preview

The Plan of God: Family or Church? Essay

Best Essays

God and His plan are often brought up in terms of faith, to believe in His plan means you trust Him and His guidance. His primary pan though of whether family or church is first is often more of an issue. As examined in ‘Taking Sides,’ an excerpt of Michael Gold (1999) and Stanley Hauerwas (1996) are presented to look at both sides of the argument. Gold (1999) believes that family is and needs to be the primary plan while Hauerwas (1996) says that the church is primary. While church is important and is largely a part of God’s plan, family is the start and end of it all. A child cannot be taught to be a good person. Rules are taught; character and behaviour are developed through modeling. Rules or morals are not significant if a child …show more content…

The comparison of animals and their familial structures to humans is used by Gold to show the significant of parenting and families.
The animal kingdom and the human world may use the same terminology, for example brother and sister, but the characteristics of the terms can be different or similar, depending on the animal. Both animals and humans have parents that we receive our genetics from. But to be a parent to humans means to take care of, aid, nurture, love, and help grow our children until they have the life skills and knowledge to be on their own. Clearly this is not the same for animals where after a point of maturation, the offspring venture off on their own and begin their lives with another mate. Gold (1999) points out that human life is more chain like than animals that go through cycle. Gold (1999) believes that unlike animals, humans know and experience other generations because they are linked through the appreciation of the past and vision for the future and this link is what gives a spiritual quality of human life. Each generation passes morals, values, customs, and art onto the next through modeling. Although Gold (1999) cannot be certain of whether animals experience this link, it is a good way to show the importance of family and continues to be and lives through generations.
Gold (1999) supports his idea of family significance with scripture, Genesis 2:18 that states,

Get Access