At Worldview Warriors, we seek to promote the grace, hope, and love that come with the truth of who Jesus is and what he has done for us. So, you might question why in the world I would draw attention to the death penalty in the title. Well, hopefully it got your attention so that I can now cite the Scripture from which it was drawn. “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). You see, the “required death penalty” does not refer to some punishment that you and I must face for our acts of fornication, because Jesus already paid it for ALL sin. Instead, it’s the sentence we must give to that which separates us from Christ. Paul is clear in Romans 8:1 that there is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”. But to be IN Christ Jesus, one cannot also still be IN his old self. This is why Jesus said that if anyone wanted to come after him, “he must deny himself” (Luke 9:23). Simply put, fornication is the failure to deny oneself sexually.
There’s a reason why I wrote that specifically the way that I did. Many of you are probably thinking, “Wait a minute, I don’t have to deny myself sexually within my marriage”. Well, it’s true that you don’t have to FULLY deny yourself. Within marriage, God has given you a way to explore and enjoy the gift of intimacy and sexuality. However, I would argue that some denial of self is still required. What if your partner doesn’t want to do things the way you do or simply isn’t interested at the same time you are? Should you demand it or try to fulfill your desires apart from your spouse? Of course not! Is there a married man or woman out there who has never even had so much as a thought about another person sexually? I doubt it. Is pornography an acceptable substitution because the romantic flame between you and your spouse has burnt out? Looking lustfully is the same as doing, according to the very words of Jesus in Matthew 5:28. So as you can see, the denial of self regarding sexual desires (or even “needs” as some foolishly call them to avoid responsibility) is still needed within a marriage.
In addition to needing to deny oneself within a marriage, we also must practice this denial before marriage. No matter how early you got married in your life, I don’t think it’s possible that anyone reading this had their very first thought or desire for sexuality AFTER they were already married. When I was in high school, the big campaign for Christian purity was called “True Love Waits”. We signed pledges to remain abstinent until we were married, but none of us really had a clue just how hard that would be. I will be 33 years old this August and am still not married. Had I known in high school that the youth group pledge would be for 16 years and counting if I chose to keep the commitment, I probably wouldn’t have given it a passing thought. It’s not just as simple as saying it or willing yourself to do it. Denying oneself, especially sexually, requires intentionality that goes beyond the moment a decision is needed.
You can almost hear the passion in the Apostle Paul’s voice as he urges Christians not to merely abstain from sexual immorality, but to “put it to death”! Monday’s post by Katie listed another place in 1 Corinthians 6:18 where believers are told to “flee” it. Do you think maybe Paul realized how difficult it was and how prevalent of a problem it was even in the church? Guess what? Paul wasn’t the first one to see this problem threatening the church.
In Matthew 15, Jesus is addressing both Pharisees and his disciples after they bring to his attention some that were breaking the traditions of the elders by not washing their hands before they eat (v. 2). Jesus goes on to tell the two groups separately in verse 11 and then in verse 18 that the things that “come out of the mouth” are what make a man “unclean” rather than what goes into the mouth. As he further explains it to his disciples, he lists things that come out of the heart as “evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander” (v. 19), and then declares, “These are what make a man unclean” (v. 20). Evidently, the religious leaders AND Jesus’ disciples were more worried about silly, non-biblical traditions regarding cleanliness than eradicating the sins of their hearts, which included sexual immorality. In my opinion, this was out of convenience. What’s easier, dealing with dirty hands or addressing the issues of the heart? Fast-forward it to today and things are quite similar. Is it easier to worry about styles of music, the color of the carpet, and church politics than it is to aggressively end sin in our lives? You better believe it is, and the lack of commitment to battling sin in many churches is evidence that we’ve tried to take a seemingly easier path.
