WEBVTT 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:01.520 Morning. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:10.560 Today's text is from the book of Genesis, chapter 1, verses 26 through 28. 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:26.000 Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 00:00:26.239 --> 00:00:28.320 So God created man in his own image. 00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:32.479 In the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:46.640 And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:47.920 This is the word of the Lord. 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:55.920 Thanks for joining us this morning. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:57.119 My name is James Rathman. 00:00:57.280 --> 00:00:59.439 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:06.159 And I've been looking forward to this for a while, getting into our new series for the summer. 00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:12.319 We are out of Acts, although we'll return to Acts next spring, next year in 27. 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:21.439 Um, and we'll return to Exodus after this series towards the end of the summer, and then there's a lot of Exodus that we uh have to go through. 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:24.480 We're gonna get to do the Ten Commandments in the fall. 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:25.359 Woo! 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:29.359 So silly. 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:31.680 But we I love the Ten Commandments. 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:34.400 They're like some of my favorite commandments. 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:37.920 Glad that we're in good company with that. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:43.840 So let's pray, and then uh I'll introduce this series tied titled The Christian Home. 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:45.519 So would you pray with me? 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:56.719 Holy Father, what a joy to hear the scripture read that uh we are no longer under the curse of the law because you have borne that curse on our behalf, Lord. 00:01:56.879 --> 00:02:00.959 But we receive a righteousness by faith, that is through your son. 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:07.760 Father, what a glorious, glorious truth to remember this morning, this Lord's Day morning. 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:14.159 As we remember your resurrection, which testifies to this reality that we will be brought into eternal life with you. 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:19.759 We will share a resurrection with you because of what Christ accomplished on our behalf. 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:21.759 Lord, this is glorious news. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:30.159 Father, I pray that this morning that you would renew our imaginations for what your desires are for your family. 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:38.800 Lord, that we might see what your original intentions were for the family that you established in the very beginning. 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:51.520 Lord, that you would shape our imaginations for the families that we are a part of, the families of which we are children, Lord, that you might help us to receive them with gratitude and with love. 00:02:51.840 --> 00:03:00.719 Lord, where we are parents, Lord, help us understand the gravity of the responsibility that you have given to us and the glory that you have. 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:09.919 Lord, help us understand the promises that you have given to the structure of family, Lord, which you have created as one of your good gifts. 00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:13.280 Would you shape our hearts to receive it as a good gift? 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:30.319 Lord, as we approach the topic of family, we are approaching the areas where we experience some of our deepest pains and some of the deepest uh uh difficulties and frustrations, and and the deepest pain that we can really experience in this life takes place in the context of family. 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:37.199 And Lord, I pray that you would meet us there, that what has been put out of joint, Lord, you would restore so that you might bring healing. 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:38.960 We lift that up in Jesus' name. 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:39.759 Amen. 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:47.840 So last summer, about this time, we moved through a series about marriage, which I titled the marriage series. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:55.199 And so it seemed appropriate for us to continue on that theme for this sort of like topical series that we do in the summer. 00:03:55.360 --> 00:04:00.080 And it would be great to look at what are what is what does marriage then accomplish? 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:02.800 Like after marriage, what comes next? 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:07.120 And what marriage accomplishes is the creation of the of a Christian home. 00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:11.360 Christian marriages creates creates the establishment of a Christian home. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:16.079 And I like the title, the Christian home, because it feels kind of quaint, you know? 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:28.079 Plus, you know, if you've heard uh testimonies, if you've ever been a part of hearing people's testimonies, you'll notice this uh refrain that people often start with, where they'll say something like, Well, I was raised in a Christian home. 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:34.000 So it's a phrase that we sort of take for granted, and we understand that such a thing could exist. 