WHERE HAVE ALL THE FATHERS GONE?

From My Perspective - - - 

The traditional concept of a family was one man, one woman and their child/children. For the past decade or two, there has been a radical change that has occurred within the historic and traditional home and family. It is experiencing fewer fathers (absentee Dads) who are a viable part of the home and family. They are AWOL and this has had a tremendous impact in the home and lives of children, who through no fault of their own, have found themselves in a dysfunctional context for their growth and development. 

What happens with the children in a non-traditional context and/or dysfunctional home setting? The statistics give one a sense of the impact: “63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes; 85% of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes; 71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes; Children living in single-parent homes or in step-families report lower educational expectations on the part of their parents, less parental monitoring of school work, and less overall social supervision than children from intact families; 70% of juveniles in state-operated institutions come from fatherless homes; Boys who grow up in father-absent homes are more likely than those in father-present homes to have trouble establishing appropriate sex roles and gender identity; In a longitudinal study of 1,197 fourth-grade students, researchers observed greater levels of aggression in boys from mother-only households than from boys in mother-father households; Children from low-income, two-parent families outperform students from high-income, single-parent homes. Almost twice as many high achievers come from two-parent homes as one-parent homes; Only 13 percent of juvenile delinquents come from families in which the biological mother and father are married to each other. By contract, 33 percent have parents who are either divorced or separated and 44 percent have parents who were never married; The likelihood that a young male will engage in criminal activity doubles if he is raised without a father and triples if he lives in a neighborhood with a high concentration of single-parent families…”

If there was a return to the Judeo-Christian values and principles for the Biblical norm for the home and family, what would one expect to see  and observe? The Biblical Standard places an emphasis on the role of the husband-father in the home and family. Deuteronomy 6:5-9 establishes one foundational principle: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” The prominence of the man as husband, father and spiritual leader in the home. Verses 6 and 7 in the MSG reads: “Write these commandments that I've given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night.”

What is the man who is a husband, father and spiritual leader obligated to do in his home and with the generations that follow? An interesting instruction is given in Joel 1:2-3, “Hear this, you elders; give ear, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers? Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.” There was a place for oral tradition in the Old Testament, especially as it pertained to the family and religious instruction. The Biblical Father was expected to lead by example and instruction. It would be an occasion for celebration and a Happy Father’s Day if Dads would accept their responsibility and obligation in the home. It has to begin somewhere - will you let it begin with you? Consider these things with me.