The times in my life where I have personally failed in the area of fornication have been when I was not intentional about fleeing it or putting it to death. Conversely, the times I’ve experienced victory have been when I made other intentional decisions regarding denying myself what the flesh wanted. If you are reading this and are struggling with sexual immorality of any kind, know that you certainly aren’t alone. Abraham, Jacob, Samson, and David were just some of the many followers of God in the Old Testament who committed sins of sexual immorality. Yet, Hebrews 11 lists them among the “faithful”. That means they were not defined by their sins, but instead by their forward-looking belief in the One who never failed and who saved them from their sins. This faith was not purely emotional, but was shown through action. The same can be true for you. If your computer or TV is what leads you to immorality, get rid of it. If you’re in a relationship where you are being pressured by your partner to commit acts of fornication, it’s time to break the chain that binds you. I personally have an accountability group where we ask each other the tough questions, pray for each other, and discuss ways to eradicate the sins in our lives. We know we don’t need to be perfect for Christ to love us, but he has set the mark of holiness for us and we will not stop striving to hit it no matter how many times we miss. Will you join us in “putting to death” your immorality? Know that the battle has already been won, and we need only to walk in victory!
It is ironic that I was a wrestler because wrestling was not just a sport I participated in, it was my spiritual state. So many questions and so little time to seek answers, how can I determine what I believe when everyone is constantly trying to spoon feed me their own beliefs?! After the first week of class, maybe I will be able to manage my time better so that I can figure out how to examine these questions this week.
This week was quite a bit more mundane: two-a-days were pretty much the same. I took my beatings, got back up and did it again the next day. Classes were a little more tame, at least in Derkins class. He didn’t seem to talk about creationism at all this week. Instead he was telling us about his favorite micro-organisms and telling us what makes them so fascinating. Bible 101, still going through Romans 12, but we only meet once a week, so it will take us a while to make it through verse by verse.
With all of the everyday busyness, I was glad that I had the internet to give me some sort of a social life. After chatting with some friends on AIM, I remembered my questions. I searched for information on “science and the bible” and my search results brought up a brand new book called ID and ME. I read the summary and saw that the guy who wrote it was a big-time journalist who had converted to Christianity from atheism and was presenting the evidence that aided him in his conversion.
Derkins had told us before that faith and science were incompatible. What I was learning from this summary was that there are scientists that believe in God and they believe they have science that proves his existence. The topics seemed enormous though: The Big Bang, the Anthropic Principle, Irreducible Complexity, the Cambrian Explosion, and many others. I decided I was going to order this book, because it might prove to be an effective weapon in dissuading people from Derkins’ intellectual onslaught on faith.
As I was learning more about this book, I received a message from MGN1985: “Hi.”
Who could this be? Ought of curiosity I responded: “Hi…do I know u?”
“lol, sry I got ur sn from 1 of ur teammates. This is megan.”
“O, ic, sup?”
It’s easier to play it cool on the internet, I was actually really excited to hear from her.
“nothin wanna get icecream?”
Well of course I did! “Sure, when?”
“Be downstairs in 5 min.”
“No prob.”
Some of you reading this may say that I must be very sheltered, since I actually had to look up the word “fornication” before starting this blog post; I honestly did not know specifically what it meant! What I learned is that fornication, simply put, is consensual sexual intercourse between two unmarried adults.
So why are we at Worldview Warriors writing on this topic? Well, the question for the week is not just discussing fornication, but why it is considered sinful. As always, I turn to the Bible to find the answer to this question.
First, let’s look at 1 Corinthians 6:18, which says, “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.” Paul, who wrote this, isn’t just making this as a suggestion if you feel like it; no, he is commanding the people at Corinth to flee from sexual immorality! The root word used in Greek here for ‘sexual immorality’ is “porneia,” the root that we get our English word ‘pornography’ from. But specifically, what does this Greek word mean? I consulted four lexicons, and the meanings I found were: sexual immorality, sexual unfaithfulness, whoredom, fornication, adultery, incest, unsanctioned sexual intercourse, and prostitution. As you can see, often Greek words don’t have just one English word that fits with them, but rather a range of words to give the general idea of its meaning. So essentially, this word “porneia” generally relates to any kind of illegitimate sexual intercourse. Legitimate sexual intercourse is defined as one man and one woman who are married, as we talked about in last month’s blog posts.
Back to 1 Corinthians 6:18, it says that all other sins are outside a person’s body, but sexual sin is against that person’s own body. Had you ever thought about it that way? If I tell a lie, that is outside my body. If I commit murder or am mean to someone, that is outside my body. But a sexual sin is done to my own body.