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:38.000 Such a uh for many of you, this is the formative part of your story. 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:40.240 I was raised in a Christian home. 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:46.720 And then if you've ever shared a testimony, you have to share something about how that like, but it didn't really take. 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:50.399 And then in college, I really you know how testimonies work. 00:04:51.360 --> 00:05:04.480 So in this series, I intend to provide a vision around the Christian home, around parenting, around children, around being a child in relating to your parents. 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:08.240 And uh I hope that it it becomes very practical. 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:16.879 And uh, if you stick around through the whole of the series, I think you'll you will receive things like practical advice on how to form this home. 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:21.120 I know you're not used to receiving things like that from me, but I you will. 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:22.639 You will. 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:41.040 And you will uh get insight into what your responsibilities are as parents, what it means to form the culture of a family, where that family culture comes from, what the promises are associated with with honoring the Lord by passing down to our children what we have received. 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:53.040 Uh likewise, I hope you I hope that throughout this time, especially early on in the series, during the least the less practical bits, I hope that you catch a vision for what family means. 00:05:53.360 --> 00:06:01.920 Like I hope that you leave the sermon this morning and you think something like, I thought I knew what family meant, but I, as it turns out, I didn't really. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:04.160 And that there's something more here. 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:06.000 And I hope that you leave. 00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:17.120 And one of the greatest things that I love experiencing in the Christian life is where the ordinary aspects of your life become filled with a wonder and a glory. 00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:34.160 I think that's one of the best parts of being a Christian, is that this just family that you're already a part of, the parents that you already have, and the uh children that you may already have, the child that you already are, uh all of a sudden you see, wow, this is this is a wonderful thing to be a part of. 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:41.680 And there's a glory here, and I almost missed it because I was so close to it that I almost missed the wonder and the glory that you're a part of. 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:51.920 But what a one of one of my sort of background hopes for this, especially for the parents, the the our our church has so many parents of young children. 00:06:52.079 --> 00:07:06.319 And I think especially for that demographic, is I I want you to feel in your heart about your family, about your role as parenting, the way your kids already feel about your family. 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:08.240 I want you to remember that. 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:15.199 Because to your kids, you are the you're the most legendary people in their lives. 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:17.360 And they're they're thrilled by you. 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:21.839 They want nothing more than to have this closeness and this greatness of relationship with you. 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:31.600 And they understand intrinsically that this family that they're a part of is this is this wonderful uh thing to be a part of and to experience. 00:07:31.839 --> 00:07:33.199 And they're right. 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:34.959 They're right. 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:42.000 And so I want to cultivate that in uh in our own hearts so that we're able to see it with the wonder that's there. 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:50.800 And then lastly and most importantly, I want you to see that family is not just some cultural institution. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:08:03.680 It's not just some uh uh, you know, uh uh economic mechanism, but family is it is the object of God's promises. 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:09.439 God's promises to humanity take place at the level of the family. 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:14.079 This is the level of resolution at which the Lord loves to operate. 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:21.279 And that's why at the beginning of creation, he creates humanity to operate at the level of the family. 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:27.279 In fact, you can say there is no such thing as the person outside of the family. 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:36.320 The family is uh a constitutional element, it constitutes what a person is. 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:39.519 And that's gonna be the theme of this morning. 00:08:40.159 --> 00:08:50.080 So to begin with, families are becoming more rare than ever, which is probably not entirely true because of people surveyed, 100% of them were a part of a family. 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:58.480 So from that perspective, the rate is holding at a steady 100% of where people come from. 00:08:59.039 --> 00:09:01.919 But child birth is is increasingly rare. 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:24.159 You can't tell by visiting Redemption Kids this morning, this church is repopulating the earth, but you but this is an exceptional, it's it's it's exceptional broadly, because the birth rate is the lowest it's been in world history, which is one of those statistics that I hear and I think probably not, just to put my cards on the table. 