A weekly re昀ection from a memeber of the Hastings clergy

Written by Pastor Paris Pasch of The Journey Church in Hastings

Are Biological Fathers Still Necessary

We’ve come a long way since I was a boy. I have long been a fan of adoption and foster care but we seem to be searching for ways to have a happy home without biological fathers present. In my home, my dad was seen as a respected patriarch to his children. His words meant something significant and his example was imperative to observe and hopefully follow. My dad provided direction for us kids as to how we would use our day and how we would use our energy. We were given the opportunity to learn to work alongside him and glean what we could on how to become a man, a husband and also a future father.

Fathers who follow a biblical pattern, are called upon to lead their homes toward morality, citizenry and respectability. Fathers must model what it means to be honorable, courageous and positive contributors to society.

Proverbs 23:22–24 (NIV) Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. 23 Buy the truth and do not sell it— wisdom, instruction and insight as well. 24 The father of a righteous child has great joy; a man who fathers a wise son rejoices in him.

Now I’m fully aware that my biological dad missed a few of these traits in his many years as my father, but today I’m not sure we are requiring any of this character building from our modern-day fathers. We have far too many seed donors who add to the population, but not to the care of those they’ve added. We have absentee fathers who have abdicated their role in the home and so they have created the many single parent homes in our present society. In a culture that values sexual freedom, over lifetime commitment, we have ended up with an absence of biological father figures who see their role as building the next generation that they helped bring to life.

In a culture that increasingly minimizes even the need for in-home fathers we must see the missing ingredient that fathers were intended to bring. I absolutely believe that moms are essential to the home, but let’s not replace the father. Mothers and fathers each bring something unique to the formation of our children.

There are numerous statistics that provide evidence of the value of a biological father in the home, but those statistics seldom reach the minds of our young people today. Instead we teach them the many alternatives. We spend energy trying to help the fatherless home, which is awesome, but maybe we should also step back and help our young men be awesome fathers.