February 21--God's Divine Imprint on the Family

PRAYER REQUESTS: Please remember the following in your prayer time this week:
Craig and Tracey Scasta--out of town today
Laura Brittain--recovering from sinus surgery/Brian taking care of the boys and housekeeping
Steven Higginbotham's Uncle--liver problems
Jimmy Creel's father and mother--dad is in dialysis and facing difficulty and mom is trying to minister to him
Missionaries all over the world and especially those Christians who are trying to share the gospel in North Korea

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Remember, the church-wide games night is scheduled for Friday, February 26, 2010 from 6:00 p.m.--9:00 p.m. with a movie scheduled from 9:00 p.m.--10:00 p.m. Child care is available, but you do need to sign-up by tomorrow (February 22) in order to access the childcare. Several families from our class plan to participate. Please consider joining us for a fun evening!


TODAY'S LESSON AND DISCUSSION:
After some technical delay this morning, we watched the second half of Lesson Seven in The Truth Project: Sociology. Dr. Tackett made reference to God's "Divine Pause" when he created woman and thus instituted the family. Dr. Tackett pointed out that God was in the midst of creation in which He identified every creation as "good" until he paused in Genesis 2:18 and declared, "...it is not good for man to be alone." Dr. Tackett points out that "aloneness is bad in an ethical sense because it contradicts the nature of God, who is three-in-one: God Himself exists in community and relationship; man, who is made in His image, is supposed to do the same. This concept forms the basis of a true, God-centered understanding of the social sphere. To go against God's social design is to deny His character."

During the DVD presentation this morning, interviewees were asked to define "family." It was both interesting to hear the varied definitions and to witness the pain, confusion, and emotional reactions connected with this discussion. Any discussion of family is sure to provoke strong emotional responses. However, the important point raised in this presentation was the fact that we really do not have the authority to define family according to our own preferences. To go against God's social design is to deny His character. Romans 1:20 points out that God's essential nature or character is imprinted upon the things He has made. Therefore, social institutions such as marriage and family are not just part of cultural convention. "Instead, their shape, form, and function are determined by the 'Natural Law' which is rooted in the Trinitarian nature of God."

The lesson made reference to Malachi 2:16, in which God says that He "hates divorce." According to Dr. Tackett, "Just as the unity, communion, love, and intimacy of marriage are rooted organically in the essence and character of God Himself, so the violent breaking of this bond in divorce is something more than an unfortunate blip in the lives of two individuals--it is an offense against the divine nature and the foundations upon which the entire creation is built." This reminds us that sin can be defined simply as a breakdown in relationships. Those relationships can be between God and man, man and wife, or man and his neighbor. In any of these cases, the breakdown of that relationship is sin.

During our class discussion, we noted that the high divorce rate observed in society is not significantly different when one considers the divorce rate only among born-again Christians. In other words, we are not doing a good job in the church of preserving the sacred bonds that are formed in marriage--at least we are not doing much better than our unchurched brethern in this endeavor. We also discussed the fact that the high divorce rate may be a result of our tendency to "take the easy path." In some cases, it appears to be easier to get a divorce than to work through issues, change behavior, and establish a God-centered family. Dr. Tackett pointed out that men in a Godly marriage are called on to love and honor one's wife and that women in a Godly marriage are called on to submit to one's husband and to show respect. As we seek to strengthen our own marriages and as we have opportunity to minister to those around us, our response to the attack on the marriage institution should be like God's, one of grief, compassion, and renewed willingness to reach out with the healing message of God's plan for the social order.