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:26.879 I bet there was there has been a time. 00:09:27.039 --> 00:09:30.399 But what we do know is that it is very, very low. 00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:39.919 There is only one liberal democracy in the world that has a birth level that is above replacement rate, and that's Israel. 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:58.240 They're the only uh liberal democracy that has a birth rate above replacement rate right now, and that is uh basically inflated because there is a small minority of very uh conservative, reproductive religious people that are bumping up those numbers. 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:04.159 And if that demographic was removed, then it it we would not see this sort of replacement rate. 00:10:04.399 --> 00:10:06.320 But it's not just liberal democracies. 00:10:06.480 --> 00:10:14.559 China showed its first decline in population since the Great Famine in 1960 and 1961. 00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:19.279 This this year they posted their first decline in population year over year. 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:27.440 So China is shrinking, and it's probably shrinking faster than they're saying because they lie about their birth rates. 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:41.840 To quote uh Kevin DeYoung, and I re I recommend uh his short essay, which you can find online, called The Case for uh Childbirth, The Case for Children. 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:43.600 The case for children. 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:44.559 He addresses it. 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:50.399 I'm pulling these statistics from him, but he says the human race seems to have grown tired of itself. 00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:55.600 We're not we're not making uh we're not making people anymore. 00:10:55.840 --> 00:11:01.600 Uh the uh proverbs say that the uh the barren womb is never satisfied. 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:04.799 It's one of the things in the world that is never satisfied. 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:08.720 Well, right now, globally, it seems it is. 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:12.320 Seems like the proverb has been turned on its head. 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:24.480 These things which were ordinarily related as great blessings, like plain if you're reading the Bible and you're in Bible reading mode, then you read birth, growth of the people of God. 00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:34.960 The the the uh barren one is now pregnant and and the child has come and you're in Bible reading mode, then you're thinking, this is blessing. 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:37.840 This is blessing upon the world. 00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:47.440 But if you're in you know, sociology mode at CU Boulder, and nothing against sociology. 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:49.840 I'm just kidding. 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:53.200 I'm obviously kidding. 00:11:54.080 --> 00:12:09.200 The um in you're in that mode, then you're thinking the these birth rates, these to these terrible birth rates, are they're so high, they've been so high for so long, and you think that there's this danger of of uh draining the world of of its resources and that sort of thing. 00:12:09.279 --> 00:12:15.519 That's that's what I was taught, it, you know, whatever, uh a long time ago in college. 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:19.919 Um and I think that there's they're saying similar things. 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:22.960 But I haven't been in a very long time, so maybe they're not. 00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:30.320 Now, there are of course a myriad of correlating factors for this decline. 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:35.039 Why is it that industrialized nations can make all kinds of things, except for people? 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:41.279 There's all sorts of factors that we could point to for why this is happening. 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:50.399 We can point to economic factors, we can point to urbanization, which it's difficult to have more children in less space. 00:12:50.639 --> 00:13:00.639 There's uh all kinds of factors that have taken place over the past 30 or so years that have led to this uh sharp decline in making more people. 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:07.759 But I like philosophy and to a man with a hammer, you know. 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:12.799 So that's the what I'm that's the story I'm gonna tell. 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:16.000 So here's here's what I think that that story is. 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:23.679 You know, in if you look at uh countries like China and Russia, these are Marxist countries, at least it's deep Marxist heritage in Russia. 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:45.679 And they are um there's a sensible nature in which we would expect to see a rapid birth decline in those countries, and it's because Marx explicitly argued for the the it's a strange word, but it means something like abolition and transcendence of the nuclear family. 00:13:45.919 --> 00:13:47.840 That was something that he sought to get rid of. 00:13:47.919 --> 00:14:00.639 So there's a so at this cultural level in a place like China or Russia, there's a uh a deep resistance, sort of like an ingrown philosophical resistance to the nuclear family itself. 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:09.440 And that's because he is a materialist, and he does not view the family as something that's that's uh uh natural. 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:15.120 He certainly does not view the family as something that's divinely ordained, as a as a real institution. 