|
|
Christian Indie Radio
GetChristianMusic
Solid Walnut Music
|
|
|
|
|
|
Devotionals
|
|
Cartoons
Culture
Family
Games
Health
Homeschooling
Humor
Inspiration
Kids
Men
Ministry
Parenting
Poetry
Teens
Women
|
|
Statement of Faith
Contact Us
|
|
|
|
Culture Watch:Fatherhood: Instituted by God, Attacked by Liberals
by Lee Warren (Lee's bio)
Send this page to a friend
My Dad died three years ago. That hardly seems possible. Yet, sometimes it feels like I haven't seen him in a decade.
Every year, as Father's Day gets closer, I try to ignore the ads that I am inundated with in e-mail, snail mail, radio, and television “inviting me” to come to that particular store to buy something for Dad. The ads and even the motivation behind them don't bother me. I am big on capitalism. What bothers me is not having my Dad around. The ads are just another reminder of that fact.
Next week, I will board a plane with my niece and we will fly to St. Louis—where my Dad used to live. We are going to visit my brother and sister who still live there. As big as St. Louis is, you wouldn't think that it would be possible to see Dad at every turn, but I do.
As I drive by the small, run down, café on Highway 40 that we used to visit when I was in town, I see him. When I drive by Lake Saint Louis on Interstate 70, where we used to fish, I see him. When I drive by his (recently sold) house, the grocery story we used to go to, the Denny's that he loved to sit and drink coffee in, the gas station he always stopped at or the bank where he opened a savings account for my little brother, I see Dad.
St. Louis is four hundred miles from where I live in Omaha, Nebraska and as much as I see him in St. Louis, I see him even more here in Omaha. Every time I go golfing, I see him. I still use several of the clubs he bought me years ago. Every time I use the zip drive on my computer that he encouraged me to pick up, I think of him. Every time I open books in my library with his inscription, always concluded with, “Love, Dad,” I think of him. Every time Election Day rolls around, I think of him. We shared similar political views and he always picked up the phone to ask me how I thought the election would affect the country. Oh, I miss those calls.
Dad had flaws and he usually had no problem admitting them to me. Some of his flaws were huge and they cost him a great deal. Sin is like that. But, in spite of all of his flaws, he left quite a mark on my life. And even though we were separated for much of our lives by hundreds of miles, you can see how much I needed him and enjoyed his presence. Honestly, as I grew into adulthood, I needed him around more often that he was. I could have used some advice from him about women, college, business, and what it means to be a responsible adult.
My Mom did a fantastic job raising my sister and I. I don't know how she fed us and keep a roof over our heads, but she did. I suspect that she did without a lot more than she will ever admit. For that, I will always be grateful. Without her love and sacrifice, my life would be far different. But mothers cannot replace fathers. Children need both parents. It's the way God designed the family.
As I prepare to take my literal trip down memory lane in St. Louis just a couple of days after Father's Day, I must confess that I am angry. I am angry at a culture that arrogantly claims to know more than God by saying that children don't need fathers. I am angry at a culture that laughs at inept fathers in sitcoms. I am angry at government schools that continue to push homosexuality into the mainstream with books like Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy's Roommate. I am angry at parents for allowing such nonsense in their children's classrooms. Children need one mother and one father. No other combination works the way God intended.
If I sound like one of those “angry white males” that the media spoke about a couple of election cycles ago, then I plead guilty. I love life. I love worshipping God in the church of my choosing. I love spending time with family, hanging out with friends, working, reading, playing and following sports, and even playing video games.
As I live the life that I love, I pay attention to the culture and at times I get angry by what I see and read. The traditional family and specifically fatherhood is under attack from the left in America because they have the audacity to try to inaugurate man as the arbiter of life—determining right from wrong “free” from God's commands. Only God has the right to determine right from wrong and he instituted marriage between one man and one woman long before this nation ever existed.
While the left boldly proclaims its man-centered gospel aimed at the traditional family to all who will listen, many Christians don't fight in the culture war for various reasons ranging from “its not kingdom business” to “I don't know what to do.”
Both excuses embrace a bizarre concept that culture is abstract—it is “out there in the world somewhere” and that somehow we as Christians are separate from it, or worse yet, we are supposed to be. In reality, culture is the people in our offices, our parks, our shopping malls, our restaurants, our schools, and our coffee shops. The shaping of our culture happens one conversation at a time and one conversation that we desperately need to have with people right now is about fatherhood and the traditional family.
Copyright 2003, Lee Warren. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
|
About Lee Warren: Lee Warren is a freelance writer from Omaha, Nebraska. He has written for various publications and is currently working on a novel. If you are interested in reading more of his work or in receiving his column via e-mail, please go to his website: www.leewarren.net or drop him an e-mail: LeeWJunior@cox.net.
|
Send this page to a friend: