In our series on the relevance of the prophets today, Howard Taylor looks at the heart-breaking symbolic message lived out by Hosea.

In many ways, the Israel of Hosea's time was similar to the wealthy Western society of today after the collapse of its former enemy, the Soviet Union. Israel had become affluent and secure. Its traditional enemies were in disarray and everything was going well for the country. But also like today's Western society, the nation had become corrupt, perverse, immoral and crime-ridden. After only one more generation it would be swept away in terrible judgment. Who but the Lord's prophets would have expected such a disaster?

The book of Hosea draws us near to the heart of God as he faces the iniquity of mankind. It challenges all superficial human expectations as to how God and man should respond to the presence of evil.

Seeing Evil from God's Perspective

The most common complaint against God is that he does not use his power to rid the world of evil and suffering. Should it not be easy for him? If he is both good and all-powerful, should he not be able to remove evil at a stroke? Countless theological students have sweated over essays on this so-called 'problem of evil'.

Hosea's experience enables us to see the problem of evil from God's point of view. God does not merely show Hosea how to approach the issue, he invites the prophet to experience in his personal life the dilemma that faces God.

Hosea's experience draws us near to the heart of God and enables us to see the problem of evil from his point of view.

It is for this reason that in the first chapter we read of Hosea's agonising calling. God tells him to take an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness because, in departing from the Lord (Hos 1:2), the land is guilty of the vilest adultery. The pain of family life which Hosea is called upon both to endure and to deal with enables him to experience something of God's own father heart for his people.

At the heart of the story of Hosea is the culmination of the painful process whereby sin is taken away through the cross of the Saviour. Hosea was not to foresee the consummation of Israel's agonising relationship with God. Nevertheless, the message clearly points beyond itself to that great sacrifice of love through which sinful man will be saved.

Solutions for an Unhappy Family

The book of Hosea introduces us to a family whose relationship to one another parallels God's relationship with his people. It is an unhappy family. The wife is faithless and leaves her husband, the children are strangers to him in his own home. What solution can there possibly be to such a situation?

1. Hosea could try long-suffering tenderness in an effort to bring his wife and children back - but this method alone would solve nothing, the wayward wife would just continue her wilful behaviour.
2. He could use strong-arm tactics, forcing his family back and keeping them prisoners - but that would also be futile, because it would entail resigning his calling as a husband and a father to become an autocrat who forces his family to obey.
3. He could simply let them go and wash his hands of the whole business -but that would be the end of the family he had promised to love and protect.

In fact, God's plan of redemption calls for the use of all three options. In his dealings with Israel, the world and with believers, there are times when we are aware of his great tenderness, times when we are mindful of his judgment, and times when it seems as if he has left us to 'stew in our own juice.' But through all his dealings with us we see a holy love which will not let us go. If we are to be eternally separated from him it will be our choice, not his.

At its heart, the story of Hosea is a shadow of the painful process whereby sin is taken away through the cross of the Saviour.

Gomer's Children

Soon after their marriage Gomer makes a fool of them both. Today, Western society mocks God and makes itself foolish as a result.

Gomer leaves her husband, but God commands Hosea: "Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites" (Hos 3:1), and so the book of Hosea unfolds. The names of Gomer's successive children are portents for Israel. The Lord commands that the first son be named Jezreel, "because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. In that day I will break Israel's bow in the Valley of Jezreel" (Hos 1:4-5).

Jezreel had been the site of a terrible massacre and injustice, involving trickery, butchery, and hypocrisy. It would be like naming a child 'Syria' or 'Libya'. The message of this first portent is that the strength of evil power structures and nations will be broken. God will not allow any evil empire to last forever.

The second child, a daughter, is to be called Lo-Ruhamah, "...for I will no longer show love to the house of Israel, that I should at all forgive them" (Hos 1:6). The name means 'not pitied'. It was a warning to Israel that a time would come when the nation would feel that it had forfeited God's compassion. It would look as if he cared nothing for them. The judgments that God will surely bring upon our society will make us feel the same.

The third child's name illustrates what we are already experiencing in the West. God said, "Call him Lo-Ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God" (Hos 1:9).
Yet the very next verses after these warnings tell of an astounding reversal of the process of judgment, though it is one which can only come about after the full wrath of God has been revealed.

But through all God's dealings with us we see a holy love which will not let us go.