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:28.720 He views it through strictly materialist terms, and he thinks that the family is an economic mechanism by which the the bourgeoisie, you know, trillionaires and such. 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:38.240 Show some class solidarity, you guys, among the church there's uh is able to maintain their wealth across generations. 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:47.919 The family is an economic is uh is an economic unit whose design is to maintain the wealth of the bourgeoisie across generations. 00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:58.799 And what we see within the nuclear family is the first instance, it is the training ground of oppression and subjugation. 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:12.320 Because the first people that are subjugated is the woman who is subjugated by the man to become a birthing agent so that he might expand his economic prosperity by their children. 00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:19.440 And the uh first subjects of the husband are the woman and the or the wife and the children. 00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:23.600 They're the first slaves, the first economically oppressed people. 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:32.159 And so this becomes the training ground for the broad-scale economic expression or oppression, excuse me, that we that we experience at scale. 00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:54.080 And so he sees that and he sees, he says, subjugation is bad, and this is the first instance of it, and it has this oppressive economic driver at the heart of the family institution, and this oppressive economic driver needs to be abolished and transcended by creating a more just societal structure. 00:15:54.399 --> 00:16:05.919 This is why uh Marxist organizations that you see in our culture, this is why you see it frequently argued that um the nuclear family ought to be destroyed. 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:08.480 This is the thinking that is beneath that. 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:37.759 And so why I think this would correlate to a low birth rate is when you disincentivize one of the most natural structures and you think of the family as sort of as a uh a space of oppression, you uh this is why this is why feminism it has tacked, it has been wed so closely with Marxism, it has uh they're they're really the the same in their thinking with regards to this, is because the giving birth itself of a woman is a subjugation. 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:45.360 It's a res it's participating in an oppressive structure, is the way that this is the way that this is framed. 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:47.360 It's also where people come from. 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:54.240 So, you know, it makes sense for Marx. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:57.200 We're we're not really Marxists. 00:16:57.440 --> 00:17:04.720 You know, there's been some invasion into our uh educational institutions over the past 80 years or whatever. 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:20.640 But in our our our deepest assumptions and our founding documents, these aren't Marxist documents uh in our culture, and and and broadly most liberal democracies aren't, and yet they're all experiencing this same decline in birth rates. 00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:26.400 So that story is not sufficient for accounting for why we aren't making people anymore. 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:42.559 And I think that there's actually a deeper assumption about the nature of humanity, about the nature, about the nature of what it means to be a person, that is actually beneath the the Marxists and beneath the liberal democracies. 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:46.480 Because these have the same uh philosophical roots. 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:54.079 You know, you should think of uh Marxism and liberalism, these are just offshoots of the of the same tree. 00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:55.839 These branch off of the same tree. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:00.400 They feel oppositional right now, but they're really branched off of the same tree. 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:13.599 And what's beneath that is this foundational assumption which we carry in our culture, foundational assumption of the perfect freedom of the individual. 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:17.839 This is really the foundational assumption. 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:21.759 The perfect freedom of the individual. 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:28.799 This is beneath our culture's founding assumptions, this is this is beneath the Marxist founding assumptions. 00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:30.559 They play out in different ways. 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:37.920 But this is the this is the founding assumption, it's the perfect freedom of the individual. 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:45.200 Both societies conceive of the individual as occupying a natural state. 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:47.519 So the the natural state. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:57.599 We occupy a natural state which in which our will is completely unencumbered by anything outside of it. 00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:01.759 Our will has nothing imposed upon it from the outside. 00:19:01.920 --> 00:19:04.720 That is the natural state of humanity. 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:07.279 And thus we conceive of rights. 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:11.039 This is how this is why our conception of rights is formed in the way that it is. 