BIBLICAL VIRTUE GROUP

Because I value God's teaching in the Bible, I choose to believe and follow its teachings.

What To Believe

Marriage and Family

The Bible teaches that God made marriage for man and woman to share God's love and meet their need for companionship, and family. Therefore, I will value my family.

Definition

Marriage and Family related virtue: Ideal companionship.

Marriage and Family means: Marriage was begun in Eden by God and upheld by Jesus as the ideal way for a man and a woman to share God's love, companionship, and creatorship. Jesus also taught that marriage should only be broken because of unfaithfulness in the form of adultery.

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Our Father by Whose Name, SDAH 650
Happy the Home, SDAH 651
Love at Home, SDAH 652
Lord Bless Our Homes, SDAH 654
Happy the Home, SDAH 655

Student Life Applications

Loving my brothers, sisters, parents, and grandparents.

Bible, E.G. White

From the Beginning -- Matthew 19:6 -- "What God has joined together, let not man separate"
The Effects of the Fall Upon Marriage -- Genesis 3:16 -- "Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you"
Deviations From God's Ideal -- Exodus 20:14 -- "Thou shalt not commit adultery"
The Family -- Genesis 1:28 -- "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it"
The Turning -- Malachai 4:5, 6 -- "he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers"

Reinforcing Stories

Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories III, pp. 61, 77, 84; IV, pp. 73, 99 by Arthur S. Maxwell
Great Stories for Kids IV, pp. 124, 131, by Jerry Thomas

Student Activities

Links to the Curriculum

Resources

Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories, by Arthur S. Maxwell, R&H
Great Stories for Kids, by Jerry Thomas, PPPA

An Affirmation of Family
The family tie is the closest, the most tender and sacred of any human relationship on earth. God instituted the family as the primary provider of the warm and caring relationships for which the human heart yearns.
In the family circle, deep and abiding needs for belonging, love, and intimacy are met in significant ways. God blesses the family and intends that its members will help each other in reaching complete maturity and wholeness. In the Christian family, the personal worth and dignity of each member is affirmed and safeguarded in an environment of respect, equality, openness, and love. In this intimate circle the individual's earliest and most lasting attitudes toward relationships are developed and values are conveyed from one generation to another.
God also intends that a revelation of Himself and His ways be gained from the family relationship. Marriage, with mutual love, honor, intimacy, and lifelong commitment as its fabric, mirrors the love, sanctity, closeness and permanence of the bond between Christ and His church. The training and correcting of children by their parents and the loving response of offspring to the affection shown them reflects the experience of believers as children of God. By God's grace the family may be a powerful agency in leading its members to Christ.
Sin has perverted God's ideals for marriage and family. Furthermore. the increasing complexity of society and the enormous stresses which fall upon relationships, lead to crises within many families today. The results are evidenced in lives and relationships that are broken, dysfunctional, and characterized by mistrust, conflict, hostility and estrangement. Many family members, including parents and grandparents, but especially wives and children, suffer from family violence. Abuse, both emotional and physical, has reached epidemic proportions. The rising number of divorces signals a high degree of marital discord and unhappiness.
Families need to experience renewal and reformation in their relationships. This will help change the destructive attitudes and practices prevalent in many homes today. Through the power of the gospel, family members are enabled to acknowledge their individual sinfulness, to accept each other's brokenness, and to receive Christ's redemptive healing in their lives and relationships. Although some family relationships may fall short of the ideal, and restoration from damaging experiences may not be fully accomplished, where the love of Christ reigns, His Spirit will promote unity and harmony making such homes channels of life-giving joy and power in the church and community.

This public statement was released by the General Conference
president, Neal C. Wilson, after consultation with the 16 world vice
presidents of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, on July 5, 1990, at the
General Conference session in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Marriage was divinely established in Eden and affirmed by Jesus to be a lifelong union between a man and a woman in loving companionship. For the Chritian a marriage commitment is to God as well as to the spouse, and should be entered into only between partners who share a common faith. Mutual love, honor, respect, and responsibility are the fabric of this relationship, which is to reflect the love, sanctity, closeness, and permanence of the relationship between Christ and His church. Regarding divorce, Jesus taught that the person who divorces a spouse, except for fornication, and marries another, commits adultery. Although some family relationships may fall short of the ideal, marriage partners who fully commit themselves to each other in Christ may achieve loving unity through the guidance of the Spirit and the nurture of the church. God blesses the famiy and intends that its members shall assist each other toward complete maturity. Parents are to bring up their children to love and obey the Lord. By their example and their words they are to teach them that Christ is a loving disciplinarian, ever tender and caring, who wants them to become members of His body, the family of God. Increasing family closeness is one of the earmarks of the final gospel message.---Fundamental Beliefs, 22

Primary:
Tell or write two ways that show what it means to believe and follow the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family.
Tell or write about a time when you saw someone show they believed and followed Bible teaching of Marriage and Family.
Tell or write about when you showed that you believed and followed the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family.
Tell or write about when you saw the hurt and unhappiness when someone didn’t believe and follow the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family.
How do you think God feels when He sees people who believe and follow the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family?
How do you feel or act when you follow the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family?
Tell two ways that you can show you believe the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family.
What makes you want to follow the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family?
What is the opposite of believing and following the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family? Who makes us act or believe that way?
Finish the sentence: We can show we believe and follow the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family when we..........

Middle:
Why does God care if I believe and follow the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family?
What difference does it make whether I believe and follow the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family or not?
What effect would it have on my future if I did not believe and follow the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family?
How would people treat me differently if I did or didn’t believe and follow the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family?
How would I feel about myself if I did or did not believe and follow the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family?
Give some reasons why you think it is best to believe and follow the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family.
Why would someone do differently?
What makes choosing to believe and follow the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family better than the opposite?
List some ways that a person might believe and follow the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family without anyone noticing?
List 3 situations where a person could believe the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family and show it in his work, home, or at the shopping mall.
Is it possible for a person to get better at believing and following the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family? Explain.
Can you think of someone who seems good at believing and following the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family? What makes them better at it?
How could you learn to be better at believing and following the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family?
How often do you show that you believe and follow the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family? Think of the last three times and tell me.
Do you like to join in when people believe and follow the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family? How have you joined in?

High school:
Would you practice believing and following the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family if no one were checking on you? Your parents, school, or the law?
What is the alternative to believing and following the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family and what do you see as the results of that choice?
Would you recognize it if someone were not fully believing and following the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family? How?
Would you keep quiet if someone paid you a lot of money not to believe and follow the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family?
Are you proud to believe and follow the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family and willing to tell others how you feel?
If someone in a group spoke out against believing and following the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family would you speak up to give the other side?
Are you willing to put some of your money toward helping people believe and follow the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family, in your city, class, work?
Can you say that believing and following the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family has become a habit? How often do you show your belief?
What effect do you think believing and following the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family will have on your future life?
Do you see your family believing and following the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family? How about your church, city, or nation?
What do you think should be done to promote believing and following the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family in your family, friends, church, city, nation?
Does it make much difference if they believe and follow the Bible teaching of Marriage and Family or not?