Why is the devil trying to destroy the 'Family" unit? Allowing us to compromise? To better understand this, one should understand that God sent Jesus into a "family" unit, a Jewish Family. God showed us the example, God gave us the guidelines to follow, we simply have choosen to bring God's laws down to our level, rather than reaching up to God?
A good foundation to build upon
Today it is so much easier for us to say YES then to teach a child or teen NO?
Why do we have so many problems facing our family unit today? VALUES! Children mimic adults, and their actions. If you go to your preacher and ask him to give you the 10 commandemts, do you think he could? It is a fact that most preachers asked today they don't even know them all, they are not posted in churches, or homes. The answer is always....that is the old, we are not under the old covenent? Right, but when did God take away his commandments to us? Simply we have choosen to do the things that we consider worthwhile or desirable just as the definition below states about values.
Values: principle, standard, or quality considered worthwhile or desirable:
A few examples of Family, family values and Jesus
In Mark 7:6-13, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for shirking their family responsibilities. In earlier verses, the Pharisees had criticized Jesus and His disciples for not practicing ritual Jewish washings before they ate. Jesus responded by calling them hypocrites for trying to get around the Fifth Commandment—to honor their parents—through their tradition of Corban.
In John 19:26-27, Jesus shows love for His mother in one of His final actions as a human being. In the last hours of His life, Jesus undoubtedly had a lot on His mind, including the unbelievable pain and exhaustion He felt, the way He had been mistreated, the need not to sin in His final moments and His upcoming victory. However, in this most traumatic time, He still showed love, respect and responsibility for His mother, Mary, to make sure she would be cared for. With the last of His strength He lovingly asked His best friend, John, to take care of her.
This tradition allowed Jews to dedicate their money and possessions as a gift to God and the temple, but to retain use of their wealth until their death. Under this tradition, such individuals refused to help their needy parents in their old age, saying that their money was Corban—that is, dedicated to God. Jesus pointed out that this was a blatant, selfish way of breaking the Fifth Commandment.
God and Family...Jesus was sent into a 'family' unit. A Earthly father, a mother. How could Jesus understand what we go through day by day, the problems we face as a person, as a family if he was not educated in knowing how we feel and experience? Jesus did not come to take away traditions, He came to expose the hearts of men. If the heart is in the right place. Obedience means nothing if it is not from the heart.(Luke 24:44) And He said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.Jesus does not want us to abandon the laws instead he wants us to operate in the spirit of the laws.
The Jewish HOME a example to follow.
In a Jewish household, the wife and mother is called in Hebrew akeret habayit. This means literally the “mainstay” of the home. It is she who largely determines the character and atmosphere of the entire home.
God demands that a Jewish home – every Jewish home – should have a Jewish character, not only on Shabbat and the holidays, but also on the ordinary weekdays and in “weekday” matters. It must be a Jewish home in every respect.
What makes a Jewish household different from a non-Jewish household is that it is conducted in all its details according to the directives of the Torah. Hence the home becomes an abode for God’s Presence, a home for Godliness, one of which God says, “Make Me a sanctuary, and I shall dwell among them.” (Exodus 25:5).
It is a home where God’s Presence is felt on every day of the week; and not only when engaged in prayer and learning Torah but also when engaged in very ordinary activities such as eating and drinking etc., in accordance with the directive, “Know Him in all your ways.”
It is a home where mealtime is not a time for indulging merely in eating, but becomes a hallowed service to God, sanctified by the washing of the hands before the meal, reciting the blessings over the food, and Grace after the meal, with every item of food and beverage brought into the home being strictly kosher.
It is a home where the parents know that their first obligation is to instill into their offspring, from their most tender age, the love, and fear, of God, permeating them with the joy of performing mitzvot. Despite their desire to provide their children with all the good things in life, Jewish parents must know that the greatest, indeed the only real and eternal legacy they can bequeath to their children, is to make the Torah, mitzvot and Jewish traditions their life-source and guide in daily life.
In all that has been said above, the Jewish wife and mother – the Akeret Habayit – has a primary role, second to none. It is largely – and in many respects exclusively – her great task and privilege to give her home its truly Jewish atmosphere.
She has been entrusted with, and is completely in charge of, the kashrut of the foods and beverages that come into her kitchen and appear on the dining table. She has been given the privilege of ushering in the holy Shabbat by lighting the candles on Friday, in ample time before sunset. Thus she actually and symbolically brightens up her home with peace and harmony and with the light of Torah and mitzvot. It is largely in her merits that God bestows the blessing of true happiness on her husband and children and the entire household.When a Jewish woman creates a Jewish home and educates her children in Torah and mitzvot, she is deserving of King Solomon’s praise, “A woman of worth who can find … a God fearing woman, she is to be praised.” Thus God wanted Jesus to grow up in the Jewish way, the traditions and not to 'take' away but to make all things new again.
