Can "family" be an idol?

[satz]

Thanks, Kevin.

I don't disagree with anything you wrote, and to be honest, I thought what I initially posted was more or less exactly what you have explained.

Maybe I was reading too much into that one statement (probably).

 

[calgal]

Thank you Kevin. That logic makes sense. And I could take a guess that the men you would have your son working with would be stable, mature Christians.

And no Brad we don't have kids and may very well never have them so thanks for the reminder. We DO however struggle with a child as an idol. If God deems us worthy of parenthood (it appears He has NOT done so and that is a stumbling block between me and God) it will be a struggle to not make the child an idol or worse a "special snowflake."

Lastly, No family is perfect and no family this side of heaven is going to get their offspring or other relatives into heaven on the strength of "multigenerational planning." I am sure you all have thought of that as part of the "plan."

 

[Mushroom]

Gail, my statement was not meant to hurt you, just to point out that having children may affect how one looks at this issue. My apologies for the unintended slight.

While I'm sure humans are capable of making anything an idol, even a child, I don't see where anyone is advocating that. As someone said earlier, you could make toothpaste an idol, but to repair that situation, you wouldn't stop using toothpaste. The fear of idolizing children is no reason to instead intentionally expose them to the infections of worldly lusts. You wouldn't walk a child through a yellow fever ward without first making sure they were properly innoculated, and the same is true of the fetid swamps of higher education.

My family is far from perfect, due in large part I think because I am woefully imperfect, but by the grace of God I will trundle on in this stewardship He has given me, trusting in His covenantal promises towards them.

 

[calgal]

Gail, my statement was not meant to hurt you, just to point out that having children may affect how one looks at this issue. My apologies for the unintended slight.

While I'm sure humans are capable of making anything an idol, even a child, I don't see where anyone is advocating that. As someone said earlier, you could make toothpaste an idol, but to repair that situation, you wouldn't stop using toothpaste. The fear of idolizing children is no reason to instead intentionally expose them to the infections of worldly lusts. You wouldn't walk a child through a yellow fever ward without first making sure they were properly innoculated, and the same is true of the fetid swamps of higher education.

My family is far from perfect, due in large part I think because I am woefully imperfect, but by the grace of God I will trundle on in this stewardship He has given me, trusting in His covenantal promises towards them.

I understand and agree (this is a big big stumbling block for me as you probably guessed). The family as an idol is not directed at anyone with kids but at the idea that the family is first (before God). And that is frighteningly easy to do.

 

[Hebrew Student]

Brad,

Am I imagining things, or is it mostly folks without kids that are skeptical of what Kevin's saying? Now that's a big surprise!

Well, in a sense I guess you could say that is true. Why is it that Baptists and Presbyterians read the Bible differently? Certainly our experiences can play a role in what we see in the text. However, we have to go beyond that and say, "Does the text say that, or am I reading my own experiences into the text?" That is really the issue. As someone has already said, we cannot bind to the contience of God's people things that are not found in his word, whether we are married with children or single. That is why it is important to go back to scripture and wrestle with the text.

God Bless,
Adam

 

[BG]

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