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I have very strong feelings about the importance of a stable family in our society today. I believe that the family unit was created by God, and is also a major part of our country's heritage. Without question, there are direct attacks on the family today, but there are also attacks of a more subtle nature. Materialism and capitalism has captivated America into thinking that both parents must work in order to survive. There are legitimate occurrances, but in most cases this simply is not true. I believe that a lot of us have our priorities way out of order, and as a result, our families are suffering. What a child learns in the first 6 or 7 years has a major effect on the child's entire life. It's no wonder that crime and drug use among teens has skyrocketed in the last 10-15 years. People, it's not just fate. If we don't build our families, our families will crumble. It won't happen by itself.
On this page you will find information about Parenting by the Biblical Standard - that's absolutely practical! There are links to some good ministry sites that offer encouragement for our everyday lives. A section on our own family will be here soon. Check out the kids page!
The Growing Families Internationalİ ministry has a parenting instruction series call Growing Kids God's Wayİ, which I believe is an excellent tool in training my children to the biblical standard. Here are some areas of parenting that I feel very strongly about. Some of the concepts that I mention are straight out of the handbook.
Society tells us that in our parenting it is important to make sure our child is happy, and that we should try to be our child's friend. Listen, we are born with a sin nature, and anything taught to us contrary to that sin nature is not going to make us happy as children. The book of Proverbs says, "Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child"...foolishness in our children must be trained out of them. They will NOT grow out of it. As little children, it may seem like they are unhappy while being disciplined, that is because of the sin nature. You can't worry about their happiness and frienship now, that will come when they are trained properly, as they move from the teen years into adulthood. Then comes the reward of friendship, and it is a friendship that is almost undescribable. Friendship is the relational goal, not the primary goal.
Society also tells us that "time-out" sessions will work for most behavioral problem. The "spanking" is frowned upon these days, and I have even seen television reports about spanking in which the reporter says, "It seems like you're always spanking the children", and the parent replies, "but it is working in the long run." Hey, you can't just spank them because you think it will work. There has to be a moral standard that dictates when the chastisement is deserved.
There are many more thoughts that I will be sharing regarding parenting, such as bribing our children and authoritarian parenting. I am very concerned about the American family today, and I believe there are many more who feel the same way. I know that everyone cares about the well-being of our children. What we have to take seriously is that it is our responsiblity as parents to determine their well-being, and thus, the well-being of society. Hopefully I can help someone get the information or moral boost they need.
If we care about our children's future, we will quit worrying about their happiness, and get serious about spending time with them and the methods in which we correct.
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 Promise Keepers is a Christian outreach to men, seeking to unite Christian men of all races, denominations, ages, cultures, and socio-economic groups, believing that accountable relationships among men are critical in helping one another become promise keepers in their relationships with God, their wives, their children, and each other. Anyone who believes that Promise Keepers is political has obviously never attended a conference. 7 Promises of a Promise Keeper
I am co-Key Man for Promise Keepers for my church, First Baptist Church of Fairhope. A Key Man acts as a liason between the pastor and Promise Keepers, and also as a leader/coordinator for events.
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