This is as it is in the Bible. The Hebrew word translated "Family," mishpaha,
is used in a wider sense than the English term "family" usually conveys. The word for the inhabitants of one house is usually bet, "household. . . ." Mishpaha most often refers to a circle of relatives with strong blood ties. Thus, mishpaha is sometimes translated "clan" in the newer translations. This is unfortunate, because there is no reason to prefer the modern, atomistic sense of the word "Family" over the more "patriarchal" sense that the word had only a few generations ago. In our society we don't live in "clans," we live in a "family" where "family" describes 2.2 children, one or two working adults (of one or both sexes) who are earning enough money to go into debt for all the toys ("adult" and children's) which are advertised on the State-licensed TV stations.
What the newer translations call a "clan" (like the Hatfield Family) is certainly a Family, and the King James Version is justified in translating this Hebrew word as "Family." Jesus expressed great respect for family values. Luke 2:39-52 tells how Jesus as a child respected his parents and remained subject to them. Even then, however, Jesus recognized that God was a higher authority in his life.
Jesus revealed to his parents that he was different and that he had a special mission in life that they did not understand. When his parents found Jesus in the Temple, they were surprised and said exactly what a lot of parents say to children when they leave the house without telling us where they are going : "How could you do this to us! We have been looking for you sorrowing (lit. "in great pain")." Jesus did not apologize to his parents for "leaving them and going to the temple" and acting on who he really was. He simply said that he had to be his true self and left it at that. His mother was loving and accepting even when she did not understand. We need more mothers like Mary!
Jesus rebuked his mother for telling him what to do and then did it anyway in John 2:3-11. Later, Jesus provided for his mother by telling his beloved disciple to take care of her. Yet Jesus also taught that following him was more important than usual family obligations in Matthew 8:21-22: "Another of the disciples said to Jesus, Sovereign, let me first go and bury my father. But Jesus said to him, Follow me; and let the dead bury the dead."
JESUS CHALLENGED ALL TRADITIONS. Parents selected children's mates. Women were property and had no freedom in choosing their partners. Jesus elevated women from property to persons to partners in ministry and respected and honored little children, all of which was new. Jesus set into motion many freedoms we assume today.
YOUR UNION WITH CHRIST The word "forsake" used by Jesus to tell his followers that they should forsake everything else in order to be his disciples is the same word used for forsaking father and mother in order for the human partners to "become one" in marriage. In Matthew 19:29, Jesus set loyalty to him in contrast to traditional family values:
"Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or farms for my name's sake, shall receive many times as much, and shall inherit eternal life."
GOING BEYOND TRADITION Everything that Jesus did was new. His new understanding of family was revolutionary. The traditional family ties of the time of Jesus were challenged and replaced by ties to Jesus and to doing the will of God.
When the mother and brothers of Jesus came to get Jesus, the crowd told Jesus that his mother and brothers were looking for him. Jesus answered by asking, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking about on those who were sitting around him Jesus said, "Look! Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother." (Mark 3:31-35)
You do not choose your biological family. Jesus sets you free to chose who will be closest to you and who will most influence your life. What kind of choices have you made in selecting people to be in your life? Your freedom in Christ includes your freedom to decide who your circle of closest friends will be. Freedom to chose your "family" implies your obligation to chose wisely. You can destroy a lot of your freedom by making bad choices. Have you ever done that?
Jesus carefully selected his closest friends. God will help you do the same.
Jesus Respected and Honored His Earthly Father and Mother
It was the wedding celebration of the year. People were mingling. The drinks were flowing. The music was playing... and then it happened. The wine ran out. While the host panicked, one of his friends broke into a group of young adults to ask her son to help.A normal young adult may have ignored the plea for help. But this young man gladly left the group to help his mother and the host resolve the crisis.
The mother didn't hesitate to ask for help and the son was not put off by his mother's request. Wouldn't it be great if all parents and children had this kind of relationship?
JESUS MAKES ALL THINGS NEW
Jesus gave a "new" commandment that his followers should love one another just as Jesus loved them. The only way that you can follow that commandment is to have Jesus in your heart and mind. Whenever the Spirit of Jesus comes into your life, the first evidence is your love for people. "The fruit of the Spirit is love." (Gal. 5:22).
Loving one another includes loving your biological family also. Jesus did not reject traditional family values of his time. He went beyond them to define all values in relation to himself. Jesus calls you to a radical letting go of everything in order to follow only Jesus. The bottom line in everything for Jesus was, "FOLLOW ME."
A good example of the Biblical use of "Family" is found in the story of the detection of Achan after the failure to capture Ai (Joshua 7). The search for the missing gold was first narrowed down to the "tribe" of Judah, then to the "Family" (mishpaha) of the Zarhites, and finally to the "household" (bet) of Zabdi. If it should be suggested that bet is the better form of the Family, fine. As The New Bible Dictionary puts it, "The fact that Achan was a married man with children of his own (7:24) but was still counted as a member of the bet of his grandfather Zabdi, shows the extent of this term." Our definition of "Family" -- even under the bet formulation -- needs to be expanded if it is to resemble the Bible's perspective.
Abraham's Family included servants and apprentices. Genesis 14:14 has led one scholar to estimate that Abraham's Family may have had as many as 12,000 members. It may have been closer to 3,000, but it was large enough to withstand the attacks of the armies of major city-states surrounding him (Genesis 14).