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:19.359 Our conception of rights isn't formed a right is that place in which the will cannot be imposed upon. 00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:22.559 That's what a right is in our culture. 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:25.920 That in which the will cannot be imposed upon. 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:31.200 That's why our rights are only uh considered negatively, because it's not imposing. 00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:34.079 That's what a human right is to us. 00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:45.359 So this is why our our conception of protecting rights means protecting the individual's unencumbered will from non-consensual impositions. 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:48.960 This is the heart of freedom. 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:52.240 Non-consensual impositions. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:55.599 Now we can we can craft those impositions differently. 00:19:55.920 --> 00:20:07.200 In uh our culture, we would think of them as more social expressions, the individual expressing themselves, perhaps expressing their the opportunity to be able to experience in a Marxist uh paradigm. 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:09.920 The impositions are economic impositions. 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:15.599 And so we would create a world in which nobody experiences the natural economic impositions against them. 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:31.119 But in both cases, do you see what's beneath both of those things is this concept of the perfectly autonomous person who cannot be violated by having any non-consensual duties imposed upon them. 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:46.960 Now, we can see the implications of this play out in liberal societies like ours because we are, and I think liberal societies are uniquely unable to maintain the rights of the non-autonomous. 00:20:48.720 --> 00:21:00.720 We are particularly unable to maintain the rights of the non-autonomous, because we have no concept of a non-autonomous person as having any rights. 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:09.599 Because our rights are about the autonomous will be unimposed upon. 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:12.880 That's where our conception that's what our conception of rights is. 00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:20.319 So this is of course true with the unborn who are not autonomous, and so we can conceive of no rights for them. 00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:27.519 This is of course true for the elderly who are it who need to be taken care of. 00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:30.559 We cannot conceive of rights for them. 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:32.319 And so we so we kill them. 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:37.680 We offer ways in which they can they can uh kill themselves or be coerced into killing themselves. 00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:39.759 And this, of course, makes perfect sense. 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:44.000 Why would uh murder, even self murder, be okay in that sort of regard? 00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:46.000 Well, because it's consensual. 00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:48.319 Because it's not a violation of the will. 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:51.680 It's not a violation of the autonomous, unencumbered will. 00:21:52.079 --> 00:22:07.759 It's the way that uh all of what we understand is is conceived around most of our mo uh most of my Most of your, I think, basic assumptions about how rights and freedom work operate in this structure. 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:09.359 This is the water we're in. 00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:11.440 This is just the water that we're in. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:22.319 So those who will remain dependent throughout the whole of their lives, we we don't have a category for their rights. 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:34.079 Because what they do by their very existence is they impose a duty on people around them that the people around them did not consent to. 00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:42.400 And this is the deepest violation of what of how we of what we consider a person is. 00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:49.519 We think a person is an unencumbered autonomous will. 00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:59.759 And that the violation of rights, of the rights of that person, is any nonconsensual imposed duty upon them. 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:20.319 So this is why it's perfectly reasonable in uh all liberal societies like like ours to detect in the womb that a person might be dependent for the whole of their lives and then to terminate, destroy, murder that person in the womb. 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:22.480 It's perfectly sensible. 00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:24.400 It's perfectly sensible. 00:23:24.640 --> 00:23:31.440 And what's beneath all of this is this conception of the person as autonomous. 00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:33.039 Does this make sense? 00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:37.119 That wasn't much feedback. 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:41.359 Well, we're going anyway. 00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:45.920 So if this is our so here's here's what I want to say with regards to the family. 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:53.519 Now we've got this underlying sort of like base level concept of of how we intuit what a person is. 00:23:53.839 --> 00:24:01.279 This is this is what crafts your intuition about what a person is, is the unencumbered autonomous will. 00:24:03.920 --> 00:24:23.200 What this means is that at a deep spiritual level, before any evidence of birth rate decline, even I think, even within our own families, within the family that you're in, I think we intuit this. 