In Hosea 1:10 we read God's promise that "...the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people', they will be called, 'sons of the living God'."

In Hosea 2:1 we read of God's reassurance: "Say of your brothers, 'My people', and of your sisters, "My loved one."'

The remaining chapters of Hosea reveal vital aspects of God's relationship with humanity. Let us look at just three of them:

1. The Day of the Lord

In Hosea 2:16,19,20, we read God's declaration: "In that day...you will call me 'my husband'; you will no longer call me 'my master'...I will betroth you to me for ever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord."

In prophetic writings the phrase 'in that day' signifies that tremendous event when the Lord will not just send his prophets, but come in person. In the Old Testament God draws near to his people, revealing his heart of love. In the New Testament, God comes among his people in the person of Jesus, although he allows them to reject him. But even in his being rejected, he prays for their sin, and the sin of the whole world, to be forgiven.

2. Repentance Must Be Deep and Lasting

It is so easy in times of personal or national emergency to ask for God's help, to urge others to pray, or to call for a return to basics, but Hosea mocks such a shallow response to God. The people may say, "Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence" (Hos 6:1-2), but the Lord is not to be bought off so easily.

"Your love is like the morning mist," he tells his errant people, "like the early dew that disappears. Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets, I killed you with the words of my mouth; my judgments flashed like lightning upon you" (Hos 6:4-5).

In both Testaments, God draws near to his people, revealing his heart of love, even though he allows them to reject him.

Much of the religion which we see within certain segments of the church represents nothing more than a facade - the empty offering of a cheap and spurious grace - with nothing but blessings for all and sundry. The Lord's prophets, however, bring to bear on the situation a word which cuts through such superficiality.

3. The Fatherhood of God

God first compares his relationship with Israel to that of a husband to his wife. Later on, the illustration is changed to that of a father's relationship to his child.
The most moving example of this is to be found in chapter 11 where God is revealed as loving and long-suffering. Many hundreds of years later, through his death on the cross, Jesus totally illustrated the full content of this chapter. Only those who come to the Father with child-like faith will enter the Kingdom of God.

Today, in much the same way that the people of Israel asked for a king to rule over them so that they might be like the other nations (1 Sam 8:4-5), Israel's great longing is simply for her status as a nation to be recognised by those around her. But God's call, from the beginning, has been for Israel to be ruled by him and him alone.

She was not to put her trust in the power and security offered her by the surrounding nations, but to put her trust in God. In Hosea 13:10-11 we read, "Where is your king, that he may save you? Where are your rulers in all your towns, of whom you said, 'Give me a king and princes?' So in my anger I gave you a king, and in my wrath I took him away."

Today, despite her desire for peace, Israel can find no rest. Her neighbours are fanatically opposed to her very existence. Although their rejection of Israel's right to exist is an expression of the wickedness of their own hearts, the Lord is using these threats to Israel to bring her to the point where she realises that she can no longer rely on her military prowess to save her. Only God and his anointed King, Israel's Messiah, will in the end provide the nation with true security.

Israel longed for recognition from the nations around her, but God's call from the beginning has been for his people to trust in him and him alone.

It is then, at the end of the age, that the nations will "beat their swords into ploughshares...Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more" (Isa 2:4) or, as Hosea 2:18 puts it, "Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety."

Only then, when the authority of the Lord's Anointed is acknowledged in all the world, will the power of death and the grave be seen to be beaten: "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?" (Hos 13:14).

Originally published in Prophecy Today, Vol 10 No 5, September 1994.

For back issues of this series, click here.

The American College of Pediatricians speaks out about the damage that politically correct gender ideology can do to children.

After Dr Lisa Nolland's article last week on the LGBT movement, today we quote at length from a statement made by the American College of Pediatricians (March 2016), which gives a professional medical perspective on the harm that gender ideology can do to children. You can read the full statement by clicking this link.

Originally posted March 21, 2016 – a temporary statement with references. A full statement will be published in summer 2016. Updated with Clarifications on April 6, 2016.

"The American College of Pediatricians urges educators and legislators to reject all policies that condition children to accept as normal a life of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex. Facts – not ideology – determine reality.

