Pioneer Christian Monthly - September, 1993

Finally Beloved
Jonathan Gerstner

War is a horrible thing. Seeing the things that one cherishes most in the world being put in harm's way. One evening one can go to sleep feeling quite secure, the next evening there are tanks in the street and one is powerless to do anything.

Many of our readers can painfully remember this horrible reality of war from personal experience. All of our readers need to be aware that the battles of this world are merely child's play compared with the spiritual battles being waged now all around us.

One of the most helpful books in outlining a major front of this battle for the soul of our society is surprisingly written by an individual with no clearly expressed personal faith commitment. Dr. William Gairdner is a distinguished scholar and critic of Canadian society. I first met Dr. Gairdner in the studio of TV Ontario when I was a member of a panel discussing his book, The War Against the Family. His book makes painfully clear that all of us, as Canadians, are in the front lines of a battle in which the JudeoChristian ideals of family, as two parents of the opposite sex living together in a life-time commitment and raising Children in this loving environment, is more and more under attack.

Gairdner's book brilliantly notes the diverse strands of attack on the family throughout Canadian society. Perhaps most subtly devastating is the very linguistic destruction of the term "family" in textbooks and the media by redefining it to include anti -family units, such as homosexual couples and children. Gairdner chronicles how multi-fronted the attack is, perceptively seeing abortion and euthanasia as part of this attack, and showing how the government, legal system and the church (we would say the false church) are all being part of this offensive. His work is essential reading for all concerned about the future of Canadian society. The section on sexual education textbooks alone is sufficient grounds for reading the book and preparing for battle.

Yet the puzzling side to Gairdner's book is that as acutely as he sees the attack, he fails to see the two commanders of the armies. It's a little bit like a book about World War 11 without Hit ler or Churchill in it. The unity of attack on the family so clearly points to the powers of evil one so desperately trying to destroy the fragments of the image of God left in humanity. The family with its communal opportunity for mutual love and nurture is a beautiful picture of the triune nature of God. Scripture compares marriage to i the relationship between Christ and the church. The healthy family is such a testimony to God and the Gospel the evil one cannot let it alone. If he cannot destroy it by making it dysfunctional and abusive, he will actually attempt to discredit the whole ideal of the healthy family.

By failing to see the nature of the enemy, Gairdner fails to see the great defender of the family, too. I was struck how often statistics were used in an attempt to argue that the family is a good thing. By God's grace the majority of Canadian still believe (at least in theory) in the ideal of one man and one woman in a lifetime covenant raising children, but the absolute validity of the family will endure even if the evil one is able to shape the public opinion of the next generation of Canadians. I sincerely hope that Dr. Gairdner's personal pilgrimage will lead him to rediscover absolute values, and most importantly, find a saving relationship with the source of all truth.

Christianity must fight for the family out of loyalty to God and true love of our fellow humans, even if the ideal is no longer the norm of society. A former rabbi walked into the Greek world in which homosexuality, indeed pederasty was a highly accepted form of relationship, and with a missionary zeal denounced these as sins against the God of nature and in opposition to the Gospel. Western society has never been the same after Paul, through the Holy Spirit, turned the world upside down. Wherever our society goes, the truth of the family will remain as part of God's moral will for humanity.

As we fight against the tanks of those who are intent on destroying the family, we may feel as if we only have sticks and stones to throw against them. But the wood of the cross and the stone which the builders rejected will triumph against all its enemies. Christ is the victor.

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