Why is it important whether a sin is inside or outside your body? Keep reading in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” As a follower of Christ, you have received the Holy Spirit - who is God Himself - and the Spirit lives in you. Jesus Christ died for you, to pay the price for your sins. That is the price you were bought for, Jesus’ own life. Because God lives in you and God died for you, wouldn’t it logically follow that you would want to honor God? We often honor heroes who gave their lives to save others, but what about honoring God for that? Whether you know it or not, Jesus died for YOU and He deserves your honor, not just with your emotions but with your body as well!
How do we honor God with our bodies? By not sinning sexually, since that is sin committed within your body. Earlier in the 1 Corinthians 6:13b, Paul writes that “The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality [“porneia”] but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”
Even though the Bible is pretty clear about how it is a sexual sin to have intercourse outside of marriage, a common line of thought is that it can’t be wrong if the two people love each other and it’s consensual. But did you see anything in the verses quoted above that indicate it’s ok if you love each other? Go read the whole section of 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; I’m certain you won’t find it in there. If you follow Christ, you need to follow the directions He gives us for life, the Bible. If the Bible says it’s sin, then it’s sin.
Fortunately, we can always be forgiven of our sin, thanks to Jesus. I challenge you today to honor God not only with your life but with your body from this day forward.
Did you ever read a passage of the Bible and wonder what in the world was being said? I mean, have you read a passage where Jesus says something, and it doesn't seem to fit the reaction he gets from the crowd?
A few years ago, I learned from Ray VanderLaan that Rabbi's often taught by helping students discover the answer in God's Word instead of simply giving them the answer. If Jesus quotes scripture, or says, "go learn what this means..." He is probably using this method. When teaching this way a Rabbi would "hint" at the answer to someone's question, by referring to another passage of scripture. This style of teaching today is called "Remez" which means, "hint." Usually the passage the Rabbi quotes is just a connecting point. The verses before or the verses right after the one he quotes would contain a clear response to the person who asked the question.
Look at Matthew 9:9-13. When Jesus is asked why he selected Matthew (a tax collector) as a disciple, he says, "...go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Our initial reaction to the statement we see recorded in Matthew, may be rather calm. I mean, it sounds good. He is reaching out to hurt and broken people. How could the Pharisees object to that?
Jesus is quoting Hosea 6:6. Go and read the whole passage around that verse, and see if you can determine what Jesus was really saying to the Pharisees. They questioned him about hanging out with sinners and tax collectors. What does he say their legalistic pursuit of religious purity, really accomplished? And what is God going to do about it?
Is it any wonder why they sometimes wanted to kill Him?
We should take caution when our legalistic view of being a Christian, trumps our sensitivity to mercy and justice according to God's Holy Spirit. And we should know the Word of God so well that we can confidently walk in obedience to God without neglecting compassion.
Did reading this help you learn a new tool in understanding your Bible?Does this help you see that there was often a broader conversation happening when Jesus or the disciples were quoting other passages? I hope this helps you enjoy a new adventure in your Bible reading.
In my last three posts, I established what a worldview is and what it does. I shared two primary types of knowledge: Empirical and Revelation. And I shared two methods we have used as a society on how to determine truth: the Didactic and the Dialectic. Now, I will take all these and put them together to build a Biblical Worldview. And it is this Biblical Worldview that is under so much attack in attempt to pull us away from the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And we need to rise up and be a warrior to defend it.
So to refresh, a worldview is a set of presuppositions and convictions that act as filters and guidelines in how you make decisions and act in every aspect of life. Your worldview addresses many questions including: Does God exist? Is he active in this world? Where did I come from? Why am I here? Who am I? Where am I going?
Knowledge comes in two primary forms: Empirical and Revelation. Empirical is evidence-based, and it is also known as science-based. This is valid and we see examples in Scripture where Jesus tells us that if we have a hard time believing his words, then to believe his works, his miracles. Revelation is knowledge that comes from an intelligent source. A testimony, an account of something that happened, and especially God revealing himself to us. Both Empirical and Revelation based knowledge with back each other up, if we have a correct worldview.
Truth is passed on Didactically or Dialectically. It is passed on as a direct source of authority of an outside standard that does not change. Or it is passed on by compromising with another viewpoint to make a new “Synthesis”. The Dialectic eventually eliminates the authority and integrity of truth whereas the Didactic stands on the truth. See my previous three posts for more details on this.