While the "extended family" is culturally normative, the "nuclear family" is also a complete entity, according to Genesis 2:24. Many fear Family power because some grandfathers have made dictatorial demands on their sons and sons' sons. While the Bible gives grandfathers many responsibilities over their descendants (e.g., Deuteronomy 4:9), "dictatorial" demands are obviously unBiblical, and the problem here is not the denial of the sovereignty of the nuclear family, but of unChrist-like "authority" (Mark 10:42-45).
Jesus did speak about family values. He lambasted the Pharisees for taking the money they should have been using to care for their parents and dedicating it to God with a vow so they could use it now and not have to support their parents. He gives his mother to John to take care of her. He treats the love of the father for the prodigal son as an image of perfect, divine love, which affirms such love for wayward children.
Challenging aspects of social structures of the time doesn't mean you reject all of them, particularly aspects of them that you don't challenge. Not treating a subject your audience already agrees with you about is not a sign that you don't agree with them. I'm not sure at all how predicting that people will divide over him amounts to endorsing that division as if the mere division is good. Key features of Jesus' treatment of himself as the Son of God and of the movement following him as wholeheartedly devoted to him explain some of the features of his view of the family that she sees as revisionist of the mother-father-children model.
But it doesn't do to handpick your evidence selectively and then claim that the parts you ignore are nonexistent. Jesus affirms that some are eunuchs for the kingdom of God, but he also insists that this isn't for some. He affirms marriage as important enough that someone can't just decide to get divorced. He allows for exceptions in certain cases, but those are exceptions. If the woman caught in adultery story is genuine, he did mention that what she'd been doing was sin and told her not to do it anymore. John 4 makes similar suggestions with the woman at the well. It's true that his emphasis is often on other things, but it's very clear that he supported the traditional sexual morality of the time.
But the strangest thing about this is that she's assuming Jesus' teaching is all the Bible might say about something, as if the very strong family teaching connections in Proverbs, the Torah commands for parents to teach their children, the sexual morality throughout the Bible (but especially in the Torah and epistles), and the teachings in the epistles about how to live as believers in relationships with husbands, wives, parents, and children are totally unimportant.
If you want to get across the idea that the Bible doesn't support this notion of traditional family values, a good strategy for such deception is to ignore the parts of the Bible that deal with those issues at greater length and to focus on the part that focuses on one person and his all-important role of dealing with the more general problem of sin. It is the rhetorically effective thing to do to get your point across to the biblically illiterate audience who won't see through such selective handpicking of evidence. Of course it's also pretty deceptive.
1. The Education of Children This includes, indeed, has primary reference to, moral education and the development of productive and responsible character. A society dominated by nomads and criminals cannot long survive. An outwardly "prosperous," "conservative" society without moral leaders ("Patriarchs") populated by amoral technicians and worker-drones will merely die a slower death. A society needs many Christians (Proverbs 14:28).
Education, in Biblical perspective, is not the memorization of atomistic facts and the ability to regurgitate them on demand. Education is primarily moral; a Biblically educated person has the ability to judge the facts of the world in terms of Biblical Law and to persevere in the wise and faithful application of Biblical Principles to every area of his life, even under sometimes frustrating circumstances. Deuteronomy 6:6-9 commands that children be educated in life, not in institutions, and in the Bible, not the wisdom of man. And this means knowledge of how to apply the Bible and obey its commands, not just learning about the Bible (Jeremiah 4:22; James 1:22; Hebrews 5:14).
Highlights of Jesus Childhood
Childhood of Jesus
Jesus grew up in Nazareth. The Bible gives us a little information about his childhood.
Family of Jesus
Jesus had brothers and sisters. Although his sisters are un-named, his brothers were: James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas.
Adolescent Jesus
Jesus was taken to Jerusalem for Passover when he was twelve. When they left Jerusalem, his parents discovered Jesus was not with the caravan.
They searched for Jesus, and found him at the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus was with the teachers, who were amazed at his understanding.
The carpenter's son
Joseph was a carpenter, and taught Jesus the trade. Scripture does not indicate what they built, but an early historian claimed they made wooden plows.
Jesus worked as a carpenter until his ministry began. He was about 30 years old at that time. Some believe Joseph died before Jesus began preaching.
Read
Luke 2:39-52
Matthew 13:55-57
Mark 6:3
We are under the new law of Christ NOT the law of Moses. Some of the Old Testament laws are ratified in the new covenant and some are not. He did not polish up the Old Testament laws to shine better. The moral laws continue, as they are reaffirmed in the New Testament because they preceded the law of Moses (you shall not kill, no adultery, no lying or stealing). Man was created in the image of his maker and so had a moral likeness in his nature, though now flawed. These moral laws were relative to mans moral nature that was made in God's image.
Rom 3:19-20: “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
In Romans 7 (which makes a good study on this topic), he makes the argument of a bride to her husband. That if one dies the other is not longer bound. Rom 7:4: “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another-- to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.” V.6 “ But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.