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Saturday, May 11, 2013

How the West Really Lost God -- Dr. Mary Eberstadt

How the West Really Lost God | Crisis Magazine -- Austin Ruse summarizes a remarkable thesis, perhaps unheard of, that the West lost its faith beginning with the weakening of the family as an institution. It is worth considering that a moment (and even more so, reading Dr. Eberstadt's book. Raising a family is indeed challenging to one's faith, and the size of that family is proportional to the challenge, but does faith not grow stronger, by God's grace, the more it is challenged? Indeed it does, as anyone who has allowed oneself to be challenged would know. No pain, no gain, right? We mature with every challenge that we meet (and perhaps fail to mature with every one we run away from -- assuming there was a choice). My children being young, I know there is so much more awaiting us than my wife and I have already encountered. But these, so far, with deep gratitude for the assistance of God and the loving friends and family he has surrounded us with, have both challenged and enriched us. How we get by is no small miracle.

And such contempt for big families, by the way, is no longer unexpected even here in Melbourne. The mindset of two-children families appears to be typical fare. We get stared at openly when we have all four children with us out and about. It no longer bothers me. My wife has been told more than once that we have too many -- four kids!

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