Now let us take all this and build a Biblical Worldview that we can stand on with confidence. A Biblical Worldview is one that has established that the Bible is indeed the inspired Word of God and the complete expression of all that God wants to tell us and all we need to know to make our every day decisions. A Biblical Worldview will have God at the center of every aspect of life. He is not just your Savior, but your Creator, your Master, your Lord, your Father, your Friend, every other title God has is how he is for you. Provider, Banner, Healer, Redeemer, Hope, Shelter, etc.
A Biblical Worldview believes that God created the heavens and the earth exactly as he stated how he did it. A Biblical Worldview believes that man is made in the image of God and that the world was once a good and perfect place. It holds that man sinned and all the death, destruction, and chaos are a result of sin. It holds that Jesus is the Son of God, that he came as a baby, born of the virgin Mary, that he died on the cross, was buried for three days, and rose again. It holds that our purpose in life is to give glory to God and to have an intimate relationship with him. It holds that we, as Christians, are citizens of the Kingdom of God, God’s children, the Bride of Christ. We have a new nature, and new identity, one that reflects Jesus Christ. And we know where we are going. We know that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever and reign with Christ in the New Earth.
A Biblical Worldview will trust God at his word. It will cause someone to study what God has already revealed through Scripture. A Biblical Worldview will not just trust God to do what he said he would do, but cause someone to act in true faith upon what God said he would do. And when such action is performed, the evidence will show. A Biblical Worldview will see God behind every evidence as evidence of either grace or judgment or both. It will place God at the center of all that goes on, and even in the midst of evil, it will look for God’s sovereign hand on every situation.
A Biblical Worldview will never compromise with anything that is worldly. It will stand didactically and not bend to the desires of the world or of sinful self. A Biblical Worldview will cause someone to hold the position and not allow false ideas of the forces of darkness to draw us slowly away from the fortress of God’s word. It will not allow the Dialectic to reduce the integrity of the truth or the authority of Scripture. It will not allow any thought that could reduce the deity of Christ. It will be receptive to Godly counsel, rooted in Scripture. It will listen to the Holy Spirit as it reveals deeper truths found through Scripture. But it will also recognize the difference between that which comes from God and which is coming from either the devil or our own wishful thinking. It is also open to ideas that are not explicitly found in Scripture but will be closed to anything that is in conflict with Scripture. It is Canon-minded. Open to all that is true but closed to anything that is false.
A Biblical Worldview will cause you to act in alignment with Biblical principles in all areas. In how you run your home, your circles of friends, in how you treat those in authority over you, in how you deal with your business or work, how you deal with school, in all areas. It will cause you to not want to keep it to yourself. All your actions will reflect Christ, your deeds, your words, your attitudes, everything.
This is the ideal we should pursue. The only person to truly live a Biblical Worldview completely was Jesus Christ but the good news is that as Christians Jesus lives in us. We have the one person who lived the complete Christian life with us day in and day out. To be able to live a Biblical Worldview, we need Christ to live his life through us. How could you describe the Biblical Worldview in one sentence? A Biblical Worldview is most accurately expressed in the words and life of Jesus Christ. Follow him, obey him, live for him, and you will exhibit the Biblical Worldview.
There have been several recent examples in the world of sports of how children allow the athlete to put his struggles into perspective. Less than an hour after the Denver Broncos were blown out by the Seattle Seahawks in one of the most lopsided games in Super Bowl history, Broncos defensive end Shaun Phillips texted his son Jaylen and said, “Sorry I let you down”. His son responded, “It’s okay daddy, you’re still my hero”. Phillips was so touched by it that he shared it with the media. Two weeks later, PGA golfer William McGirt was entering the final round of a tournament with the lead for the first time in his career. I watched his interview where the reporter asked him about the pressure and he said, “At the end of the day, there’s a 13-month old at home who I’ll get to see tomorrow and it won’t make any difference to her whether I shoot 65 or 75”. Finally, if you’ve watched much of the Winter Olympics, you probably saw the commercial of the skier who goes into the locker room after a frustrating performance and is visibly upset when he gets a notification out of the blue on his phone. He checks it and it’s a video message from his son saying he can’t wait to see him. The athlete’s demeanor changes instantly when he realizes what’s truly important.