1. Human sexuality is an objective biological binary trait: "XY" and "XX" are genetic markers of health – not genetic markers of a disorder. The norm for human design is to be conceived either male or female. Human sexuality is binary by design with the obvious purpose being the reproduction and flourishing of our species. This principle is self-evident. The exceedingly rare disorders of sex development (DSDs), including but not limited to testicular feminization and congenital adrenal hyperplasia, are all medically identifiable deviations from the sexual binary norm, and are rightly recognized as disorders of human design. Individuals with DSDs do not constitute a third sex.

2. No one is born with a gender. Everyone is born with a biological sex. Gender (an awareness and sense of oneself as male or female) is a sociological and psychological concept; not an objective biological one. No one is born with an awareness of themselves as male or female; this awareness develops over time and, like all developmental processes, may be derailed by a child's subjective perceptions, relationships, and adverse experiences from infancy forward. People who identify as "feeling like the opposite sex" or "somewhere in between" do not comprise a third sex. They remain biological men or biological women.

3. A person's belief that he or she is something they are not is, at best, a sign of confused thinking. When an otherwise healthy biological boy believes he is a girl, or an otherwise healthy biological girl believes she is a boy, an objective psychological problem exists that lies in the mind not the body, and it should be treated as such. These children suffer from gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria (GD), formerly listed as Gender Identity Disorder (GID), is a recognized mental disorder in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-V). The psychodynamic and social learning theories of GD/GID have never been disproved.

4. Puberty is not a disease and puberty-blocking hormones can be dangerous. Reversible or not, puberty- blocking hormones induce a state of disease – the absence of puberty – and inhibit growth and fertility in a previously biologically healthy child.

5. According to the DSM-V, as many as 98% of gender confused boys and 88% of gender confused girls eventually accept their biological sex after naturally passing through puberty.

6. Children who use puberty blockers to impersonate the opposite sex will require cross-sex hormones in late adolescence. Cross-sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen) are associated with dangerous health risks including but not limited to high blood pressure, blood clots, stroke and cancer.

7. Rates of suicide are twenty times greater among adults who use cross-sex hormones and undergo sex reassignment surgery, even in Sweden which is among the most LGBQT – affirming countries. What compassionate and reasonable person would condemn young children to this fate knowing that after puberty as many as 88% of girls and 98% of boys will eventually accept reality and achieve a state of mental and physical health?

8. Conditioning children into believing that a lifetime of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthful is child abuse. Endorsing gender discordance as normal via public education and legal policies will confuse children and parents, leading more children to present to "gender clinics" where they will be given puberty-blocking drugs. This, in turn, virtually ensures that they will "choose" a lifetime of carcinogenic and otherwise toxic cross-sex hormones, and likely consider unnecessary surgical mutilation of their healthy body parts as young adults.

Michelle A. Cretella, M.D.
President of the American College of Pediatricians

Quentin Van Meter, M.D.
Vice President of the American College of Pediatricians
Pediatric Endocrinologist

Paul McHugh, M.D.
University Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical School and the former psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital

The bottom line: Our opponents advocate a new scientifically baseless standard of care for children with a psychological condition (GD) that would otherwise resolve after puberty for the vast majority of patients concerned. Specifically, they advise: affirmation of children's thoughts which are contrary to physical reality; the chemical castration of these children prior to puberty with GnRH agonists (puberty blockers which cause infertility, stunted growth, low bone density, and an unknown impact upon their brain development), and, finally, the permanent sterilization of these children prior to age 18 via cross-sex hormones.

There is an obvious self-fulfilling nature to encouraging young GD children to impersonate the opposite sex and then institute pubertal suppression. If a boy who questions whether or not he is a boy (who is meant to grow into a man) is treated as a girl, then has his natural pubertal progression to manhood suppressed, have we not set in motion an inevitable outcome? All of his same sex peers develop into young men, his opposite sex friends develop into young women, but he remains a pre-pubertal boy. He will be left psychosocially isolated and alone. He will be left with the psychological impression that something is wrong. He will be less able to identify with his same sex peers and being male, and thus be more likely to self identify as "non-male" or female.

Moreover, neuroscience reveals that the pre-frontal cortex of the brain which is responsible for judgment and risk assessment is not mature until the mid-twenties. Never has it been more scientifically clear that children and adolescents are incapable of making informed decisions regarding permanent, irreversible and life-altering medical interventions.

