#8 We Believe In The Family Series

Just what is it that we believe? Could you tell someone what it is you believe? In past messages we have discussed our believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We have talked about how we need salvation and cannot save ourselves and that Jesus is the only way. We believe in the church where we live out our lives as the body of Christ. But as the body of Christ, just how do we live out our lives? We live in community with one another, but right from the beginning of time God gave us the basic building blocks of society: The Family

The first organization God ordained was not the church, but marriage and the family. Yet the family, as we know it, is under attack. It is being attack and being redefined by the culture, by the courts, and by our government. In congress right now, is legislation formally redefining marriage (HR 8404). The bill has been called the “Respect of Marriage Act” but on closer examination it should be more correctly named the “Dis-respect for Marriage Act.” Not only will it codified same-sex marriage (and that alone will have far reaching implications for us), but it will demand that all states honor the all laws and definition of marriage from other states and door is open for way beyond gay marriage (child marriages, polygamy and more). This will literally change our world, and not for the better.

Our world is being turned quite literally upside down and perversion is being celebrated and is being forced on the rest of us. What God has ordained and defined, we do not get to change, regardless of the laws that are passed. We are starting this morning by going back to the beginning, back in Genesis, and looking at marriage and the family as God had set it up.

Genesis 2:22–25

Back in 1933, Dr J. D. Unwin, a social anthropologist, published a book called “Sex and Culture.” This almost 700 page book was a summary of the 7 volume work published at about the same time. Unwin studied 80 primitive tribes and six known civilizations through 5,000 years of history. He claimed there was a positive correlation between the cultural achievement of a people and the sexual restraint they observe.

Unwin was not a particularly religious man. His work only mentions religion in passing as it relates to his study, but his study has far reaching implications on our world today. At the risk of over-simplifying his observations and conclusions, I will attempt to briefly summarize what His said.

A society that has a very high moral code, the people remained virgins till marriage, sex was strictly limited to only within the confines of a heterosexual and monogamous marriage, that society flourished in all cultural areas of literature, music, arts, science, engineering , architecture, and agriculture. And when a society combined pre-nuptial chastity (no pre-marriage sex) with “absolute monogamy” (one mate for life) the society reaches it highest potential. Unwin noted that only three out of the 86 societies studied ever reach that level and none of them kept it for long.

But as a culture, a that society begins to experienced sexual freedoms, and as they abandoned pre-nuptial chastity, they also abandoned monogamy, godliness, rational thinking, all within 3 generations. He went on to say that when total sexual freedom was embraced by a culture, that culture collapsed within three generations, from within, and usually that people were conquered or taken over by another people with greater social energy.

How does that apply to us? The sexual revolution began in the 60’s and Unwin’s generation appears to be about 33 years. We are entering that third generation, that generation of complete social collapse even now. [1]

I have not even touched the tip of the iceberg as far as this study is concerned, but I believe you get the gist of where it is going.

Many people believe that God is a cosmic killjoy. Maybe God really has our best interest of heart when He laid down these standards in the Bible for us to follow. Maybe God knows what is best for our society to flourish.

Now let’s go back and see what God has done. My purpose today is not to go into all the details of marriage and family, but just hit on some of the highlights of marriage and family that society is wanting to change. When God made man, we see that God noted that he need a helper suitable for him.

Genesis 2:18 Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”

The KJV has “help-meet.” What is conveyed in the Hebrew is a helper that is like him, that corresponded to him. Eve was not exactly like Adam, but she had the same nature. What Adam lacked, Eve supplied. What Eve lacked, Adam supplied.