What Is a Family?

Before creating a family, I think it is worth figuring out what kind of union this is? And if a family already exists, it is necessary to understand what it is in general understanding and in God's design. When there is an idea of what it should be, then you can already plan the construction.

When money appears that is sufficient for building a new house, I do not come to builders with a request to construct something for me. They need a plan. Having experience in this area, they can build anything, but still they will want to know my taste and my preferences, so as not to have problems with the delivery of the object in the future.

If I start building something myself without knowing the laws of this process, then it can be said with confidence that mistakes are inevitable, and some details of the building may pose a mortal danger not only to me, but also to visitors of my house or random passers-by.

A family is a voluntary union of a man and woman, connecting them to each other in marriage. The marriage union is the basic foundation of the life activity of any state, a cell of society of any country, and therefore state laws regulate the creation of families and provide them with protection, legal and juridical defense.

It is customary to create a family out of love, mutual sympathy or attraction to each other, taking upon oneself mutual obligations defined by law and the culture of society. There are cases of marriages by calculation or agreement of parents.

State law establishes restrictions for creating a family for citizens: — who have not reached the age of majority; — who are married; — who are in direct family relations, including with adopted children; — who are incapacitated, having mental deviations; — who are entering into a union against the will of one of the parties.

A family is considered legal only when marriage is registered in registry offices.

A family is kinship relations in many generations of people living in a common area: parents, children, grandchildren and members of their families.

Spouses are expected to produce offspring and engage in raising their children. Adoption or guardianship of other people's children is also permitted.

For a child, the family is a place where their character, worldview, culture, intellect are formed, where they are cared for until a certain age, meeting their physical and emotional needs.

A family is God's plan for man, so that he would not be alone. In the process of creation there was a design that people who united in marriage union would be fruitful and multiply, populating the earth.

God divided man into male and female so that they could reunite and become one flesh, while remaining unique individuals with their own views on life.

A family implies an eternal union for all the time of man's eternal existence. Sin brought death and suffering into our world. Therefore, God's requirements for family unity were limited by the death of one of the spouses or violation of fidelity by one of the marital parties.

God's plans did not include uniting people in same-sex marriages, and such unions are forbidden by God's statutes, in which they are called abomination and vileness.

As the population grew, the Lord introduced a ban on marital relations between close relatives. Also, God's people were not allowed to create families with representatives of other peoples who worshiped other gods.

The human family is a unique arrangement of society for God's angels, who do not have marital ties among themselves and cannot produce their own kind, but are members of one Heavenly family by the fact of creation.

The Christian society can also be called a family, where all its members are children of the Heavenly Father, born of the Holy Spirit and called among themselves brothers and sisters.

God approves of marital relations created according to His will, not contrary to His laws. To receive God's blessings, a solemn wedding ceremony is provided, where in the presence of witnesses the newlyweds give mutual consent to enter into marital relations.

Marriage implies intimate connection between spouses only after the creation of a union before the church community and the state.

The institution of family and marriage has not escaped attacks from the enemy of the soul, who constantly seeks to pervert God's principles and convince people to enter into close relationships outside of marriage, make ill-considered decisions about hastily creating a family, or destroy existing unions at the desire of a selfish or lustful heart.

What do we see? Grief, divorces, perversions, suffering of innocent children, devastation in families and unhappiness. And this curse of society increases every year. And in connection with the current situation, various states issue laws legalizing relationships forbidden by God, thereby bringing chaos into the institution of marriage and family.

And among all this confusion we have to build something pure, right, having an eternal foundation, or restore what is cracking and close to destruction.

Let us take as our motto a verse from Isaiah 58:12: "And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in."

The Lord wants to see His people wise, pure, holy and happy.

A happy family is God's plan for the last time, which He wants to write in our hearts, predicting this through the prophet Malachi. If something did not work out in my relationships, then it is worth turning to God, who knows how to create a new heart and make something out of nothing.

Love is given by God, both for personal growth and to make happy all those who surround me. In love God is glorified in true light and is revealed in all His depth and beauty.

A husband and wife who love each other are a visual aid to how God's love works, uniting two different people into one flesh, directing different views on life in one direction. Without love everything loses meaning, and even sensual pleasures do not bring joy in life, and there is no benefit from what happens next.

The first earthly marriage was created in ideal conditions and was a reflection of God's glory. Now there is war, and many counterfeits and traps are offered. Therefore, it is worth taking into account all the peculiarities of the time and being wise and attentive builders, knowing what, from what and on what I will build. The wrong approach to creating a family is capable of destroying all my subsequent life. And to rely on the chance of success, thinking that happiness will somehow appear from nothing by itself, is a rather risky enterprise without special prospects.

Who will have a better result, the one who saves money for a car and then buys it, or the one who wants to win it quickly, buying a lottery ticket every week, spending over time amounts exceeding the cost of the desired vehicle?

So also in building a happy family, success will accompany wise and faithful builders. And love will adorn and strengthen with itself every structure, guaranteeing success in everything to which it applies its invisible visible hand.

1. Please read: Gen. 1:26-29; 2:18-25; Matt. 7:24-27; 19:4-6; Prov. 18:22; 31:10-11; Eph. 5:33; Isa. 58:12; 1 Cor. 7:1-2,9-11,27-28,39; 11:8-9; Rom. 7:2-3; Matt. 18:8-9; 1 Tim. 2:13-14; 5:14; Heb. 13:4; Rev. 19:7-9; Prov. 12:4; 14:1; 19:14; 31:30 in light of this topic.

2. What did you understand from this topic?

3. How do you understand family? What is it?

4. What are families created for?

5. How long should a family exist?

6. Why did God decide to create family? Did He want to reveal something important to us through this union?

7. In their foundation all families are created out of love and mutual consent. Why then are there so many divorces?

8. What is better: to be alone or to have a family, or to be alone in an existing family?

9. Do you believe that family is not only rights and responsibilities, but also love, care for each other and mutual happiness?

10. Is it possible in our time to have family happiness?

11. Why does state power care about families and protect this union?

12. What role does family play in our society?

13. Do you think our lessons can bring happiness to families?

14. What should I do if I want to have a happy family but don't know where to find it?

15. Is family a serious enterprise?