It was the year 1961, and the Green Bay Packers (an American football team) walked into their training room for their first practice of the season. They had just come off a terrible playoff loss the season before, and they carried high hopes for a deep run in the upcoming season. But for the first practice, their legendary coach, Vince Lombardi, started the day off differently. He walked into the room, “holding a pigskin in his right hand,” and said, “’ Gentlemen, this is a football.’” He reminded these professional athletes the fundamentals of the game. This is a great reminder, as in our society right now, we have forgotten the basics of life, and have run off with our theories.

Recently, Texas passed a controversial abortion law, banning the murdering of children once a heartbeat is detected. Although they failed to abolish abortion entirely, they still made a stand highly limiting the number of abortions performed in the state. Like clockwork, the leftish machine railed against the state of Texas, and the pro-life sentiment. But for what purpose? Why is there disapproval at a bill designed to prevent the murder of the innocent? The reality is that we have forgotten the very fundamentals of society, specifically the principles regarding family. As a society, we need to remember the purpose, design, and importance of the family.

The institution of the family does not have its origins in the will of man, but rather is the first institution that God created. Genesis 1:28 and 2:24 describes the first commands of God regarding the family as it states:

God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’”

And furthermore,

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife and they become one flesh.

 

God, the designer of the family, specifically ordained the family for a certain purpose. As the verses above show, the family was formed as the solution to human loneliness, and as a safe boundary in which children could develop and grow. Now the biblical design of a family is straightforward; the family is composed of one man and one woman united in a marriage covenant. That covenant is lasting, and that very covenant provides a safe place in which children can be raised. Yet God’s design has been corrupted by sin, and often we now disregard God’s laws regarding the family. The marriage covenant which is meant to endure is now treated as just another agreement, which can be dissolved at any time. Our divorce rates are tragically high, causing many children to be raised in broken homes. Another aspect to consider is how we even treat relationships without considering God’s design. It is now so normal to cohabitate, to sleep with multiple partners before marriage, and even to raise children outside of a married relationship. This is one of the reasons why abortion is so polarizing; it is the final birth control. Disobeying God’s commands only leads to future consequences, and instead of repentance and righteousness as the response, we pursue more sinful actions to try and avoid the ramifications.

In addition, instead of the exclusive command of scripture mandating one man and one woman come together in a committed relationship, we now defend, promote, and demonstrate “allyship” to  any sort of relationship, because “love is love.” All we are doing is departing from what God has ordained as good, and discovering that our ways are flawed, messy, and broken. We have no authority to redefine the family, and anytime human beings try to run after their own ways – chasing after sin – it always leads to consequences. We know this inherently to be true and have witnessed this reality in people we know. There are consequences both individually, and spiritually, but also societally. America is crumbling, and part of that is due to the deterioration of the family unit.

Dwelling on a topic like this is by no means attractive. In fact, in our current society, teaching Biblical values regarding the family would be akin to “hate speech.” Yet, the truth must be told regarding the error of the way society has gone. We have a simple choice before our hands, but one with a cost. Will we live by God’s designs, or try to make our own? It is about time we had our Lombardi moment and returned to the fundamentals.