In the ancient world of Roman, Greek and Egyptian culture, children often held a place of high esteem in organized religious practice.  There are many cases where children were center stage in the carrying out of rituals, serving as priests and prophets.  In some of these religions it was held that the gods would only listen to children because of their presumed innocence.  This estimation was in direct contrast with the ancient Judaic view of children.  Children who, although valuable to God, and a blessing to man, were nonetheless sinners and corrupt from the moment of conception. Read the rest of this entry»

The foundational social unit in the human experience is the family. Our families provide us the context in which we live out our lives. Without families we are as ships adrift upon a vast ocean without waypoints by which to judge our progress or navigational aids to determine the safety of the waters in which we sail.

The family is the school house in which we are taught our true value and the importance of others. We learn how to give and to take. We learn how to weep and how to laugh. We learn all the subtleties of the human dance, when to lead and when to follow.

Family serves as a fortress against all the dangers and threats the world presents to us. Without the warm safe comforts our families provide we are insecure and uncertain of our possibilities.

Truth be known though, we all have less than ideal family situations. All of us can look back upon the shortfalls and setbacks we encountered in our families of origin. We can look to our current familial situation and produce a laundry list of “shoulda’s , coulda’s and woulda’s” if we only had it to do over again.

Often times we are driven to the point of despair when we observe our family situations. However, this is not a recent phenomena, in fact we can go all the way back to the very beginning of Biblical history and find a host of dysfunctional families.

Genesis 5 provides insight into the origin of our situation and gives us a glimmer of the key to a solution.

“This is the written account of Adam’s line.

When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them “man.’”

When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.”(Genesis 5:1–3 NIV)

Right there in the last verse we see the problem plainly revealed. The text says Adam “had a son in his own likeness, in his own image.” Less than 24 words separates us from Adam created in the “image of God.” Now man is likened unto man as the image bearer. With that transition comes a whole train of challenges and setbacks.

Coming from the factory we no longer have that “New Human Smell.” From the womb we can say with David, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” (Psalms 51:5 NIV)

What are we to do with our own family experiences which often leave us feeling less than prepared to live life and even less able to prepare another generation? The counsel of Scripture tells us to “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
(1 Peter 5:7 NIV)

Instead of despair the Scriptures should provide us with comfort as we reflect upon those ancient families whose stories stain the pages of Holy Writ. The stories of adultery, incest, murder, drunkenness, sibling rivalries, gossip, polygamy, and failure didn’t get in the way of God’s plan for those families and your shortcomings today won’t get in the way of His plans now.

“Our humanness does not prevent God from using us; it is our humanness that actually becomes the platform from which He demonstrates His power, goodness, and love to His people.” 1

Give your story to God and let Him do something Amazing with it!

I’m testing the ability to have the board agenda on the blog.

This is a test of the Chairman’s blog.

Welcome to Arlingtonadventist.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Welcome to Arlingtonadventist.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Welcome to arlingtonadventist.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!