"LET THERE BE LIGHT" Ministries
THE FAMILY UNIT, part 3 quotes
1) What are some of the specific responsibilities and duties of the father in every family unit?
Responsibilities and Duties of the Father:
He is the priest or teacher in religious matters (Testimonies, vol 2, p 701).
He is to lead his family forward and upward towards God (Counsels on Education, p 230).
He is to bring each family member before Christ in prayer (Testimonies, vol 2, p 701).
He is as a king who lays down the law for the family to follow (Testimonies, vol 2, p 701; 1 Timothy 3:4-5, 12).
He is to be easily approached, talked with, or entreated (James 3:17).
He is not to be arbitrary in authority (Child Guidance, p 250, 252; Patriarchs and Prophets, p 175-176; The Southern Watchman, January 19, 1904).
He is to provide for his family (1 Timothy 5:8).
He is to respect, love and honor his wife (Adventist Home, p 337).
The meaning of "husband" is house band. All members of the family center in the father. He is the lawmaker, illustrating in his own manly bearing the sterner virtues, energy, integrity, honesty, patience, courage, diligence, and practical usefulness. The father is in one sense the priest of the household, laying upon the altar of God the morning and evening sacrifice. The wife and children should be encouraged to unite in this offering and also to engage in the song of praise. Morning and evening the father, as priest of the household, should confess to God the sins committed by himself and his children through the day. Those sins which have come to his knowledge, and also those which are secret, of which God's eye alone has taken cognizance, should be confessed. This rule of action, zealously carried out by the father when he is present, or by the mother when he is absent, will result in blessings to the family. Testimonies, Volume 2, p 701.
2) What are some of the specific responsibilities and duties of the mother in every family unit?
Responsibilities and Duties of the Mother:
She is as a queen, who also makes her word the law of the family (Review and Herald, September 15, 1904).
She is to lead out in early training of children for Christ (Adventist Home, p 246; Child Guidance, p 24, 63).
She is the teacher, guide, and educator of her children (1 Timothy 5:14; Manuscript Releases, vol 10, p 179, 206).
She to is keep at home and not spend time gossiping (Titus 2:5; 1 Timothy 5:13).
She is to respect and honor her husband (Testimonies, vol 2, p 462).
God does not call mothers away from home missionary work which will leave their children under the control of influences that are demoralizing and ruinous to the soul. Are not her children in need of missionary labor? Are not her children worth earnest and prayerful effort? Shall she neglect home missionary work for a larger field? Let her try her skill in her own home--take up her appointed, God-given work. Manuscript Releases, vol 3, p 371 (Manuscript 9, 1868).
If married men go into the work, leaving their wives to care for the children at home, the wife and mother is doing fully as great and important a work as the husband and father. Although one is in the missionary field, the other is a home missionary, whose cares and anxieties and burdens frequently far exceed those of the husband and father. Her work is a solemn and important one--to mold the minds and fashion the characters of her children, to train them for usefulness here and fit them for the future, immortal life. The husband in the open missionary field may receive the honors of men, while the home toiler may receive no earthly credit for her labor. But if she works for the best interest of her family, seeking to fashion their characters after the divine Model, the recording angel writes her name as one of the greatest missionaries in the world. God does not see things as man's finite vision views them. Testimonies, Volume 5, p 594.
3) What are some of the specific responsibilities and duties of the children in a family unit?
Responsibilities and Duties of the Children:
They are to respect, love and honor their parents.
They are to follow the directions of the mother and father.
They are to be kind and affectionate toward one another (Romans 12:10).
They are to learn how to be helpful in the family and to one another.
-- Boys and young men, remember that how your treat your mother will determine, in a great degree, how you will treat your future wife!
Let the woman who desires a peaceful, happy union, who would escape future misery and sorrow, inquire before she yields her affections, Has my lover a mother?...Does he recognize his obligations to her? Is he mindful of her wishes and happiness? If he does not respect and honor his mother, will he manifest respect and love, kindness and attention, toward his wife? Adventist Home, p 47.
-- Girls and young women, remember that how you treat your father will determine, in a great degree, how you will treat your future husband!
4) What would be the result if we choose to lovingly arranged our family government upon these biblical and inspired rules?
Some households have a little church in their home. Mutual love binds heart to heart, and the unity that exists among the members of the family preaches the most effectual sermon that could be preached on practical godliness. As parents faithfully do their duty in the family, restraining, correcting, advising, counseling, guiding, the father as a priest of the household, the mother as a home missionary, they are filling the sphere God would have them fill. By faithfully doing their duty in the home, they are multiplying agencies for doing good outside the home. They are becoming better fitted to labor in the church. By training their little flock discreetly, binding their children to themselves and to God, fathers and mothers become laborers together with God. The cross is erected in their home. The members of the family become members of the royal family above, children of the heavenly King. Lift Him Up, p 253.
The mission of the home extends beyond its own members. The Christian home is to be an object-lesson, illustrating the excellence of the true principles of life. Such an illustration will be a power for good in the world. Far more powerful than any sermon that can be preached is the influence of a true home....As the youth go out from such a home, the lessons they have learned are imparted. Nobler principles of life are introduced into other households, and an uplifting influence works in the community. Sons and Daughters of God, p 258.
Do we consider and realize that the greatest influence to recommend Christianity to our world is a well-ordered and well-disciplined Christian family? The world sees that they believe God's Word. Sermons and Talks, Volume 1, p 77 (Manuscript 13, 1888).
The most powerful sermon that can be given the unbelieving world in recommendation of our faith is a well-disciplined family. Children that are educated to habits of self-denial and self-control, and are taught to be courteous, kind, and affectionate, will make an impression upon minds that nothing else can. Pamphlets, #123, p 45.
Such a family unit as this will not only be preaching the greatest sermon to others, but each family member will experience the glorious peace of heaven!
We are children of the Heavenly King, members of the royal family, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. The mansions Jesus has gone to prepare are to receive only those who are true, who are pure, who love and obey his words. In the mansions above we shall meet to part no more. We shall know each other in our heavenly home. But if we would enjoy eternal bliss, we must cultivate religion in the home; for the home is to be the center of the purest and most elevated affection. Peace, harmony, affection, and happiness should be perseveringly cherished every day, until these precious things abide in the hearts of those who compose the family. The plant of love must be carefully nourished, else it will die. Signs of the Times, November 14, 1892.
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