We live in a day in which the institution of marriage and family is constantly eroding. Couples increasingly decide to live together and fornicate, instead of getting married. Children are regularly born out of wedlock. Couples who do get married frequently get divorced. Homosexuals are constantly pushing for the right to marry -- even though their lifestyle choice is a perversion in the eyes of God. With both parents working outside the home (usually for the purpose of obtaining a desired standard of living), the children are not raised by their parents and are instead dropped off at childcare programs and daycares, with the result that someone else raises the children. Children are so busy with activities at the public school that parents have little time with them. The vast majority of our children's time is spent with childcare workers, government school teachers, ungodly peers and the wicked producers of TV programs. Consequently, they, not the parents, exert the most influence in the children's lives. I am thankful for Christian government school teachers who exert a good influence on their students. Unfortunately they are few and far between. Yet while the institution of the family is falling apart in America, there are some who turn family into a god to be served and worshipped above all else. Here, I speak specifically of the tendency of professing Christians to sacrifice scripture on the altar of family loyalty.

There is a widespread tendency to interpret scripture through whatever lens allows me to pass the most favorable judgment on my family members. Here is one example of this. Scripture plainly declares that fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, covetous people, drunkards, revilers and thieves will not inherit the kingdom of God (apart from genuine repentance).

"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor thecovetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Cor. 6:9-10)

Paul specifically warns: DO NOT BE DECEIVED! Yet, most are. Many people will not quarrel with this text UNTIL a family member they love begins to commit one of the sins mentioned. Then suddenly, the text no longer means what it obviously means. Suddenly, the text doesn't apply. Why? For no other reason than the fact that MY family member is now guilty of such a sin. And since MY family member is MINE, and no member of my family could ever be under the wrath of God, then the scripture text cannot mean what it obviously means. When I treat scripture this way, for the sake of my family, or the sake of my own personal comfort about my family, I show that FAMILY is my god. When the intersts of my family conflict with the interests of scripture (and the God who wrote that scripture), I face a test. Which God will I choose? Family or the God of scripture? Who has my ultimate loyalty -- family or the God of scripture? And since it is MY family that gets this special treatment, not yours, I am really showing that SELF is my god. I make these special allowances for MY family, not yours.

If I am willing to deny scripture or twist it just so that my family member can get into heaven and just so that I can rest easy that they are safe and secure, then I show that I love family, and really SELF, not God. In Luke 14:26, Jesus taught that family loyalty can keep us from being His disciple.

"If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:26)

What does Jesus mean that we should hate our father, mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters? He cannot mean that we personally loathe them or have malice toward them in our heart. That would contradict many other passages of scripture. No, what He means is that when family comes in conflict with Christ, we must choose Christ, not family. That will appear to be hatred of family -- even though we truly love them. Jesus also teaches in that verse that we must hate our own life. How so? We continue to feed and clothe ourselves and take care of our body. But we hate our own life by not living for it and by being willing to do things that shorten our life when following Jesus necessitates it. We hate our own life by denying the instinct of self-preservation and personal protection for the sake of obedience to Christ. A missionary who goes to a dangerous tribe to give them the gospel is hating his own life. He may be killed or he may succumb to many diseases. He does this for Christ. He hates his own life in this sense. His love for Christ swallows up his self-love. When we sacrifice our own popularity for the sake of speaking the truth, we hate our own life. It is the same with family. We love our family, but we must never let our love for them trump our love for Christ or His Word. If the scriptural standards for salvation are so strict that they disqualify every member of my family from heaven, then so be it. Scripture stands and my family falls. My love for God and His Word must greatly transcend my desire for my family's salvation. I cannot, I must not, cut corners on their behalf. I cannot lower the standard. I cannot grade them on a curve. I am not the great Judge of all the earth and I have no right to usurp God's position as judge and start passing lenient sentences for the sake of my family. Doing so is utter folly. Will it work? Will God change His standards on Judgment Day, just because I have changed them? Will God play this game with me and pretend that I have the authority to alter His Word? Hardly. God will be very angry with anyone who arrogantly presumes to do any such thing. If we show such favors to our family, we not only fail to do them any favors by lying to them; we are showing that we do not love God ourselves. We are idolaters of our own family. We are idolaters of SELF.

Consider: Every current inhabitant of hell is someone's father, someone's son, brother, grandpa, grandson, nephew and uncle. Every woman in hell is somone's mother, someone's daughter, sister, grandma, niece and aunt. There would be no one in hell at all if everyone in the world could claim that their family was exempt from the rules laid out in scripture. The truth, however, is quite the opposite. Jesus said that the road to eternal life is narrow and few find it. The vast majority of people go to hell. The only hope for the living is in Jesus Christ and faith in Him. No hope is ever to be found in their blood relation to you or me.