One of the primary topics of discussion on this blog is the assualt on the family that is taking place in American society today. While this is nothing new and unfortunately, the trend does not seem to be abating, it is important to reflect back on the value of the Biblical family model on society and why its demise is merely a precursor to societal collapse.
Rushdoony calls "family law the basic law of mankind...it is the first place man, as a child, encounters law, rules of conduct, and his idea of law is shaped and defined to a great degree by the family...The child's attitude towards every other institution and its laws is largely shaped by the family." While this view may seem revolutionary today, this function of the family as a lawgiving unit and the members of that family including fathers, mothers and children each learning their place both in the family and society has been the bedrock of our cultural, economic and moral stability. How one understands authority and the relationship of the individual towards every aspect of society including the family, school, work and civil government is a by product of what is taught in those most formative years as taught inside the family unit.
If this is granted to be the case, then there are two main problems that have led to problems in this area. The first, and the one in which we have the most control over, is that of our own failure to live up to our parental responsibilities. Rushdoony writes that, "every parent daily is a lawmaking person, and the delinquency of parents in this respect is their delinquency before God." Not only does failure to lead spiritually and authoritatively impact the family, but economic failure also plays a role in the breakdown we see today. "When the family is not self-supporting, there is neither power nor authority in the person of the father...a man who will not provide for his family, accumulate respect, and cherish private property, will have neither the authority , nor the ability to govern with wisdom and honor. Lacking self-government, he cannot govern others." First and foremost then, the family must recognize its God-given responsibilities both as father, mother and child and to decide to live and raise the family according to those responsibilities. There is no reason to think that if the family unit disregards its responsibilities that there is any person or entity that can effectively fill that void despite the fact that there will be those who will take that step.
And that leads us to the second problem in today's society is that concurrent with the deterioration of the family is the idea that others can effectively fill that place. Rushdoony points out a couple of issues when this happens. As for education, "[when education] ceases to be parent-controlled and becomes state controlled, [it] is deadly to both education and child." As for economics, "under statist welfare, there is disintegration of the individual and of the family and extensive demoralization[takes place]." You see, as with other areas of society, it is often the case that the others take credit for things that are outside their proper domain and in doing so, the true benefactor is hidden behind the scenes. Since the country's inception, success across all aspects of social and economic measures has been the combined result of a strong spiritual, family, and church foundation combined with a strong emphasis on the responsibility of the individual as they operated in each sphere of life. While the civil government, or the school, or pop culture would like to take credit for providing the basis for social stability and order, in truth, it has been the unsung hero, the family that has provided the majority of the effort and now that the family is under attack, that foundation is rapidly eroding. As Rushdoony accurately points out, "when civil governments talk about cradle to grace security, they are simply imitating the family and offering the state as a substitute for the family...The incompetence of the state as a family has made more obvious the competence of the family as a family."
Time is not our friend in this most critical area because, despite the disregard most modern commentators have for the family, we know that, good or bad, each internal family education will be a part of the following generation that influences society as a whole. If the society is worth fighting for, then we must pledge to make the Biblical family worth fighting for and to hold our ground against incursions from both the legal and philosophical side.
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