Fathers, Raise Your Children

[rant]
The number one problem facing America today is lack of fatherhood. Whether it plays out in the ghettos as stylized, hyper-masculine gang violence, or in the suburbs as transgenderism, our culture is dying from a cancer known as absent fathers.
It’s not just that dad isn’t in the home, though that’s too often the case. But it’s more usual that, even and maybe especially among homes that might be styled “conservative Christian”, that dad is absent even while home. He’s checked out. He’s passed the baton of parenthood off to his wife. But it’s still his fault and his problem.
Let me say up front that this is not going to be an anti-man rant. You’ll read plenty of “Men are bad, put women in charge” idiocy elsewhere. Men have for too long believed exactly that and acted accordingly. That’s why we are where we are today.
Instead I’m going to make two points, which I hope will encourage us to stand that anti-man garbage on its head. The first is that you, sir, are held responsible by God for what happens in your home and society. The second is that it’s time for you to take it back from whomever you’ve passed it off to.

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
— Ephesians 6:4 (NASB)

When Paul instructed the Christian fathers in Ephesus, he was not giving a new command. He was reiterating one that had been assumed and practiced across Europe and the ancient Near East for millennia: Fathers are the primary parent responsible for a) discipline, and b) instruction.

Dad, you are responsible for disciplining your children.

This does not mean spanking them when they become too much for mom. Discipline, or “nurture” in the KJV, is peidia:

Training of the physical and mental faculties in such a way as to produce a broad enlightened mature outlook harmoniously combined with maximum cultural development.

Discipline is a deep and abiding interest in their physical, moral, and intellectual growth. Your job is to mold your sons into good, strong men and your daughters into good, mature women. It is a lifelong project of making disciples of them.

Dad, you are responsible for educating your children.

While any task can be delegated, the responsibility remains with you. If they are in a bad school, get them out. If they are in a school that undermines parental authority, get them out. Are they in a school that undermines God’s design for the family? It’s time to get them out.
Homeschool or die. Public schools are used primarily because they are “free” and convenient, not because of the education they provide. God will not hold you blameless if you sacrifice your children to the god of this world for your own convenience.

Dad, you are responsible for getting your children to church

Shut up and go to church. That means a Christ-centered church run by godly men, as God intended. If your wife is the one who the kids ask if they are going to church this week, you’re doing it wrong. Take that decision back. If your wife is the one leading your family prayers, that’s your job. Take it back.
That last part is important. It is crucial. And nothing will be preserved unless we do this, individually and collectively: Take it back.
It’s time for you to take your children back from the state. Maybe even from their mother*.
It’s time for you to take your family back from the culture, from Hollywood, from television.
It’s time for you to take your church back from the feminists and the egalitarians and the materialists.
I can hear it now: “El B, you don’t understand! The court systems are stacked against men!”
I know they are. Take them back.
“Immorality is everywhere in our culture.”
Yes, it is. Take the culture back or burn it down and create a new one. But get your kids out of this one until it’s safe.

The odds are against you, but God is for you.

It’s not going to be easy. Even our President brags about the low unemployment numbers for women, as if America’s problem is too few women in the workplace**. The entire political, legal, and cultural system is stacked against what is best for you and especially your family.
This is not to say we have no other issues. Yes, immigration is a problem, and maybe a fatal one for our nation. Chronic and growing debt is a problem and is going to result in a collapse of the currency with all the suffering that entails.
There are plenty of others. But this one must be dealt with, or nothing else will matter.
And this one can be dealt with by you, in your home, in your church, where you live. Whatever is under your authority, you have the ability to change. When God gives responsibility, he gives ability.
You are charged by God to do this very thing. He has placed these talents into your hands, to see what you will produce from them.
A man went on a long journey and entrusted his possessions to you (Matt 25:14-30). What is He going to say to you when you tell him what you let your ex-wife, your public school, and that fancy liberals arts college do with them?
Do today that which will ensure He says, “You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”
[/rant]
* What’s her role in this? She’s your helper, but you are responsible.  When Eve ate the fruit, God didn’t call her, he called Adam. God is not going to call your wife to account for things he’s placed under your authority. He’s going to call you.
** While America’s primary problem is lack of fathers in the home, straight behind it is lack of mothers. What did we think was going to happen to a generation of kids warehoused and guarded by functionally retarded day care providers?