Assault on the Christian Family’s Values and Morals

America’s traditional family values and morals are being besieged in unimaginable proportions.  Never has the Christian family faced such an onslaught of evil strategies and influences.

Christian families are under assault from every conceivable anti-family force imaginable. These assaults are being unleashed with a merciless fervor.  The purpose is to destroy family values and morals. 

The assault on families is real, and the danger is more serious than most Christians realize. Unless families awaken to what is happening in America and become energized in the defense of biblical truth, Christian integrity, family honor, and American patriotism, the family will continue to lose its moral influence and political power. When good people remain silent, evil prevails; and when evil prevails, the Christian family and society suffer the consequences.

The chief architect of this assault is Satan. He hates God and anyone who loves Him. His intent is to redefine and to destroy the sanctity of marriage and to negate the influence of Christian values and morals. Scripture warns us, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (I Pet. 5:8).

The assault against the family includes the influences spawned by the entertainment media: music, television, and Hollywood. These influences eat like a cancer at family values and morals. Drug use devastates lives and destroys families. Abortions continue to increase at an alarming rate; the divorce rate is on the rise; babies born to unwed mothers continue to increase: and crime has escalated with an alarming rise in brutal, vicious acts. Safety and trust have become major issues in the American culture. These are only some of the influences that ruin homes, destroy children's lives, and break the hearts of parents.

Dual career parents, single mothers, latchkey children, and detached teenagers also put a strain on family relations. Over-committed, fearful, and confused families have strayed from or forgotten God's plan for the home. Like the children of Israel, the family is concentrating more on its place in the world instead of seeking after God's will: "They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; and forgat his works..." (Ps. 78:10-11a).

In addition to these influences, a majority of America's children are educated in schools where standards of right and wrong are based on personal preferences instead of biblical absolutes. Thus, absolute truths are rejected in secular education as a moral guide for behavior and beliefs. Satan led a revolt in the 1960s against Christianity in the public schools and succeeded in banning prayer and the Bible. Now, humanism rules. Satan continuously stalks the Christian family, convincing many that Christ's preeminence in education is irrelevant in the twenty-first century.

The Christian home, the training ground for teaching Christian values and morals, can counter these assaults. From the beginning of time, God gave parents the responsibility to train their children to love and serve Him and to love and obey their parents. The home is where children learn how to live for God and bow to honor Him and their parents. 

A final thought to consider: America was founded by men and women who desired religious liberty. From their dream, America grew to become the greatest nation in the world, a nation with a moral conscience deep-rooted in the teaching of Scripture. Unfortunately, the morals and values that once reigned in American families, businesses, and government are vanishing.

Application

The Bible is life's rulebook for Christian families. Parents must teach its precepts to their children; they must practice its principles and obey its laws; they must seek God's wisdom in knowing how to cope with life's problems. This requires building a hedge of biblical truth around the family and depending on the Holy Spirit for guidance. It also means that parents should live principle-driven lives, pray for forgiveness of sin and deliverance from evil, and practice living by faith instead of by sight.

Christian parents should always follow God's ways, even when they do not understand His directions (Prov. 3:5-6). This means asking the hard questions. Is God exalted in my home? Is my child's teacher reinforcing the biblical absolutes that I believe and leach at home? Is my child's teacher a Christian that models Christ and Bible truths? Is my child studying from Christian textbooks that present knowledge in the light of Scripture? The answers are enough for any devoted Christian parent to give Christian education his support. This single choice will help parents divert many of the assaults Satan makes upon the Christian family. 

Dr. Charles,Walker is the executive director of the American Association of Christian Schools.  He also served as executive director of the Tennessee Association of Christian Schools.