In Monday’s post, Katie talked mainly about the importance of marriage to children. For the sake of providing something new, I’d like to address why children are important to a marriage. You see, athletes aren’t the only ones who lose perspective sometimes. It’s easy for husbands and wives to get so immersed in the problems and frustrations they have with one another that they literally can’t remember what brought them together. Instead of thinking good and loving thoughts when they interact with each other, all they can think about is pain and disappointment. It is in those moments that the couple could use a reminder of humility, unconditional love, and trust from their children.
Jesus himself recognized the proper attitude displayed in children. In Matthew 18, he used it to teach his disciples about what’s necessary to enter heaven. The disciples had just asked Jesus who would be the greatest in heaven (v. 1). To answer the question, Jesus calls a little child before them and says, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (vv. 3-4). What? But these are his DISCIPLES. Aren’t they like super-Christians or something? Evidently, whatever standing we think we have with Jesus is irrelevant if we can’t adopt a childlike faith, trust, and humility. But this wasn’t the only time Jesus used children to demonstrate his point.
We see in the very next chapter that Jesus addresses something that was unfortunately connected to marriage back then just as it is today – divorce. You can read the story in Matthew 19 on your own, but I’ll tell you that the Pharisees were putting Jesus to the test with questions about divorce. According to Enduring Word Media Commentary, there were two separate Jewish rabbinical schools of that day that had opposing views on grounds for divorce, and whichever one Jesus sided with would either make him unpopular or show that he disregarded the Law. According to this same source, the Jews of that day considered marriage to be a sacred duty and if a man remained unmarried after the age of 20, he was breaking God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply”, which we have discussed in other blogs this month. However, their very lax views toward divorce showed that they had a low view of women. Knowing this, Jesus addressed marriage instead of arguing grounds for divorce, saying, “What God has joined together, let man not separate” (v. 6). Jesus’ point was that it is God who brings together two very different people to become one, meaning the married couple should do everything they can to honor and uphold what God has created.
After the Pharisees and even his own disciples didn’t seem to be changing their view of women and the marriage covenant, Jesus tried another approach. Right after this teaching on marriage, he allows children to be brought to him so he can lay hands on them, pray for them, and bless them (vv. 13-15). Again, he addresses the need for a childlike attitude to enter heaven. “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (v. 14). Do you think Jesus was making a point to his disciples about their attitudes by presenting children to them two different times that were so close to each other? And why allow these children to come to him after his teaching on marriage and divorce? I’m thinking he was trying to remind both his disciples and the Pharisees of the unconditional love, trust, and humility that are needed to preserve the marriage that God has made.
You can’t expect to make a marriage work without humbling yourself and changing your view of your partner, loving them despite the pain you’ve experienced, and trusting them completely. Those are exactly the attributes we see in children. Even when you’ve failed, you know your children still love you. You know they trust you even when you don’t feel trustworthy. Most importantly, children willingly humble themselves and depend on you. If you are married and God has blessed you with children, or even if you don’t have your own children but interact with those of others, I encourage you to let them be a reminder to you of how you should treat and view your spouse. Be willing to completely trust your spouse no matter what. Learn to love them even when they fail you. Commit to being humble to the point of depending on them because God has made it a PARTNERSHIP for a reason. When you have a hard time practicing any of these things in your marriage, just take some time to watch children. It will put things back into perspective for you.
Editors Note: As we continue our series on “Marriage – What Is It?” Please share this with a father. Please share this with a young man who is not yet a father. This is too important just to ignore.
Dads are extremely important. I mean, fathers: I’m guessing you have absolutely NO IDEA how important you are in the lives of your children, and in the lives of your wives, AND very much so in the life of the church. We need dads to be who God called them to be. Understand I believe moms are exceptionally important, as well. Today, I’m writing about dads because I think we have a big problem concerning dads. In order to understand the greatness of dads, we need to look at what God has to say to dads:
Gen. 6:18 - Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. 19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
Abraham is the Father of our faith, so to speak. Abraham wasn’t a perfect man, but he did something that God commanded: …he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD…so [He] will bring about …what He has promised. That is: He will make him great.
