It is Father’s day.
But unfortunately many homes resonate with the questions “where is daddy?” or “who is my daddy?”
As the feminist movement progresses, and as women have become liberated and independent over the years, more and more children are born out-of-wedlock. The CDC released a report last year with shocking data showing that 40.7% of children in the US are born outside of marriage, and many of these children do not have a father figure in the home to shape a complete family that nurtures them to adulthood.
A boy needs a father in his life to identify with and show him the world through a God-given priesthood installed in the family by God Himself.
A girl needs her father to give her confidence and a critical approach to future relationships. This is in addition to showing her Christ as the center of the family.
Many families (some Christian) do not have a father to provide this critical role, and this has become a national tragedy. The National Fatherhood Initiative has compiled many studies (here) to show how devastating the absence of the father has become. These are some of the conclusions:
- Children in father-absent homes are almost four times more likely to be poor.
- Children born to single mothers show higher levels of aggressive behavior than children born to married mothers.
- Infant mortality rates are 1.8 times higher for infants of unmarried mothers than for married mothers.
- Even after controlling for income, youths in father-absent households still had significantly higher odds of incarceration than those in mother-father families. Youths who never had a father in the household experienced the highest odds.
- Being raised by a single mother raises the risk of teen pregnancy, marrying with less than a high school degree, and forming a marriage where both partners have less than a high school degree.
- The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth found that obese children are more likely to live in father-absent homes than are non-obese children.
- Father involvement in schools is associated with the higher likelihood of a student getting mostly A’s.
And the list of such studies goes on and on. America will suffer greatly in the coming generation(s) because fathers are no longer in the home. Our children will not be complete socially without fathers, and they will also be a at severe spiritual disadvantage because the husband and father is the spiritual leader of the household. Whatever the reason is for his absence, it will most likely leave the family unit in disarray.
So true sound the words of the wise man who says in Proverbs 20:7 “The righteous who walks in his integrity— blessed are his children after him!” We must turn back to the God-ordained family unit of one father and one mother who raise their children in the fear of the LORD.
I wish all fathers who visit Delight in Truth a blessed Father’s Day!
image credit: istock/Andrew Penner
Filed under: marriage
