This was an exhortation I gave last June 14th, 2019 on a Christian community in one of the prayer meeting session I led. It was edited and revised for the purpose of this blog.
© Copyright 2019 Photo by Letters to Lukewarmers
Before we begin, I wish to show you one of the items (above photo) you see in our kitchen wall at home. It's a coloring
work last October my 6-years old daughter did in her 1st grade faith formation class.
The teacher gave them an activity, to write the name of a person who helps them
grow close to Jesus. And "DaD" was the 1st person she wrote down. When she
brought it home for me to see, I was so delighted and proud of her and was
touched by the implication that daddy and mommy talk and show her Jesus. I sincerely hope and pray that she will continue to instill in her heart and
mind her love for Jesus and that she will carry on her faith and relationship
with the Lord deeper as she grows up.
Now why am I sharing this? (Besides my
daughter making me look good). Because this is relevant to the next thing I am
about to share with you as well, since this Sunday, Father's day is coming up! And that next thing I thought that is fitting to share with you is
an article that I read last Father's day of last year (2018). It struck a chord with me
to find this article apt in these crucial times we are witnessing and living
right now especially as a parent.
Actually I have been meaning to share this
article to the brothers last men's retreat this past April (of 2019) but didn't get the
chance to do so due to time constraint. But anyway, the article primarily
speaks to all the fathers and brothers in here, but this is also important to
all the mothers and sisters when they discuss with their spouses in engaging
the faith of their children, and for mothers who play fatherly roles, and wives
who play a more active role in faith than their husband counterparts.
The article simply entitled: "IF DAD
TAKES FAITH IN GOD SERIOUSLY, SO WILL HIS CHILDREN". It was originally
taken from a 23-page apostolic exhortation by a Bishop in Phoenix Arizona named
Fr. Thomas Olmsted entitled "Into the Breach".
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The excerpt of his exhortation read as follows.
He said:
“Men, do not hesitate to engage in the battle
that is raging around you, the battle that is wounding our children and
families, the battle that is distorting the dignity of both women and men. This
battle is often hidden, but the battle is real. It is primarily spiritual, but
it is progressively killing the remaining Christian ethos in our society and
culture, and even in our own homes.
The world is under attack by Satan, as our
Lord said it would be (1 Peter 5:8-14). This battle is occurring in the Church
herself, and the devastation is all too evident. Since AD 2000, 14 million
Christians have left the faith, religious education of children has dropped by
24%, Christian school attendance has dropped by 19%, baptism has dropped by
31%, and marriages have dropped by 41%. This is a serious breach, a gaping hole
in Christ’s battle lines …
One of the key reasons that the Church is
faltering under the attacks of Satan is that many Christian men have not been
willing to “step into the breach” – to fill this gap that lies open and
vulnerable to further attack. A large number have left the faith, and many who
remain “Christian” practice the faith timidly and are only minimally committed
to passing the faith on to their children. Recent research shows that large
numbers of young Christian men are leaving the faith to become “nones” – men
who have no religious affiliation. The growing losses of young Christian men
will have a devastating impact on the Church in America in the coming decades,
as older men pass away and young men fail to remain and marry in the Church,
accelerating the losses that have already occurred.
These facts are devastating. As our fathers,
brothers, uncles, sons, and friends fall away from the Church, they fall deeper
and deeper into sin, breaking their bonds with God and leaving them vulnerable
to the fires of Hell. While we know that Christ welcomes back every repentant
sinner, the truth is that large numbers of Christian men are failing to keep
the promises they made at their children's baptisms – promises to bring them to
Christ and to raise them in the faith of the Church.
This crisis is evident in the discouragement
and disengagement of Christian men like you and me. In fact, this is precisely
why I believe this Exhortation is needed, and it is also the reason for my
hope, for God constantly overcomes evil with good. The joy of the Gospel is
stronger than the sadness wrought by sin! A throw-away culture cannot withstand
the new life and light that constantly radiates from Christ. So I call upon you
to open your minds and hearts to Him, the Savior who strengthens you to step
into the breach!"
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One more thing, there was a large and
important study conducted by the Swiss government in 1994 and published in 2000
I found interesting that might be worth sharing with you as well. The study
revealed some astonishing facts with regard to the generational transmission of
faith and religious values. In short, the study reveals:
“It is the religious practice of the father of the family that, above all,
determines the future attendance at or absence from church of the children.”
The study
reports:
1. If
both father and mother attend regularly, 33 percent of their children will end
up as regular churchgoers, and 41 percent will end up attending irregularly.
Only a quarter of their children will end up not practicing at all.
2. If
the father is irregular and mother regular, only 3 percent of the children will
subsequently become regulars themselves, (while a further 59 percent will
become irregulars). Thirty-eight percent will be lost.
3. If
the father is non-practicing and mother regular, only 2 percent of children
will become regular worshipers, (and 37 percent will attend irregularly). Over
60 percent of their children will be lost completely to the church!
What
happens if the father is regular even if the mother irregular or
non-practicing? Amazingly, the percentage of children becoming regular goes up
from 33 percent to 38 percent with the irregular mother and up to 44 percent if
the father is regular and the mother non-practicing. This suggests that loyalty
to the father’s commitment grows in response to the mother’s laxity or
indifference to religion.
If a father does not go to church – no matter
how faithful his wife’s devotions – only one child in 50 will become a regular
worshiper. If a father does go regularly, regardless of the practice of the
mother, between two-thirds and three-quarters of their children will become
churchgoers (regular and irregular). Of course, I am not undermining the role
of mothers in sharing this to you. It is a given. As the saying goes, "Behind a
successful man is the woman," that still holds true. One of the reasons
suggested in the study for this distinction is that children tend to take their
cues about domestic life from Mom while their conceptions of the world outside
come from Dad. If Dad takes faith in God seriously then the message to
their children is that God should be taken seriously.
This confirms the essential role of father as
spiritual leader.
>The author reiterates that Fathers
are to love their wives as Christ loves the church, modeling the love of the
Father in their most important earthly relationship.
>Fathers are to care for their children as our Father in heaven cares for
us,
>And finally, fathers play a primary role in teaching their children the
truth about reality.
>It is the father who should instruct his children in their understanding of
the world from a consciously and informed Christian worldview. It is the father
who is essential for sending his children forth with a biblical view of reality
and a faith in Jesus Christ that is rooted in solid understanding.
It is time for fathers to return to honorable
manhood and reconsider their priorities and realign them with God’s commands,
decrees, and laws, teaching these things to your children.
That is why for this among other reason, we
gather here as a community to fight the good fight of faith, to model this
commitment to our children, and to equip ourselves and our children spiritually
in this day and age where we wage war against the worldly culture that our
generation and our children's future is facing right now.
As we gather around in worship, brothers and
sisters, I would like to invite you tonight to lift up our prayers to ask for the
grace to be patient and to persevere in our walk in faith, to lift them all up
to our Heavenly Father--our ultimate source and example of Fatherhood.
Happy Father's Day!
EXHORTATION
2019-6-14
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