And Ye Fathers
Good Morning,
As society changes so quickly, I thought of the quotes and phrases that younger people do not hear nowadays:
"Who wears the pants in the family?"
"Wait 'til your father gets home!”
"A man's home is his castle!”
"If you get a spanking at school, you get a spanking at home.”
"The fairer sex.”
“All is fair in love and war.”
"Don't quit!”
"Sissy kids" (Remember the commercial on every television in America: "Fat kids, skinny kids, kids who climb on rocks, tough kids, sissy kids, even kids with chicken pox love hot dogs…?")
Many more quotes could be listed, but many of them would cause several people to stop reading these Morning Moments. The point is, society changes, and the change is not usually for the better. (Yes, those were better days in America — at least we knew what bathroom to use, and any American could define a marriage without help from the Supreme Court.)
We live in a culture which does not like to look back, learn, listen, and follow the path of older and wiser generations. I had both of my sons start reading Louis L' Amour books (I blacked out any bad words) as they entered seventh or eighth grade. (I got them to read by not having the stupid television on all the time.) L'Amour books teach important, manly qualities that I wanted my boys to learn: loyalty, honesty, honor, hard work, “riding for the brand,” never touch a woman, payment for debt is a matter of life and death, respect the property of another man, fights and guns are necessary as long as bad people are on the earth, and defend your family, property, and country at all cost!
I am amazed that parents allow children to learn from Sponge Bob, Barney, The Simpsons, and the corrupt, womanizing pervert "Iron Man,” when they have John Wayne and others of his era to choose from. Parents have allowed boys to grow up acting as though women are simply sex objects, while allowing girls to dress as if that is what they are.
We have allowed women to boss men, mock the homemaker, and made commercials that show the woman driving home from work and the man making an amazing dinner. I have watched our basketball team play a homeschool team with one of the homeschool mothers coaching the boys and hugging the kid who fouled out (I cannot go on, it makes me want to throw up). With no television in our home, our youngest son grew up with Old Time Radio on his iPod; he was raised on "Have Gun Will Travel" , "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar" and several other radio shows of that era. A boy ought to grow up with stories about sword play, guns, hard work, facing injustice, and doing right when no one else does. We certainly do not need Star Wars, Vampires, and The Walking Dead. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is the kind of movie that carries value (it must have happened in a moment of insanity in Hollywood). Every boy should know the stories of Sergeant York, The Red Baron, Audie Murphy, and Eddie Rickenbacker.
The time has come for us to look to our fathers:
Deuteronomy 32:7 “Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.”
Isaiah 43:18 “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.”
Isaiah 46:9 “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,”
1 Corinthians 10:11 “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”
The Bible not only speaks about remembering the past, but also about fathers teaching their children:
Ephesians 6:4 “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
Proverbs 1:8 “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:”
Dads, read to your children — not modern books, but rather stories such as The Moral Compass and The Book of Virtues. Sets of old children's books that were published as a compilation of hundreds of years of famous stories, fairy tales, and history can be found at almost any thrift store. Often at breakfast, after reading the Bible, I would read to our children out of these old stories; my children became familiar with Ulysses and the Cyclops, Molly Pitcher, Vikings (my family is of Norwegian descent), and stories that laud responsibility, courage, compassion, honesty, friendship, persistence, and faith.
The Bible talks about "the God of our fathers.”
1 Chronicles 12:17 “And David went out to meet them, and answered and said unto them, If ye be come peaceably unto me to help me, mine heart shall be knit unto you: but if ye be come to betray me to mine enemies, seeing there is no wrong in mine hands, the God of our fathers look thereon, and rebuke it.”
Acts 3:13 “The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.”
Acts 5:30 “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.”
Acts 22:14 “And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.”
With Father’s Day this weekend, let us be reminded of the biblical importance of fathers. May we study to know what we, as men, should be, and expose our boys to that which will develop those character traits in their hearts from youth.
Pastor