For this reason, the College maintains it is abusive to promote this ideology, first and foremost for the well-being of the gender dysphoric children themselves, and secondly, for all of their non-gender-discordant peers, many of whom will subsequently question their own gender identity, and face violations of their right to bodily privacy and safety."

For the full statement with footnotes and explanations, click here.

Quoted with permission from the American College of Pediatricians (ACPEDS). The ACPEDS website contains a wealth of scientific information and resources in defence of biblical principles regarding family, sexuality, health and life.

Clifford Denton traces the theme of family through Scripture, including how God instituted the family as a shadow of our relationship with him.

The theme of family is woven through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. The family is at the heart of the believing community. It should not surprise us, therefore, that one of the major areas of spiritual conflict in every generation, including our own, is the family.

If we truly had the Bible as our guide at the heart of our nation, we would never have had need to address the issue of laws that liberalise and confuse the definition of marriage and the associated confusion over gender that besets our generation. We would have a clearer view of roles and relationships of fathers, mothers and children and know God's own purposes and patterns for building society's foundations on the biblical pattern for family. As a result, we would surely find God's blessings as we seek to grow together in our communities founded on strong family relationships.

Generally speaking, though there are some major warnings to heed, the Bible teaches positively, so if we study carefully and respond positively to God's teaching we do not need to dwell too much on the negatives.

There are biblical warnings about departure from God's structure of family (including taking divorce lightly, eg Mal 2:14-15; Mark 10:5-9, and wrong relationships eg Lev 18, Rom 1:26-29) which are to be taken very seriously. Thank God that through Jesus there is a path of redemption through repentance for those who have strayed. But for this study let us concentrate on the positive aspects of the Bible's teaching on family. Like all Bible themes we can trace this theme from Genesis to Revelation, through the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings and the New Testament.

Family Before Time, and Forever

There was a family before time began, including the Father and his Son through whom all things were made (John 1). Father and Son are in perfect unity and one with the Holy Spirit. There was a community in Heaven including the Godhead and the Angels - we have enough information to know about this but not enough to form a clear picture. The principles of the family of God were embedded in Creation, however, bringing shadows of heavenly reality to earthly experience.

Genesis 1 describes how God brought the animals into partnership, male with female, and mankind was made in the image of God (Gen 1:26). So began the way that God's Creation was to be ordered, finally leading to the fulfilment described in the New Testament when the family of God will be gathered to join the family of Heaven for all eternity (John 14:2-4; Rev 19:7).

The principles of the family of God were embedded in Creation, bringing shadows of heavenly reality to earthly experience.

The First Family on Earth

When Adam was created his own wife was taken out of him to be his companion in the flesh (Gen 2:18-25). Thus began the principle of family life on earth. God began with a man and a woman who were of one flesh, separated into two distinct beings, with a central purpose of reproducing themselves and populating the world. It is no mistake that multiplication of mankind requires the most intimate of relationships, intended to be maintained in holiness and purity. The unity of our Heavenly Father and his own Son was to be modeled through our human relationships as we multiplied into families.

We are so used to the way family life has been distorted by sin and through spiritual attack that it is wise to go back and consider God's first family to regain his vision for what was intended. Adam and Eve were to live in harmony with God and bring forth godly offspring, replicating the biblical principle of family into every generation (Mal 2:15).

Noah and His Family

A family was saved at the Flood. The family of Adam had multiplied and evil began to spoil what God had intended. This is described first in terms of the community breakdown when "the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and took wives from them of whom they chose" (Gen 6:2). It is not easy to understand just what happened here - it could have been an interaction between natural and supernatural beings and/or a departure from God by those who knew him marrying with those who did not. Whatever this was, there was a breakdown of God's family on earth and this led to the judgment of the Great Flood.

Through God's grace, mankind continued with the family of Noah and representatives from the families of the animals (Gen 7). After the Flood Noah received the command to populate the earth once more (Gen 9:1). Through one family many new families would come – a fresh start.

Our Father Abraham

Another perspective on family came through Abraham. Abraham, our father of faith, is the father of a family from all nations. Israel, his physical offspring, became a nation built on family principles, just as the new covenant community should be. God's covenant (Gen 17:1-7) was framed in terms of family.

There follows in the chapters of Genesis a wonderful account of the beginning of Abraham's physical descendants. The account of Abraham's desire for a son and his relationship with Sarah his wife is a real account of God's building through family. The account of Abraham's servant finding a bride for Isaac (Gen 24) is a beautiful story that could even point to the Holy Spirit seeking out a Bride for Jesus.

