November 29, 2024 · 48:53

("Best-of" Edition from 03/15) The Mrs. returns to discuss marriage, faith, and family.

Marriage & Family

Show notes

0:00 - 15:00. Jeremiah 29:1-7. God provided instruction for Judah even in judgment. 15:00 - 31:00. The Mrs. returns to discuss marriage, faith, and family. 31:00 - 48:00. Has the church contributed to America’s demographic winter?

References & links

Full transcript Auto-generated · 8,727 words

Transcribed with OpenAI Whisper (base.en). Timestamps are approximate. Lightly cleaned for readability; quotations from on-air callers may include filler words. Use the audio player above for the authoritative recording.

0:00Darkness is not an affirmative force.
0:02It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
0:06This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
0:10It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite.
0:15Delivery people out of the bondage of mainstream media.
0:18And the philosophies of this world.
0:20God has called you and me to be his ambassador.
0:23Even in this dark moment.
0:26Let's not miss our moment.
0:28And now, the Hamilton Corner.
0:31Good evening, everyone.
0:33Welcome to the Hamilton Corner.
0:35Here on American Family Radio.
0:37I am your host, Abraham Hamilton III.
0:40Joined by the corner contingent mainly.
0:44Manned this evening by one.
0:47Jay Mac often imitated never duplicated.
0:51Many tried, but they fried.
0:52Laid by the side, by the wayside.
0:56And we're ready to rock and roll with today's edition
0:58of the program.
0:59excuse me if I'm a little giddy because my favorite guess is on the way to the
1:04studio you know you just I get a little excited when these things happen so we'll
1:08get to that in a little moment but at this very moment many of you are
1:13transitioning if not most of you from your part-time jobs where you generate an
1:17income to your full-time jobs where you cultivate an outcome and I describe it
1:22in that fashion intentionally to aid us in recalibrating our thought processes
1:28away from the culture's efforts to define us by our income generating function, you know,
1:36whether we are employers, whether we are employees, no matter where we are within the
1:43economic strata, that is not your identity or and your full-time job as important as that
1:51function is and we all have to live, we have to breathe, you know, in this time of Biden
1:58inflation, you know, but I, you know, to be honest, got to add this, it's a Trump Biden
2:02inflation because before Biden came on the scene, you know, Trump and I get it in response
2:08to COVID, but Trump indiscriminate disseminated money via spending to, you know, and so you
2:15cannot, you cannot inject $7 trillion out of thin air into the economy, not
2:23separate consequences. And so like many of you, my grocery bills are out of pocket.
2:29I'm trying to find my stick so I can slap them back into calibration.
2:36But it's going to take a little take a little bit more than that in order to
2:40to tame that tiger. But nevertheless, what you do in outcome
2:46cultivation is your full time job. It is instructive. It should be instructive to us that the bulk
2:54of the New Testament epistles were written within a time period that persecution of the
3:00Lord's bride was ascending. All right. But nevertheless, we are called to follow him. The difficulty of
3:07the environment surrounding us does not dictate to us the quality with which or the intensity and
3:12and the fidelity with which we serve our Lord.
3:15We're called to follow Him, come what may.
3:18And so even in this time period,
3:21where things are challenging,
3:23you have potent forces, anti-Christ forces frankly,
3:27that seem to be ubiquitous,
3:30whether it is coming, infiltrating the education system,
3:34whether it is coming through a hellywood,
3:37through entertainment, you name it.
3:40You know, just just this week, we have the Biden administration sending a list of organizations
3:50and entities that of course included the American Family Association to banks,
3:55encouraging banks to refuse to do business with these hate groups using, you know, the SPLC
4:03moniker of hate groups. That's happening. It's happening right now, but we're nevertheless
4:08that's called to follow the Lord, to press forward,
4:13to refuse to relent, and not in a,
4:17not with the enemy as our focal point,
4:19but in worship to our God.
4:20It is because we are committed to our Lord.
4:24You know, when David confronted Goliath,
4:27you know, he was clear in saying,
4:28I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts.
4:32It wasn't a personal beef.
4:34It was because this uncircumcised Philistine
4:38the audacity to stand against the purposes and the will of God.
4:43And so with a similar focus, you know, because the thing that motivates our engagement is not
4:49hatred, it's not malevolence, it's actually love for the Lord and love for our neighbors.
4:53We love God so much that we welcome Him to inform and to guide how we engage in this life.
5:03And in addition to that, because of the love that we have for Him, that love boils over into
5:08our neighbor so much so to where we are willing to risk reputation, to risk in many instances,
