Family values – essential for the individual and society, and for God
Family values are essential both for the individual and society, but also for God. The family is the individual’s first institution of socialization. There, you experience the most important relationships in life, primarily as a child in relation to your mother and father, then as siblings. A family is built by a married couple based on the most intimate love relationship with someone of the opposite sex. Such a relationship creates new life, which eventually grows up and creates new families. This is how human existence is maintained here on Earth.
The family produces society’s citizens. In order for us to have good societies, it is therefore extremely important that we have good families. It is actually the relationships within the family that shape you as a person, and that determine how well you function in the interaction with your fellow human beings in society in general.
The family is important to God because God is love. And it is precisely in the family that we get our first experiences of love ─ children’s love, sibling love, marital love and parental love. It is by experiencing these most fundamental forms of love, that one matures as an individual and develops a heart that becomes able to see things from God‘s point of view. God loves all people, and it is in the family that we learn to love our fellow human beings.
The family is the most precious institution. A society that does not value the family, and even opposes this most precious institution, cannot last in the long run.
According to Eurobarometer, the family ranks regularly as the Number 1 value of European people. Moreover, 55% of Europeans think their governments should spend more on family policies[1].
Some UN documents insist that the family is a key for social development and health.
Yet the family is in crisis everywhere. This has prompted the founders of the Family Federation, Father and Mother Moon to propose a new and innovative perspective, which will be presented here.
Text: Knut Holdhus / Laurent Ladouce
[1] coface-eu.org/eurobarometer-survey-shows-55-of-europeans-think-their-governments-should-spend-more-on-family-policies/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=eurobarometer-survey-shows-55-of-europeans-think-their-governments-should-spend-more-on-family-policies