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:26.400 That this is fundamentally what a person is. 00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:34.319 Fundamentally, a person is an unencumbered, autonomous will that is not to be violated by non-consensual duties. 00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:46.799 I think that because that's our baseline assumption of personhood, it means that at a spiritual level, we're unable to participate in the families that we're already a part of. 00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:50.640 And so why are we not having families? 00:24:50.799 --> 00:24:53.359 Why are we not making families? 00:24:53.759 --> 00:24:57.680 Well, I think that this ideology is just flowering. 00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:02.400 It's just finally coming to, it's it's bearing fruit. 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:05.440 You know, you can, there's a deep tradition of making humans. 00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:12.880 It goes back as long as humans and and it would take a long time for that steam to kind of run out in a culture. 00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:23.680 And we were able to we're able to run on that steam, sort of take for granted that there would be nothing that we could do to disrupt that uh that mechanism, but but there is. 00:25:23.839 --> 00:25:30.640 We can we can uh uh we can we can transform the concept of what a person is. 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:35.359 And then we'll conclude that that we no longer need them or that they're in the way. 00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:38.240 We have already eliminated the reality of family. 00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:39.119 Why? 00:25:39.920 --> 00:25:48.000 Because family is a non-consensual, duty-bound relationship. 00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:50.160 That's what family is. 00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:56.720 It is a non-consensual, duty-bound relationship. 00:25:57.680 --> 00:26:02.319 You many of you and your families, you're like, I did not ask for this. 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:04.559 And you're exactly right. 00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:07.119 You're exactly right. 00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:24.480 So the essence of what a family is strikes at the vitals of what we think a person is in our culture, in our our our deepest intuitions, strikes at the vitals of what a person is. 00:26:24.720 --> 00:26:31.839 So what we see scripturally then as we expose this, we need to recognize, well, then what is the truth of the matter? 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:33.359 What is a family? 00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:35.359 What is a person, then? 00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:44.400 What we the way that we've thought of it, and this is probably the way that this is the way that we think of most things, is that a family is constituted of individuals. 00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:46.160 Right? 00:26:46.799 --> 00:26:49.680 A family is a group of individuals that are brought together. 00:26:49.839 --> 00:26:53.440 That's what constitutes, that's what constitutes a family. 00:26:54.319 --> 00:26:55.920 It's the opposite. 00:26:56.319 --> 00:26:57.759 It's the opposite. 00:26:58.720 --> 00:27:04.160 A person is constituted by the family. 00:27:05.839 --> 00:27:15.759 There is no such thing as the person, the person outside of the non-consensual duty-bound relationship. 00:27:16.400 --> 00:27:19.599 There is no such thing as a person outside of that. 00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:21.759 No such thing. 00:27:23.839 --> 00:27:33.200 But because what has happened is we have centered the person as the unencumbered autonomous will. 00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:43.359 Because we have made that the definition of a person, we have experienced our the constitutions of our families as tyrannical. 00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:47.359 Because we did not consent to this. 00:27:47.920 --> 00:27:52.160 And it's it's pure imposition on me. 00:27:53.519 --> 00:27:56.400 And I did not opt in to being a part of this. 00:27:56.960 --> 00:27:57.839 So what is it? 00:27:57.920 --> 00:28:05.359 What is something that you you didn't work for, you didn't consent to, that imposes itself upon you? 00:28:05.599 --> 00:28:11.200 You know, is there another way of is it other than tyranny, is there something other than that that's like that? 00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:13.119 Here's what I want to offer this morning. 00:28:13.279 --> 00:28:24.240 You know what else is like that, that this is the appropriate way in which we need to learn to receive our families, is a gift of love. 00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:27.680 That's what the family is. 00:28:27.920 --> 00:28:30.319 It is a gift of love. 00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:33.599 You did not ask for a gift. 00:28:33.839 --> 00:28:37.519 If you ask for a gift, that's just shopping. 00:28:38.880 --> 00:28:42.079 You know, through through your the people around you. 00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:47.279 A gift is a gift is not like i i it's not consensual. 00:28:47.359 --> 00:28:49.200 You shouldn't think of a gift like that. 00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:53.359 It's not it's not uh you didn't negotiate the terms of the gift. 00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:55.440 This now we're outside of gift territory. 00:28:55.519 --> 00:28:57.119 We're doing something else. 00:28:59.359 --> 00:29:02.480 A gift is imposed upon you here. 00:29:04.400 --> 00:29:13.359 And then uh a gift becomes good when it's imposed upon you in love and it's received in gratitude. 