On the heels of reading Queen Bee’s guest post over at Rock’s in My Dryer on being the parent of an only child, I am faced with this article out of the United Kingdom. Here’s the tagline:
After four years of research, the TV news presenter has proved what he instinctively thought was right: larger families are happier, healthier, better adjusted – and deeply discriminated against…
When it comes to families of any size facing discrimination, I am doubtful. I have heard my entire life that the family is under attack, but from whom? No where in North America is there a one child policy. No women are forced to work against their will by government regulation. It is still legal for a man and woman to marry, have as many children as they want and even beneficial in most cases to do so. No companies are refusing to hire married people and parents. Parents with children are not barred from any public buildings, or forced to enter through a separate entrance. Married couples aren’t protested against. In North America, no one has woken up to a brick through their window because they are married and have children.
The author of the article cites examples, including theme park family passes admitting 2 parents and 2 children, and an author complaining that because of her large family she was made to feel freakish. While unfortunate, it’s certainly not discrimination.
This author is not a believer, so my thoughts, while sparked by his article, are certainly not applicable to it. Within the church, however, the same attitude pervades. Christians are called to fight for the family, march for the family, vote for the family. So why hasn’t anything changed in 20 years? Because the family isn’t the point.
I just lost a bunch of people with that. Please come back and read the rest.
The family isn’t the point, the gospel is.
The gospel can make men want to lead, and women want to submit; it can make men want to commit, and women want to remain pure. Only the gospel can change culture, only the gospel can convict of sin, only the gospel can make a family more than a group of sinful individuals. God works through Godly families that are centered not around themselves, or their size, but around the gospel of Christ.
We’re fighting the wrong battle, folks. We need to be preaching the gospel that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst. That’s the main thing. That’s the correct perspective. That’s the only thing that will save our families, our churches and our culture.
I am a very political person. I love politics and current events and international diplomacy and all of that stuff. I enjoy hypothesizing about the different political strategies and “arm chair quarterbacking” the campaigns. Politics is my spectator sport, and I’m a super fan.
Well, today was the first day of our new school year and with new additions over the weekend, our student body has grown by 58%. When you have a small student body it doesn’t take much to make those percentages look impressive; nevertheless, I think we may be on the up swing and for that we praise the Lord.
