As a regular guy who has struggled with how to raise a family in our American
culture I’ve been asking some hard questions about the predominate philosophy of family virtually all Americans hold. It has been largely unsuccessful at keeping families together and keeping men in particular, interested and engaged in building strong families.
Being a Christian, I turned to the Bible for some guidance in developing a new philosophy of family and was pleasantly surprised to discover a family philosophy presented in the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament) that answered my questions and a narrative and culture presented that provides purpose and direction for family life.
So now my family and I are journeying with other families into the depths of the biblical narrative of family to adopt its philosophy and thus far in this process we have been completely amazed at the difference it makes.
We have weekend events called “Family Teams Seminars” to bring several families together to discuss this philosophy of family and to find ways to allow biblical principles of family, not generally taught or discussed in the church, to transform our views of the family and our life together as a family.
We sum up this multi-generational philosophy of family presented in the Torah as “Family Teams” where God gifts the family with individuals of diverse talents and skills for a life-long mission of building up the family so the family in turn can bless the world.
About the Author:
Name: Jeremy Pryor
Family: Wife (April) & Four Kids (Kelsey, Jackson, Sydney & Elisa)
Location: Fort Thomas, KY (2 miles from downtown Cincinnati, OH)
Occupation: Entrepreneur
Favorite Movie: The Godfather (of course)
Contact: Please leave a comment so I can send you my email address
I was wondering if what church affiliation this class is linked with… I just wanted to research a little of the theology of the denomination for my own knowledge.
Technogeek,
Your comment really struck me: ” I’ve been asking some hard questions about the predominate philosophy of family virtually all Americans hold. It has been largely unsuccessful at keeping families together and keeping men in particular, interested and engaged in building strong families.”
It seems that part of the problem is that often American society does not value and support the consistent involvement of men in their children’s lives. This is particularly illustrated in cases of marital strife where courts often rule in favor of mothers with the bias that the mother’s emotional connection with children is more important than the father’s. Often men are left with the social message that their underlying value is to provide economically for children without recognizing how essential a father is to a child’s emotional and spiritual development.
What are your thoughts on this?
Hello, Jeremy,
Checked your blogs today from a link on H2H. Enjoyed what i read. I’m a Cincinnati native who now lives in Indianapolis. I suspect I’m a little older than you–my kids are all grown and married. But I’m glad to see you saying these things.