Jul
28
2010
Devaluing Dads, Discrediting the Father
Stan Guthrie, a wise columnist and father of three, responded today to Pamela Paul's provocative Atlantic article, "Are Fathers Necessary?" Guthrie cites research that reveals the vital contributions of fathers. But there is significant motivation today to devalue the father's role, due to homosexuality, artificial insemination, out-of-wedlock births, and other developments. Guthrie identifies the spiritual distortions and longings that underlie this latest assault on dads.
We dispense with fatherhood, a basic building block of family and society, at our peril.
So why all the momentum to undermine fathers? I wonder if our discomfort with the idea of human fatherhood is a sign of a problem deeper in our souls. Bible scholars say that God is a mysterious Trinity of three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In his sovereignty, God the Father runs the universe and has set in motion the only sure plan of redemption.
Maybe we devalue our earthly fathers because we are estranged from our heavenly one. We prefer to walk Buddhism's Eightfold Path, obey Islam's Five Pillars, or practice our own atheist morality than answer to a heavenly Father. We'd rather invent our own salvation than acknowledge his.
Maybe we evangelicals, who do a good job of emphasizing Jesus the Son, haven't done as well talking about his Father and ours. It was Jesus, after all, who told us not only that the Father is holy and able to cast us into hell, but that he loves us and knows our every need even before we ask. Far from a ridiculous bumbler, this Father combines wisdom, power, and grace.
Are fathers necessary? Yes, on earth—and in heaven.
Read Guthrie's whole column at Crosswalk.com.