by Mikal Frazier, LMFT, LPC

“The world is trying the experiment of attempting to form a civilized
but non-Christian mentality. The experiment will fail; but we must be
very patient in awaiting its collapse; meanwhile redeeming the time: so
that the Faith may be preserved alive through the dark ages before us;
to renew and rebuild civilization, and save the world from suicide.”

– T.S. Eliot (circa 1930)

The pervasive exercise of divorce (dimly masking our selfishness) is
a key player in Eliot’s predicted collapse. There are indications that
the rate of divorce may be slowing its ascent. Perhaps we are on the
brink of beginning the rebuilding process.

Anthropologists have told us that the family is the foundation of our
western society, and that as the family deteriorates, our society will
crumble. So what is the state of our nation?

Economists are informing us of our present prosperity. To many this
seems to be the end of the story. But is the lion sleeping?

In Luke 12, Jesus tells about a man who seemed to think that his
prosperity was the end of the story. As he assessed his generous crops
he decided to build bigger barns and said, “You have plenty of good
things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be
merry.”

God’s message countered: “You fool! This very night your life will
be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for
yourself? This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for
himself but is not rich toward God.”

Following is the story on our foolishness:

• Substance abuse is rampant.
• Lawlessness abounds.
• Schools are no longer safe.
• Crack babies are born and abandoned.
• One-third of our children are born without the benefit of married
  parents.
• Each night in America 4 out of 10 children go to sleep without
  fathers in their home.
• Sixty percent of our children will spend some major part of their
  childhood without fathers.
• Oppositional and impulsive behaviors are on the increase.
• We are tied with Russia for having the largest percentage of our
  population incarcerated.
• In 1970 there were two major sexually transmitted diseases. Today
  there are 25 major sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
• In 1970 1 in 300 Americans had a curable, bacterial STD.
• Today l out of every 4 Americans has an incurable, viral STD.
• Young people are murdering their parents and themselves.
• Parents are murdering their children.

The economic prosperity of America hardly tells the story. We are
thriving. We can pay for our lawyers, addictions, divorces, infections
and coffins for our dying children. But money is not a cure for the
soul of the individual or the nation.

For a long time, the powers that be tried to convince us that the
social ills befalling America were in no way related to the breakdown of
the family through divorce. A casual look at the evidence contradicts
that fallacy. We have to hurt bad enough to want to do something
different. Out of this pain was born the marriage education movement –
a plan to teach the skills, perspectives and core beliefs which
strengthen the marital bond.

The heart of the solution is a return to God’s plan for the family –
a mother and father devoted first to God, then to one another, and
together committed to raising their children in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord. “Wherefore they are no more twain, but one
flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put
asunder” (Matthew 19:6).

August 2000

Related Articles:

• Review: The Faith of Leap: Embracing a Theology of Risk, Adventure & Courage, Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch, Baker, 2011
• Why do Ex-College students Leave Christianity?
• Effective Evangelism: 18 Obstacles
• WAS JESUS GOD?
• COUNTRY CLUB TO MISSION BASE: THE STRATEGIC ROLE OF THE PASTOR

This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.