The principles of the family being the base on which God was to build in both physical and spiritual ways is strongly evident here as the parallel themes continue to develop throughout the rest of the Bible.

The Theme of Family Develops

Here are some of the many references to follow up as the priority of family develops through Scripture:

• God's promise to Abraham is remembered and worked out in families (Ex 2:24-25, 12:1-11, Ex 24, 34).
• The congregation of the Lord was numbered by families (Num 1).
• Family framework is ingrained in the Ten Commandments – the family of God and the human family (Deut 5, Ex 20).
• The teaching programme of God is to be founded on what is done in the home. Children are to be taught the ways of God through family interaction. (Deut 6).
• The Sabbath and Feasts of the Lord are celebrated in a family framework within the covenant community (Lev 23).
• The nation of Israel was a nation of families and tribes (1 and 2 Chron).
• The Psalms give wonderful pictures of families blessed by God and needing God for blessing and protection (eg. Ps 127, Ps 128).
• God honours highly a wife who is in covenant partnership with her husband (Prov 31:10-31).
• The blessing of pure and intimate relationships as God intended are made evident in beautiful, uplifting ways in the Bible, but there is also a warning concerning perversion of the biblical order of man and wife (eg compare Song of Songs with Hebrews 13:4).

Family as a Basis for Our Relationship with God

When we study this theme across the scriptures we realise that there is something even more important than the order and blessings that the biblical family structures bring to life on earth. We, in a sense, through our family love, unity and interactions, rehearse relationship with God himself, within his eternal purposes.

Through family love, unity and interactions, we rehearse relationship with God himself.

God the Father compared himself with a husband to his people (eg Jer 3, Isa 54, Matt 6:6). If we have a pure understanding of family relationships on earth, we are more ready for those relationships to be transferred to God himself – intimate and pure. God hates divorce (Mal, Matt 19:4-6). If we are vulnerable to divorce in our human relationships, we may also be vulnerable to broken relationships with God. How much do hurts that come out of family upheavals lead to difficulty in forming relationships with God, and how much do loving relationships experienced in family life open the way to relationship with God!

With this sort of understanding we also realise that there are parallels to be drawn between parents teaching children in the home and God teaching his family through the power of his Holy Spirit (Prov 1-9). Step by step through the practices and interaction of the human family, we are being prepared for our place in the everlasting family of God.

Jesus is the head of his covenant community and of our individual families. Consider his sacrifice for his family (Heb 3:6). What does this teach us about our own families and the level of commitment that is expected? Purity of relationships in our family life prepares us for pure relationship with our perfect, holy heavenly Father (Eph 1:3-14, Rom 8:1-17).

If we have a pure understanding of family relationships on earth, we are more ready for those relationships to be transferred to God.

God's family is one body made up of Jews together with those saved from the Gentile world (Eph 2, Rom 4:12, Rom 11). The head of our family existed before time and so this family, consisting of those saved from this world through faith joined to him, has in a sense always existed. We are added to this one family as history proceeds.

How we should live on account of this is a constant theme of the New Testament (John 1, John 17, 1 Pet 3:1-7, 2 Pet 3:11). God honours a believer in the household (1 Cor 7, particularly 14) in his outworking of plans to extend his family through grace.

The Family of God

Our Bible study of family takes us from the first principles of family being at the heart of God's purpose for Creation and step by step brings us to the purpose of his preparation for his own covenant family drawn from all nations.

Paul the Apostle, with this understanding, exhorted believers to strengthen their families for the very purpose of preparation for membership of God's family. God gives responsibility to husbands and wives, and emphasises the importance of children submitting to their parents for the stability of the whole community and nation. The balance of husband and wife relationships as a model for relationship with God the Father and Jesus his Son was expounded by Paul in the Epistle to the Ephesians (Eph 5 and 6). Paul pointed to the unfolding mystery of this, taking us back to the first principles of Genesis 1 and pointing to eternal purposes of God.

Step by step through the practices and interaction of the human family, we are being prepared for our place in the everlasting family of God.

Order and discipline are required in Scripture, with warnings for falling away from God's model of family, but this is not the main intent. The beauty and intimacy of the relationships that family life brings is the chief theme of Scripture.

