing, along with formulas to discover such things as the area of a circle or a triangle. Frankly, I haven’t had much use for those kinds of calculations, but they were fun to solve at the time

 

An interesting thing to consider is what it could mean to leave out one key element of an equation. For instance, I learned the formula for the area of a circle is A = π r². What if we left out pi? Well, for one thing, that might mean missing out on dessert. (Lemon meringue pi was always my favorite.) We definitely would not have the correct calculation of a circle’s total area.

 

Let’s take this thinking into another realm: Imagine what might happen if we sought to remove God from our schools and educational institutions, from government offices, corporate board rooms, entertainment studios, the news media, even from many churches. Oh, wait! This has already happened. We don’t have to use our imagination.

 

For decades, our society has systematically and deliberately determined to eliminate considerations of God from public discourse. We’re told matters of “church and state” should be kept exclusive from each other, kind of like the “east is east, and west is west, and never the twain shall meet” mantra. 

 

In many colleges and universities, students are instructed that a Christian worldview approach to their studies is not welcome – and may result is harsh penalties. The “theory of evolution,” for example, is treated as an established fact, while reflections on the existence of God are dismissed as “fiction” and “fantasy.” Education at such institutions, sadly, seems to have turned into more of indoctrination – and their graduates leave to become major influencers in their fields of endeavor.

 

Public schools, where decades ago the major problems were chewing gum, running in hallways and throwing spitballs, now are infested with drugs, violence and virtual anarchy in many classrooms.

 

The political sphere, perhaps more than ever, can accurately be characterized by scheming, chicanery, deception, and all manner of unethical and illegal behavior. Even though “In God We Trust” remains emblazoned on our currency, and “under God” has been a part of our Pledge of Allegiance since the 1950s, mention of the Almighty in terms of how legislation is crafted and enacted often is met with scoffing and skepticism.

 

Is it any surprise that major corporations, led by graduates of agnostic universities and business schools, frequently engage in scandalous behavior and practices? The same can be said for much of the film, TV, and music industries. And let’s not even get started about the content of much of what lurks on the Internet.

 

One particular verse in the Bible sums up the scenario above very well. Proverbs 29:18 declares, “Where there is no [prophetic] revelation, the people cast off restraint.” The New American Standard translation of this verse states, “Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained,” and the King James Version perhaps says it best: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

 

There’s a second part to this verse, however, we should consider as well. It asserts, “but blessed is he who keeps the law.” The New King James says, “But happy is he who keeps the law.” Contrary to what our society seems to be insisting, the Bible tells us happiness and “the good life” are not found in defiance and rebellion against the laws and statutes God established, but in abiding by them.

 

Reading the Old Testament narratives, we see this repeatedly. The people of Israel would vow to keep God’s commands and find themselves enjoying generally quiet, comfortable and safe lives. However, before long they would grow discontented and decide to try out the ungodly practices of the peoples surrounding them. As a result, they would lose battles, suffer famines, and even wind up in exile. 

 

In Exodus 32:25, for example, we read, “Moses saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them run wild and become a laughingstock to their enemies.” In the United States, we’re obviously not the people of Israel, but I sometimes wonder whether something similar is happening here in the 21^st century, thousands of years later.

What’s the remedy? It may seem simplistic, but it’s straightforward, right from the Scriptures: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2). A simple prescription, really. And yet, it might be just the cure for what ails us – as a society, and as individuals.