War on Family?

How a selfish culture has lead to destruction

The other day I was chatting with my boyfriend Chad and we got to talking about whether we think there is a war on family or not.

I was quick to say that I did think that the family was being attacked. But I did not really have a super good reason as to why I thought that. I just said I could see how much brokenness there was within the family today; more so then I ever think there has been before.

As usual, Chad had a pretty well thought out response and reason on this topic. He’s a pretty smart guy. 

He told me that he did not like the term war on family because it makes it sound like a big group of people sat around a huge mafia type table and plotted the demise and destruction of the family as we know it. Which most likely did not happen!

He said that rather he thought there was a misconception about what it means to be a family. He talked about how the traditional thought of family, as a mom, dad and their kids was being challenged. More and more everyday people are saying that a family can be whatever you want it to be. Whether it be a group of people who are close to each other or two men and their adopted children.

This can be a hard thing to talk about I know, because lots of people were not given the luxury of having both a loving mother and a caring father at home. Sometimes parents pass away or other circumstances happen which lead to not all families looking the same or fitting a certain mold. I get that, and so does Chad.

By saying all this I’m not passing judgment on anyone and their experience of family.

What I am saying is that when a family is composed according to its original design (both a mother a father and their children) that is when the family can truly thrive even when the people making up the family are imperfect.

Then Chad and I got to talking about why then the family is breaking down and being torn apart.

We came to the conclusion that it is because our society is so self-centered. What is best for ME and MY needs and MY personal happiness? What will make ME feel good?

We talked about how when the cell phone or the internet or divorce or abortion or same sex “marriage” or pornography or the sexual revolution or the new wave feminist movement were invented or promoted the creators of these things were most likely not thinking about how they could best destroy families but rather they were thinking about “what will make ME happy and other INDIVIDUALS happy?”.

And the byproduct of these movements, inventions and advancements aimed at greater happiness has been a greater sense of loneliness, brokenness and despair. And ultimately a breakdown of the family.

In turn when the family is breaking down as a byproduct of SELFISH ideals, so the society, which is composed of families continues to fall apart.

What can we do to stop this? We can start by not just thinking about what is best for us and start looking at the bigger picture. We can strive to repair brokenness within our own homes. When it comes time to start our own families we can work hard to do things right. And we can work to support ideals and organizations which promote and support life and the family.

The Purpose

The title of this blog, which I think is quite clever if I do say so myself, is “Family Facets”. I will be using this blog to explore the many diverse facets of FAMILY through exploring my thoughts, opinions and experiences along with those of others.

To get this thing started, let’s begin by looking at and exploring the words “FAMILY” and “FACET”.

Above is the dictionary definition for the word family. At it's most basic level a family is a group of parents and children living together in one household or the descendants of a common ancestor. But for most, that is not what we think of when we think family. When I think of family I think of my mom and dad, my seven younger siblings, my grandparents, and my aunts, uncles and cousins. When I think of my family, I think of joy - good times and bad times - but an overarching senses of joy. However, when you think of family, you might think "oh, those are the people who betrayed/hurt me", or "my friends are more family then my so called real family will ever be" or "family can be whatever you want it to mean, the traditional concept of family is outdated and irrelevant".  To say the least, the word and concept of FAMILY is one that is highly charged and many sided. 

That leads us to the next word: FACET. As we can see above, the dictionary definition is: "one side of a many-sided thing, or a particular aspect or feature of something". "Facets" is just the plural of "facet", and as we have already established, there are many, many FACETS to FAMILY. 

If you have been following the news, or if you just walk down the street, it is plain to see that the traditional view of family, and what it means to be a family is being stretched and challenged in today's society. The family, being the very unit or molecule of society (we all come from a family whether we like it or not), must be examined because it is critical for our society to survive and thrive. 

I know that I am not alone in this opinion: 

In our world today, there is a war on the basic unit of society - the FAMILY. There are attacks coming from every side: drugs, violence, alcohol, divorce, technology, money, abortion, same sex "marriage"... just to name a few. 

With this war on family going on all around us and effecting everyone of us, I think that it is important that we look at our own families, our experiences of family, and what we know to be true about family so that we can learn from our experiences and those of others and put an end to this war. 

So that is the very thing that this blog is going to do: talk about the many FACETS of FAMILY, so that we all may grow and better understand what God intended family to be and work towards protecting and preserving the FAMILY.