True Family Values is a journey through the “four realms of heart”—the heart of children, of brothers and sisters, of spouses, and of parents. Today’s article and the next map out the path we will take.
Parts one and two discuss why we are taking this journey. Part One, “Marriage in Changing Times,” explains that marriage and family life are breaking down, and how Christians and all believers are fighting a good fight but losing the war. Christianity has had its golden ages, but never could subjugate evil entirely. It concludes that in Jesus we have a model of health for the individual, and a path of grace to achieve it, but that we have lacked a model of health for marriage and family, and the grace needed to achieve that.
“Christians and all believers are fighting a good fight but losing the war.”
Part Two, “A Model of the True Family,” begins by sharing the model of health, God’s design for marriage and family. Many have had relative success building marriages and families, but we need a worldview built upon marriage and family, and God’s grace to achieve it. This is what True Family Values is about. One core insight is that self-centered love destroys marriage, and that no one has removed selfishness from sexual desire. Is celibacy the solution? It’s part of the solution, but the problem ultimately is not sex; it is selfishness. How do we learn to overcome selfishness? As children, from our parents.
The third part, “God and Christians, Parents and Children,” shows how our relationship with God and with our father and mother parallel each other. In this “realm of the child’s heart,” we are wired to grow in the image of our parents. We learn right and wrong, form our conscience and establish our attitude toward rules and laws through our parents. Done right, this relationship with our mother and father breaks open the seed of our eternal relationship with God. Through experiences of unconditional parental love, we grow spiritually and enter the next stage, “the realm of brother and sister heart.”
“Premature sex prevents most people from inheriting the power of parental love.“
The fourth part, “Growing as Brother and Sister,” recounts how we strengthen the power of parental love within us through sibling relationships. This is God’s preparation for us to marry and procreate children. Sadly, premature sex prevents most people from inheriting this great power.
We’ll pick up from here on Friday.
– TH