So how do we direct our children to keep the ways of the Lord? God’s Word further says, in Deut 6:6-9 - Write these commandments that I've given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates.
So in order to do this we need to know the Word of God ourselves and we need to talk about it. We have plenty of opportunity to learn about God’s ways from the Bible, in church services, small groups, and the internet.
God has called us, dads, to train up our children. He’s called us to be the head of the household and direct our children in the way of the Lord. You may not have signed up for that, but that doesn’t change the fact that God has made an order to things and you’re much closer to the top than many of us would like to take responsibility for.
Fatherhood is in decline. Fathers are portrayed on TV as imbeciles and they have little to no authority at all. Men have bought this and have become Doug Hefernan and Ray Barone, Tim Allen or Homer Simpson. With fatherhood on the decline and men simply playing their Hollywood role of bread winner and neighborhood clown, we’re in trouble. Men have decided to let mom be the authority. She can teach the kids. She can be in charge. Let her make the decisions and let her go out and represent the family in the community or church. I believe this is a BIG problem.
Here are some staggering statistics that may help you realize why I feel God placed this on my heart.
A survey was conducted to determine whether a person’s religion carried through to the next generation, and if so, why, or if not, why not. The result is alarming in light of what I just told you concerning attendance. There is one critical factor found in the survey. It is overwhelming, and it is this: It is the religious practice of the father of the family that, above all, determines the future attendance at or absence from church of the children.
So let me share the survey results so you can see why this is amazing: If both parents are regular in their church attendance,74% of their children will remain faithful to one degree or another. If dad is irregular in attendance while mom is regular, 62% will attend (that’s a loss of 12% because dad was not a regular attender). If dad doesn’t attend but mom is regular in her attendance, 39% of their children will have a faith of some sort (that is a loss of 35% compared to dads that attend regularly). 2% of their children will become a regular attendee. 2%!
In short, If the father attends at all, 50-74% of his children will attend church on some level. If the father does not attend, 2% of his children will become regular worshippers and not even 40% will attend at all.
Said another way: If mom stays home but dad goes, a minimum of 2/3 of the children will be in church. If dad stays home and mom goes, 2/3 of the children will not go to church. If neither goes to church, 80% of their children won’t go either.
When a child gets to the age where they begin to differentiate themselves from mom and dad, more than anything, they’ll use their dad as the role model—this is for boys and girls. Where the father is indifferent, inadequate, or just plain absent, the task of differentiation is much harder. When children see that church is a "women and children" thing, they will respond accordingly—by not going to church, or going much less. Curiously, both adult women as well as men will conclude subconsciously that Dad’s absence indicates that going to church is not really a "grown-up" activity.
We live in a time where fatherlessness is the norm. I’m not just talking about single moms, friends. How many dads do you know who live with their wives and children but are really absent?
Children with involved Fathers are more confident, better able to deal with frustration, better able to gain independence and their own identity, more likely to mature into compassionate adults, more likely to have a high self-esteem, more sociable, more secure as infants, less likely to show signs of depression, less likely to commit suicide, more empathetic, boys have been shown to be less aggressive and adolescent girls are less likely to engage in sex.
I had a bunch of stats for you to confirm this, but I honestly thought they’d be too depressing. I will share a couple just to make the point stick:
--85% of all youths in prison come from fatherless homes. 20 times the national average.SOURCE: U.S. Dept. of Justice
--children living in two-parent households with a poor relationship with their father are 68% more likely to smoke, drink or use drugs compared to all teens in two-parent households.
“Without two parents, working together as a team, the child has more difficulty learning the combination of empathy, reciprocity, fairness and self-command that people ordinarily take for granted. If the child does not learn this at home, society will have to manage his behavior in some other way. He may have to be rehabilitated, incarcerated, or otherwise restrained. In this case, prisons will substitute for parents.” SOURCE: Morse, Jennifer Roback. “Parents or Prisons.” Policy Review, 2003 The bottom line to this is that Dads are a gift to their children. As a father, you must realize that your presence is a gift to your child. Fathers represent a lot more than just a paycheck to a child; they represent safety, protection, guidance, friendship, and someone to look up to.
