It has become patently evident that our present society is in a confused state regarding it’s sexuality. We see men becoming women, women becoming men, young adolescents struggling with who they really are. It is no wonder that the greatest need is for definite and strong role models to stand as examples in a world spiraling down to chaos.

Almost 40% of children born are now born out of wedlock with no consistent Father figure. True fatherhood involves a father being in the home, training and loving his children in the context of a committed marriage relationship. Recently, in the United States married couples for the first time became a minority, accounting for only 49.7% of households with children. Out-of-wedlock pregnancy and divorce are so widespread, according to author David Blankenhorn, that “before they reach the age of eighteen, more than half of our nation’s children are likely to spend at least a significant portion of their childhoods living apart from their fathers”

Increasingly, older single mothers are choosing to become pregnant without a husband. One 31-year old single mother noted that when she became pregnant “it didn’t matter if I had a man, because I knew I could do it alone.”

James Dobson reports in his book “Bringing up Boys” that some believe not only that fathers are unnecessary, but that the institution of fatherhood is harmful to families. A radical feminist author, said, “I am highly suspicious of the necessity of kids to have a male role model… The propaganda that children, especially boys, need fathers I think, has contributed incalculably to the misery of children all over the world”

The National Center for Children in Poverty reports that fatherless
boys are twice as likely to drop out of school or go to jail, and nearly four times as likely to need treatment for emotional and behavioral problems.

Don Elium, author of Raising a Son, says that with troubled boys, the common theme is distant, uninvolved fathers. Prisons are populated primarily by men who were abandoned or rejected by their fathers.

Bill Glass, a dedicated evangelist who counseled almost every weekend for 25 years with men who were incarcerated, says that among the thousands of prisoners he had met, not one of them genuinely loved his dad. Ninety-five percent of those on death row hated their fathers.

We need definite Father Figures in our society, in our schools, in our homes and in our Churches. God is our loving heavenly Father, he is not sexist, racist, bigoted or insecure. He has provided for us a blueprint for life, for happy healthy homes and for raising our children well. As men let us step up to the plate—and take up fully the responsibility of leading in our homes as the Priests God has called us to be. Our world will never change unless we lead the way.