00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:18.799 Now we're not in we're not in tyranny territory anymore, you know? 00:29:19.039 --> 00:29:23.119 We're in this is a glorious gift of love territory. 00:29:23.359 --> 00:29:32.240 But we need our imaginations transformed in order to be able to receive this glorious gift of love that is the family. 00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:37.920 That is uh uh it constitutes who you are as a person. 00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:44.559 We think of I'm the I'm a person, and then my family's around me happening to me. 00:29:44.960 --> 00:29:47.599 You know, is what a is what is what it feels like. 00:29:47.839 --> 00:29:51.440 No, you're you're uh you're a family member first. 00:29:53.039 --> 00:29:56.400 You're you're in this thing, you're you're a part of it. 00:29:56.559 --> 00:30:00.240 This is the this thing is constituting you. 00:30:01.200 --> 00:30:03.519 This family is constituting you. 00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:06.799 We're not used to thinking in those terms. 00:30:07.759 --> 00:30:10.880 This is we're but this is the truth. 00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:23.279 In Genesis 126, says, Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. 00:30:24.160 --> 00:30:33.519 And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:46.960 You know, it was typical of the early moderns, who I'm kind of riffing on throughout this whole thing, like Locke or Rousseau or Hobbes, to create a mythical origin story for society or for civilization. 00:30:47.119 --> 00:30:50.559 And their mythical origin story always starts with this autonomous person. 00:30:50.720 --> 00:31:00.319 Rousseau's is the weirdest, the noble savage who's just like a lone bing person in the that's how they conceived of it's very strange. 00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:09.599 But the um the so but it's it what they're doing is they're saying if we look at the original state of man, that tells us something about how things ought to be. 00:31:09.680 --> 00:31:11.039 And of course they're right. 00:31:11.359 --> 00:31:12.799 Of course they're right. 00:31:13.359 --> 00:31:23.359 The original state of man, the original state of Adam tells us exactly what Adam is supposed to be, what a person is, what a human is supposed to be. 00:31:24.640 --> 00:31:34.720 And what we see is the original man does not come into being as an unencumbered, autonomous will. 00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:38.720 This is not the original state of Adam. 00:31:38.960 --> 00:31:48.559 In fact, the original state of Adam, we could say, is not even him formed of the dust and the breath in the garden. 00:31:48.799 --> 00:32:01.279 The original state of Adam is the intention of God within the mind of God, within the creative intention of God, within the loving intention of God. 00:32:01.440 --> 00:32:04.799 That is the original state of Adam. 00:32:05.039 --> 00:32:06.559 Because that's what God says. 00:32:06.720 --> 00:32:12.079 He says, Let us make man in our image after our likeness. 00:32:12.319 --> 00:32:17.599 The first position of Adam is the loving intention of God. 00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:19.839 That's where he exists first. 00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:29.920 That means that Adam, for his very existence, is utterly dependent upon the loving intention of God. 00:32:30.640 --> 00:32:39.920 There is no place in which we can assess Adam as an autonomous, self-directed, self-lawgiving will. 00:32:41.119 --> 00:32:46.000 Because there is no context in which that's where he exists. 00:32:46.720 --> 00:32:55.680 He only exists in the context of utter dependence upon the creative love of God. 00:32:56.880 --> 00:33:00.640 This is the foundation of Adam's existence. 00:33:00.960 --> 00:33:06.559 And this is the this is the state of nature, we might say, is the loving intention of God. 00:33:06.880 --> 00:33:08.960 We are creatures first. 00:33:09.440 --> 00:33:12.720 We are not made for us by us. 00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:15.359 We are made for God by God. 00:33:15.680 --> 00:33:19.279 That is who we are made for, it is who we are made by. 00:33:19.440 --> 00:33:28.400 And that means the the original state of Adam's existence is one of dependence, one of utter dependence. 00:33:28.640 --> 00:33:32.720 And he is a made thing by a creator. 00:33:32.960 --> 00:33:38.960 And so that means that there is a duty which he owes to his creator. 00:33:40.240 --> 00:33:47.920 The creator made him with intentions, with desires, with boundaries, with needs. 00:33:48.400 --> 00:33:58.319 Adam was made with all of these things so that he would be in a constant state of experiencing his utter dependence upon his creator. 00:33:58.559 --> 00:34:00.880 This is the natural state of man. 00:34:01.119 --> 00:34:06.319 We are dependent and duty-bound from the very beginning. 00:34:06.640 --> 00:34:08.960 God is creator and provider. 00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:17.679 He did not make him an uh Adam is not unencumbered, but he is properly constrained. 00:34:18.800 --> 00:34:21.360 He's properly constrained by God. 00:34:21.599 --> 00:34:27.280 There is no Adam apart from his dependent relationship to his creator. 00:34:27.440 --> 00:34:29.599 He is created to be dependent. 00:34:30.480 --> 00:34:36.320 Adam of himself cannot produce for himself the things which he needs to survive. 00:34:36.559 --> 00:34:37.920 That's what Adam is like. 00:34:38.079 --> 00:34:42.400 Adam is made a hungry eating type of thing. 00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:49.119 And he cannot speak fruit-bearing trees into existence. 00:34:49.360 --> 00:34:52.800 But lucky for him, God had already done that. 00:34:53.679 --> 00:35:02.079 And so this hungry eating type of thing arrives in a world full of trees already there with fruit on them. 00:35:02.960 --> 00:35:08.320 His response to that, that he is bound to, is thanksgiving. 00:35:08.800 --> 00:35:11.679 Gratitude for what he had received. 