Our families are the building blocks of the covenant community, the place where we should learn of God our Father together, so that we might ourselves be part of the living parable pointing to the relationships of God with all his people.

God's relationship with us is as father to child and husband to wife. The union of the Son of God with those he bought by his sacrificial death will be in relationship with him as a bride is to a husband. The elect of the fallen family of Adam will be redeemed as the family of God. God's intention for his people is that we build our communities founded on the family with this purpose always in view.

The family in Britain has undergone a revolutionary change since the beginning of last century, and is weaker than ever before. Clifford Hill discusses what we can learn from the early days of Christianity.

The family in Britain has undergone a revolutionary change since the beginning of last century. In the Victorian era the family was large and consisted of several generations. Children usually had a number of siblings as well as cousins and second cousins and aunties and uncles as well as parents and grandparents. The family was a community that gave identity, support and security to both children and adults.

Family life in Britain today has probably never been weaker. Many children do not even know their own grandparents and many could not name their cousins or second cousins. We are rapidly becoming a nation of individuals who lack identity and security, partly accounting for high levels of depression in British society.

Family life in Britain today has probably never been weaker. There is much we can learn from the early days of the Church, when people from all walks of life were drawn together as a family."

There is much that we can learn from the development of Christianity in its earliest days when people from all walks of life and from different ethnic communities shared a common experience of Jesus which drew them together as a family where they felt loved and valued.

Time of Transition

Roman society in the first century AD was in transition from a Republic to an Empire: from being governed by an elected Senate to coming under the control of an Emperor (a dictator). It was a time of social turmoil in which the one constant factor was the family. It was the family unit that gave stability to the whole Greco-Roman world in a time of great uncertainty.

The family at that time of transition was nothing like the family we know today in our Western civilisation. It was also nothing like the extended family in Victorian England or in African society. The family in Greco-Roman society was a household consisting of blood relatives, adopted children, servants and slaves. The larger households also included wage labourers at one end of the social scale and 'friends' at the other end.

Friends

The 'friends' were extremely high status, enjoying great prestige due to their close and intimate relationship with the head of the family, to whom they acted as counsellors and advisers. When Jesus conferred this title upon his disciples, he was paying them the highest tribute possible. He was sharing his inner thoughts with them; taking them fully into his confidence:

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15:15)

Clearly, Jesus was fully familiar with the household structure of Roman society in making this statement. He knew that the highest status in Rome was to be called a 'Friend of Caesar'.

In Roman households, 'friends' enjoyed extremely high status, close intimacy with the head of the family and full confidence."

Adopted Children

The adoption of children played a large part in Greco-Roman society. The adopted child also enjoyed a privileged position within the family and a high status in society. There were six principles of adoption in Greek and Roman society, all of which have spiritual significance for us today (see also Paul's teaching in Galatians). These six principles are:

• The adopted child is considered a true son or daughter– as true as one born by blood
• The adoptive father promises to support the child and provide their daily necessities
• The adopted child cannot be repudiated by the adoptive father
• The adopted child cannot be reduced to slavery
• The adopted child cannot be reclaimed by his natural father
• By the adoption the child is constituted an heir of the adoptive father

Adopted children in Greco-Roman society were immensely privileged. They were considered true sons and daughters- true heirs –secure and provided for, and unable to be reclaimed by their natural father."

Paul had all of these principles in his mind when he declared to the Gentile Christians "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3:26). He reinforced this with the statement "So you are no longer a slave, but a son: and since you are son, God has made you also an heir" (Gal 4:7). For a Jew to make this statement to the Gentiles was of huge significance! Paul was saying that because God had adopted them, they were actually more secure in the love of the Father than if they had been born Jews! What a wonderful re-assurance this is! God has actually chosen us and adopted us into his family!

Pater Familias

In Roman society the 'Pater Familias' (head of the family) was the ruler of his household. In large households he had enormous power. This was necessary in order to preserve unity within the family and to ensure its smooth working. Jesus was quite familiar with this kind of household, as is seen in his parable of the 'Unmerciful Servant' where the householder exercised absolute power (Matt 18:21-35). The unity of the household-family was essential for its survival which is reflected in Jesus' statement, "Every household divided against itself will not stand" (Matt 12:25).

The unity of the household-family was essential for its survival. Members had to be totally committed and share everything with each other, including their faith."

