Who Owns The Family: God Or The State?

Biblical Blueprint Series

by Ray R. Sutton

Does the Bible have answers for the problems facing today's families? Yes. Absolutely. Our families are in trouble. They are under siege. Divorce is rampant. Parental rights are eroding. Social welfare coercion is on the rise. Governmental intervention has become commonplace. One legislative and judicial booby trap after another has been set, right in our own backyard. Many social analysts and Christian counselors fear that if basic family structures continue to sustain such destructive attacks, they will not survive, and the very foundations of Western civilization will crumble. Helpless in the face of impending calamity, they do not know what to dothey don't have answers. But the Bible does. In this volume of the groundbreaking Biblical Blueprint Series, Rev. Ray Sutton outlines what those answers are. He shows how these bombs can be defused. He assures us that families can be saved from the ravages of this revolutionary siege if only we would obey Scripture's clear commands. The Bible tells us what to do, when, where, how, and why. It offers us "blueprints" for victory, Who Owns The Family? lays out that "blueprint" simply, practically, and understandably. It demonstrates that neither the state bureaucrats nor the courts control our families' futures. God does.

Genres: Family, Politics, Theology, Christianity, Education, Christian

228 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Ray R. Sutton is Bishop Coadjutor in the Diocese of Mid-America of the Reformed Episcopal Church in the Anglican Church in North America. He is also Rector of the Church of the Holy Communion in Dallas, Texas, president and professor of Scripture and Theology at Cranmer Theological House in Houston, Texas and headmaster of Holy Communion Christian Academy (formerly Bent Tree Episcopal School). Sutton was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and moved to Dallas at age thirteen.

He is currently head of the Ecumenical Relations Committee of the Anglican Church of North America.

Reviews

[Josiah Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The answer to the title question is one that is pretty readily answered by most Christians. We believe in a hierarchical structure of the family, civil, ecclesiological, and a teleological realm. And we understand that God has precedence over all. So we would reply that the state certainly does not own the family as it is a subset of the Dominion of God.

The problem is that those of us who deny the states ownership of the family have readily given over the rights of the family to the state. Through statism, public education, deprivation of civil rights, loss of self-autonomy, the denial of other realms of government other than its own, and the giving over of the rights to Christian doctrine from the church to the state, which causes ones palm to quickly meet ones forehead.

Now, nobody likes this, and many will disagree that this is happening and this response is a slow-acting poison because one is not likely to take medication for a disease they do believe they have. This is why things like confessing our sins to one another is so important, because not only are we acting in obedience for admitting our sickness but we are also taking the cure for it in the same breath. True admission of sinning against God is to place oneself under his law and sitting squarely in his courtroom (I'm told He is a gracious judge).

Sutton walks through many ways that we have given the family to the state, despite our cry's that we haven't. But more importantly, he gives practical ways to take back the family and place it squarely back into the only King we need or want. This is an older book and so it is dated and has missed what the last 30 years or so in criminal justice reform has done (or lack thereof). But saying "the government is corrupt and here is why" is going to be valid in any year in human history. Reading this book is like making a sandwich with all the toppings pushed to one side. So some bites are great and savory and others kinda leave a bland taste in your mouth.

[Derek Herrema · Rating 5 out of 5]

so good

[Jared Lovell · Rating 2 out of 5]

A decent book. Lays out a biblical blueprint for the family as well as a plan for the family to reclaim it's independence and authority from the state. I would have appreciated it if the author spent a little more time explaining the effect of the court cases that he highlights and went in to more detail as to how exactly the family is under attack. More importantly, the greater weakness may be that it never considers how the state may have a role in protecting the family.

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the plus side of good.