00:35:12.480 --> 00:35:19.119 He is supported by God, his Father, who promises to give him all that he will need. 00:35:19.199 --> 00:35:19.760 And he does. 00:35:19.920 --> 00:35:20.960 He gives him all that he will need. 00:35:21.119 --> 00:35:23.920 He gives him all the food that he can see, except for the one. 00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:32.000 He gives him all the uh uh vision and purpose that he would need in order to live in this. 00:35:32.239 --> 00:35:35.920 He says, go see the whole world, it's all yours. 00:35:36.159 --> 00:35:39.440 Take dominion of it, make it more glorious. 00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:42.239 There is no Adam apart from that. 00:35:42.480 --> 00:35:47.119 Adam did nothing to receive these benefits of existence. 00:35:47.360 --> 00:35:51.039 Adam did not consent to this type of existence. 00:35:51.280 --> 00:35:53.280 He was not asked beforehand. 00:35:53.440 --> 00:35:56.000 That is not how Adam found himself. 00:35:56.320 --> 00:36:02.320 But Adam did not receive his existence as an act of tyranny by a God that thrust him into reality. 00:36:02.400 --> 00:36:06.239 And Adam's like, well, I didn't, I liked it in the void. 00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:12.880 You know, we don't know, we can't even conceptualize those sorts of things, so it's funny to make jokes about. 00:36:13.119 --> 00:36:20.079 But we he he he was thrust into it and he receives it as a gift. 00:36:21.119 --> 00:36:26.400 His very existence, the provision that comes from it, is received as a gift. 00:36:26.559 --> 00:36:27.679 So what does he do? 00:36:27.840 --> 00:36:38.320 He worships and honors his creator, recognizing he's in a duty-bound relationship to the one who had given him this glorious gift of life. 00:36:38.559 --> 00:36:49.920 He receives the loving existence from his creator, and he gives love towards his creator in return, giving glory for all that he had given him and all that he had shown him. 00:36:50.480 --> 00:36:54.079 This is the fundamental reality of what it means to be a person. 00:36:54.239 --> 00:37:02.079 We might ask, why didn't God make a creature, make the human, uh in a neutral way? 00:37:02.400 --> 00:37:12.480 So that Adam wasn't bound, wasn't born duty bound to his creator, but instead was just like a, you know, just sort of a creature over there, and God's over here. 00:37:12.639 --> 00:37:16.400 And that creature, you know, one of the angels is like, well, what do you think about that creature? 00:37:16.480 --> 00:37:17.280 Is he gonna hang out with us? 00:37:17.360 --> 00:37:19.360 Are we gonna spend any time together later? 00:37:19.519 --> 00:37:22.159 And God would be like, well, he can if he wants. 00:37:22.559 --> 00:37:24.239 But he also cannot if he wants. 00:37:24.400 --> 00:37:25.840 He's not duty bound to me. 00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:28.079 He has no, he is he can if he wants. 00:37:28.159 --> 00:37:28.880 He doesn't have to. 00:37:28.960 --> 00:37:30.880 It's not no requirement. 00:37:31.119 --> 00:37:35.599 And then the that creature goes on and does his thing and God goes on and does his thing. 00:37:35.679 --> 00:37:37.440 Why didn't God do it that way? 00:37:37.760 --> 00:37:42.000 Why not, why not thrust us into neutral worlds? 00:37:43.519 --> 00:37:49.440 Well, I think partly because Adam is made in the image and likeness of God. 00:37:50.320 --> 00:37:54.400 God was thinking, I'm gonna make a world and I want to make it with stuff that I really like. 00:37:54.559 --> 00:37:55.760 What do I really like? 00:37:55.920 --> 00:37:57.760 I really like me. 00:37:59.039 --> 00:38:01.199 I'm the best thing I can think of. 00:38:01.440 --> 00:38:04.239 This is good when God thinks like this. 00:38:04.639 --> 00:38:06.559 This is not good when you think like this. 00:38:06.719 --> 00:38:08.559 This is good when God thinks like this. 00:38:08.719 --> 00:38:10.239 I'm the best thing I can think of. 00:38:10.320 --> 00:38:13.440 I would love for there to be more things that are kind of like me. 00:38:13.840 --> 00:38:21.119 And so he makes Adam perfect for as an expression of his image and likeness. 00:38:21.199 --> 00:38:22.239 What is God? 00:38:23.519 --> 00:38:25.039 Well, that's a catechism question. 00:38:25.119 --> 00:38:26.400 JT, what is God? 00:38:35.760 --> 00:38:36.639 Pretty good. 00:38:37.519 --> 00:38:39.280 Yeah, nice, JT. 00:38:39.760 --> 00:38:40.480 Well done. 00:38:40.639 --> 00:38:44.639 That's um uh probably sinful for me to do. 00:38:44.719 --> 00:38:50.559 It's probably like arrogant and prideful, but I really liked it, and I'm gonna enjoy it. 00:38:50.880 --> 00:38:52.320 God is three persons. 00:38:52.480 --> 00:38:54.159 How many persons are there in the Godhead? 00:38:54.239 --> 00:38:57.440 There are three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. 00:38:57.519 --> 00:38:59.199 And these three are one God. 00:38:59.440 --> 00:39:02.079 The Father loves the Son. 00:39:02.880 --> 00:39:05.280 The Son loves the Father. 00:39:05.440 --> 00:39:07.360 That's what God is. 00:39:08.079 --> 00:39:11.679 Why does he make Adam like this in his image and likeness? 00:39:11.840 --> 00:39:14.159 He's like, I'm gonna make you like a son. 00:39:14.800 --> 00:39:24.400 And what you're going to get to enjoy is my love for you, and you are going to get, you are going to get to enjoy you loving me. 00:39:25.360 --> 00:39:26.880 Of course. 00:39:27.280 --> 00:39:29.920 Of course, he made him duty bound. 00:39:31.440 --> 00:39:34.400 This is this is what love demands. 00:39:34.880 --> 00:39:37.119 This is what love requires. 00:39:37.440 --> 00:39:40.400 God did not make Adam indifferent. 00:39:40.639 --> 00:39:44.320 He did not make the requirement on Adam indifference towards him. 00:39:44.800 --> 00:39:46.960 Because do you see what that would mean? 00:39:47.280 --> 00:39:55.920 That would mean that God was making himself indifferent towards his creature whom he loved, like how a father loves a son. 00:39:58.880 --> 00:40:02.960 But our philosophies cultivate worlds of indifference. 00:40:03.360 --> 00:40:14.079 What is being rehabilitated in our imagination is we don't live in an atomistic, autonomous world of indifference towards one another. 00:40:14.480 --> 00:40:20.239