Family Unity

In order to preserve the unity of the family it was essential that they should share a common faith or religious commitment. When the head of the household became a Christian it was expected that the whole family would adopt the same faith, as when the Philippian jailer was converted. Luke's account of Paul and Silas praying and singing in prison that led to the jailer's conversion says "At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds: then immediately he and all his family were baptised" (Acts 16:33).

Early Church Model

It was this large household-family that became the model for the Early Church in New Testament times and for several centuries beyond. Jesus was the Head and all the members shared a common belief. They met in one another's homes and shared their food at a 'common meal' as they would in any family home, and there was love, loyalty, and commitment to each other.

Community of Believers

Since they were all adopted children, they were all of the same status in the family. There was no 'one-upmanship'. Their loyalty to the Head of the family – to Jesus, who had rescued them from a crooked generation steeped in the evil practices of darkness - had brought them into the kingdom of light. When they came together their joy overflowed in praise and thanksgiving. The risen Jesus was the Head of the family, the leader of the community. "Jesus is Lord!" was constantly upon their lips.

They were a community of believers; they were family- what a model for us! It would seem that in Britain today, everything conspires against this sort of living. Faith is lived out privately, behind closed doors. Lives are too busy to be deeply shared. Families are broken, far-flung and fluid. But where there is challenge, there is also opportunity for the light of the Gospel to shine- and shine it will, if we let it, in the growing darkness. This doesn't mean that Christians need to have 'perfect' nuclear families (indeed, the early Church model wasn't 'nuclear' at all). It means opening our doors wide to share our lives and our faith with others, in the love of Christ and the unifying power of the Holy Spirit.

Our second installment on 'Changing Britain' looks at how the Gospel message is being passed on to future generations. Following the statistical analysis is a biblical comment from Monica Hill.

Transmission of Faith

Re-printed from Brierley Consultancy's FutureFirst, June 2014 issue, with kind permission.

The transmission of faith from one generation to another is critically important. One person who has studied this in some depth is Prof David Voas, now of Essex University but previously Professor of Population Studies at Manchester University. In one piece of research published in 2012 he and a colleague evaluated the impact of family life on church attendance through three generations using data from the 2001 International Congregational Life Survey, a significant study with over 9,000 respondents.

In general they found the older a person the more likely they were to have or have had churchgoing parents. The graph shows the percentage of churchgoers in England in 2001 who did NOT have regularly attending churchgoing parents.

Percentage of current churchgoers whose parents rarely or never went to church, England, 2001.

• Older people now attending church are more likely to have continued the family tradition of churchgoing. The research compared results with the Australian data which was based on similar questions, and the overall results found:
• Men were about 5% more likely than women to have or had parents who were not churchgoers, except for those aged 85 or over (2% difference).
• Australian churchgoers were less likely than those in England to have or had parents who were not churchgoers, also by about 5%, 18% to 23%.
• The impact of two churchgoing parents is considerably greater than one.
• Grandparental religious activity also has a significant effect.

Approximately a quarter, 23%, of English churchgoers therefore have started going to church when their parents did not, and this might be taken as an estimate of the percentage of "conversion" growth of current congregations. Church congregations grow, of course, because new people join the congregation (having started going to church elsewhere) or newly start coming to that particular church. Other studies have found that new people in a church are relatively few (a 2012 English study found just 24% of those in evangelical churches had been attending less than 20 years), meaning "church growth" is mostly "church transfer". David Voas's research thus underlines the huge importance of transmission in family life.

Some factors in present-day family life make that transmission more difficult. Almost half, 46%, of children today will see their parents divorce before they are 16, and a family split inhibits transmission of faith very severely. Churchgoing parents seem to be as likely to divorce as non-churchgoing ones.

Many church families are middle-class, and many have both parents working. Those aged 30 to 44 are especially likely not to attend as regularly as others simply because of the pressure in their home with a young family, but it is in this age-group where those practices are often most needed to establish the tradition of churchgoing, and encourage transmission.

The very large majority of churchgoers in both England and Australia are married, much more than the percentage of married people in the population. For the large majority of these, both partners attend church together, so they are making joint decisions on this activity and thus encouraging their children in churchgoing.

The finding about grandparental influence confirms other research of young people undertaken in England – one study found some 60% were likely to attend church if their grandparents did.

