# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1983_S127
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

knotty problems that affect the security of the
tion. I want you to know, and it might be some
nfort for you to know, that we meet every other
ay for breakfast, with nothing on the agenda but

It is a measure of the peril of the American family
throughout the 1980 White House Conference on
milies the central and unresolved issue was the
nition of “a family.”
This morning we will be using the traditional under-
ding in which husband and wife live together and
children in an atmosphere of mutual dependence
d acceptance, recognizing that God blesses and even
ails others to serve Him in ways that do not involve
asic unit.
Certainly, there is much justification for speaking
bout.“‘the crisis of the family,” but most ofits problems
e. not new. What is new is that the problems are
owing at an alarming rate, leading many to offer
ynovations that would restructure “the family.” But I
eve what is most in need of remedial attention are
attitudes about and behavior of the members of the
imily—fathers, mothers, and children—on which I
quid like to focus this morning.

Part I—Focus on Fathers

Welcome news from a national magazine! A ray of
AOpe surfaced in a recent survey conducted by Better
Homes and Gardens. Its 200,000 respondents appeared
to reject the shortsighted beliefs of the last 20 years that
arriage is convenience, sex is entertainment, and a

hild is disposable.

«” However, while 80 percent said that marriage was
lling, and given the opportunity they would again
'y their same spouse and have as many children, 80
ent also said that family life in America is in
Wouble, with the leading cause being the absence of a
ious foundation.
uther would have responded with a loud I TOLD
JU SO! “You may be pious and holy in other respects,”
said, but because people do not train children accord-
‘ to His will, “God is punishing the world so terribly
Rat there is no discipline, order, or peace. We all
mplain of this state of affairs but fail to see that itis
ur fault” (Ewald M. Plass, What Luther Says [St.
duis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959], #413, p.
41—hereafter cited as WLS).

“A father,” he said, “can perform no act thatis more
Utifatherly than... allowing a child to have its own
vanton way” (WLS, #411, p. 139).“Nothing can more
‘asily earn hell for aman than the improper training of
is own children ... to let them curse, swear, learn
€cent words and songs, and permit them to live as
y please” (WLS, #414, p. 141). They are “the first
estroyers of their own children” (WLS, #410, p. 139).
Luther was impatient and angered, particularly

ADDRESS: FOCUS ON THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY

129

prayer, Bible study, and Christian fellowship.
Thank you very much.

General John W. Vessey, Jr., USA

9. Address: Focus on the Christian Family

after he himself became a father, with men who neglect-
ed the spiritual and moral education of their children
either by choice or apathy. But never could he have
envisioned the father of today who, by social and legal
coercions, is not permitted to have primary responsi-
bility, who is allowed merely to be “concerned” but
thereafter to function as a sort of cheering section to
give support to the professionals who decide what
children need to know and how they are to live.

In recent years, the concept of fatherhood has
suffered greatly, not because of any changes in the
nature of men, but because of changes in the way society
has conceptualized fatherhood. Popular shows depict
the father as a bumbling, ineffective creature. Comic
strips ridicule him. National surveys report that many
children actually prefer their television to their dad, and
in language the new verb “parenting” expresses a
further desexing of the fatherly role.

How timely, then, are Luther’s words of 1529 about
those who live as though “God gave us children for our
pleasure or amusement... ignoring them, as though
what they learn or how they live were no concern of
ours. ... He has given and entrusted children to us that
we should train and govern them according to His will;
otherwise He would have no need of father or mother”
(WLS, #413, p. 140).

Yet recent history has witnessed social changes so
drastic that the very necessity for fathers has been
considerably weakened. Social welfare assumes the
material responsibilities for child care; government
agencies assume responsibilty for teaching human
sexuality; publicschools assume responsibility for shap-
ing moral attitudes; and television assumes responsi-
bility for companionship and entertainment.