The importance of family life and the traditions embodied within that, especially of religious activity, is crucial, and this research confirms this. Encouraging family religious life should therefore be a priority in church teaching.

Sources: Article by David Voas and Ingrid Storm in Review of Religious Research, Vol 53, No 4, Jan 2012, Page 377; Living the Christian Life, Brierley Consultancy, April 2013; Newsletter, Marriage Foundation, Spring 2014; Reaching and Keeping Tweenagers, Christian Research, 2002.

Biblical Comment

Monica Hill

Handing on the baton is the responsibility of every believer. Failure to pass it on, to the very best of the ability of all believers, places the continuance of the faith in ANY nation at risk.

We can learn a great deal on the survival of the Jewish faith over the centuries by reading how they passed on their faith to their children. This mainly took place in the family home. Both boys and girls were taught the rudimentary elements of the faith by their mothers in the home up until the age of 11 or 12. It was only then that the boys (after their Bar Mitzvah) went into schools to go more deeply into the faith.

In the home the children learned to recite the Shema, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one" as an assertion of God's Kingship (Deut 6:4-9), which is followed by "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children."

Hearts and Minds

Deuteronomy 11:18 adds "Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds." There are practical ways in which this can be achieved: "talk about them [God's teachings] when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates" (Deut 11:18-20). The reason is one which we should all embrace: "so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth" (v21).

More than Head Knowledge

A 'Christian' country' or specific group claiming to be Christian is only one generation away from extinction unless a full understanding and a personal belief is embraced and passed on to others. In order for it to survive, faith needs to move beyond 'learning by rote' to having personal meaning so that those who try to communicate to others are helping them catch more than just 'head knowledge'.

A 'Christian' country' is only one generation away from extinction unless a full understanding and a personal belief is embraced and passed on to others."

Unfortunately, parents first passed this responsibility on to the Church (who developed all kinds of groups such as Sunday Schools, youth clubs and uniformed organisations) and then to state schools, where all pupils received Christian instruction and each day started with a worship assembly. Parents relaxed and left it to others who they thought were more proficient than themselves.

The churches did a good job in teaching the young of both believers and those on the fringe, until social and family issues saw the demise of afternoon Sunday Schools and uniformed organisations went out of fashion, demanding new methods of outreach and attracting youngsters. In schools, the emphasis changed from knowledge, to education, to theoretical study of comparative religions; teachers no longer needed to be believers and legal changes then led to stagnation. A religious and spiritual understanding is no longer a priority.

Danger of Complacency

Many churches are now trying new methods of reaching out, like 'messy church' and holiday clubs, but the crucial home influence is still waning.

Any nation that settles back into thinking that it will always be a 'Christian nation' and that the next generation will automatically become Christians without any input, witness or prayer from them, is in for a shock. God can, and should, speak directly to each individual, but we are all called to be witnesses - even if we do not have the gift of an evangelist.

Any nation that settles back into thinking that the next generation will automatically become Christians without any input from them, is in for a shock."

Christianity is built upon relationships and although we can highlight moral codes and values, once the close personal link with the Creator is lost, it can become no more than a list of rules and regulations to keep. God has no grandchildren – only children who have a direct relationship with him.

Seize Every Opportunity

However, today there is an amazing challenge to those believers who have grandchildren (or even know other people's grandchildren). It is almost as though they are being given a second chance to reach another generation, even when they have not made a good job of passing their faith onto their own children. Grandparents can be 'cool' when parents can just be an 'embarrassment'. The opportunities are there in an age when older people are living longer and there are an increasing number of grandparents and great-grandparents who have 'known' the Father (1 John 3).

How can we encourage older people to take their responsibilities for our nation seriously? This should be a major objective in every congregation, family and community.

Series background

Over the next few weeks we will be using some recent surveys from the Brierley Consultancy to delve further into what God is saying to Britain. Each instalment will feature statistics on a different set of trends, followed by biblical analysis from Monica Hill.

Hard factual evidence drawn from different kinds of surveys can help Christians to ascertain exactly what, where and how our society is changing, and can equip them both to pray and to take action where necessary.

Christians should be alert to current trends and be prepared to act to bring things into alignment with the ordained will of God. While nothing can take place outside the sovereign will and knowledge of God, not all activities are God-ordained.

Previous weeks: The Rise of Secularism: YES, I have NO religion!