5:18ultimately, our very own lives for the sake and the cause of Christ and the proclamation
5:26of his gospel.
5:27And as long as we have breath in our lungs, we must be committed to outcome cultivation.
5:38Now I want to turn your attention to, and I've drawn encouragement from this before.
5:42I'm gonna do it again now and I pray that it's encouraging to you as well.
5:45From Jeremiah chapter 29 verses 1 through 7.
5:48And a lot of people want to go on with down to 11, but I want to focus you on something else
5:52that I believe is instructive for us in the time that we're facing here in the 21st century.
5:58Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 1 says this,
6:03These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem
6:09to the surviving elders of the exiles and to the priests,
6:14the prophets and all the people who never could
6:18in Nazareth had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
6:22This was after King Jeconia and the queen mother,
6:25that was Nehushta.
6:27What a name.
6:28Let me yell your name, your children, Nehushta.
6:29Don't do it, don't do it, don't do it.
6:32King Jeconia and the queen mother, the eunuchs,
6:36the officials of Judah and Jerusalem,
6:38the craftsmen and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. Verse 3,
6:43the letter was sent by the hand of Elasa, the son of Shae-fan, and Gomari, the son of Hylkiah,
6:51whom Zedekiah, King of Judah, sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. It said,
7:01thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from
7:06Jerusalem to Babylon, build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their produce.
7:15Take wives and have sons and daughters, take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage
7:22that they may bear sons and daughters, multiply there and do not decrease, but seek the welfare
7:29of the city." Some translations say, seek the peace of the city, the shalom of the city where I have
7:36sent you into exile and pray that the Lord on its behalf, I'm sorry, and pray to the Lord on its
7:42behalf for in its shalom you will find your shalom. This is what the word of God says. Now I guess I need
7:53to explain because sometimes the Hebrew word shalom is misunderstood because peace doesn't really mean
7:59the absence of tension or physical hostilities. It actually is a reference to a wholesomeness. That's
8:04why some translations say welfare because it is a comprehensive well-being consideration.
8:11Not just absence of beef or difficulty or striving, it is a comprehensive wholeness for the person.
8:18And again, this is a wholeness that is instructed in time.
8:23This is something to have in here and now, not in the eternal state.
8:26Now the reason why I point this out to you, and it's remarkable to me because in the New
8:30Testament we have epistles.
8:32rightly can be described as an epistle because Jeremiah was in Judah when he
8:36sent this and as it says in verse 4 this is I'm sorry in verse 3 that this is the
8:43letter that Jeremiah wrote and it told us who the couriers were. The letter was
8:47sent by the hand of Elasa. Elasa delivered the letter that Jeremiah had
8:51written, the son of Shafan and Gomariah. These are the two people that distributed
8:56the letter to Jews who were in exile in Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar's despotic reign.
9:03Now why am I pointing that out?
9:06It is unfortunate that many people refer to Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 11 stripped from
9:12its context, not realizing that there is a specific context that governed and governs
9:18the application and understanding of verse 11 in Jeremiah chapter 29.
9:22In addition to that, I want you to see that God himself acknowledges the fact that he
9:29had sent the Jews into exile under Nebuchadnezzar.
9:32Nebuchadnezzar wasn't being bad enough to roll up in Judah and conquer them unless God's
9:36providence allowed it.
9:38Alright?
9:40First, second, I want you to see that even in this application of judgment, the belt being
9:45applied to behind, God was giving his people instruction, guidance even in the midst of
9:53judgment, that is evidence of his mercy. That even in judgment, even in judgment, God is guiding
10:02and instructing his people. The third thing I want you to see is that this guidance and
10:08instruction was evidence that the application of belt to hind parts was not meant to decimate
10:15Judah, but it was an application of judgment for the purposes of repenting. You read the
10:20rest of the chapter, it goes on after verse 11, that's the part people like the, hey,
10:25about. But the Lord says in verse 12,
10:29then you will call upon me and come to me and pray to me,
10:33and I will hear you.
10:34The purpose of the application of the discipline
10:37was for repentance.
10:40In light of the fact that the objective from God's standpoint
10:44was for repentance, he is instructing his people,
10:48even in the context of judgment, I don't want y'all to decrease.
10:53Even in a context where things are challenging naturally,
10:57Even in the context of judgment, I don't want you to quantitatively reduce
11:02But I want you to give your sons in
11:05Marriage find wise for your sons
11:08Give your daughters in marriage
11:11multiply
11:12Abound even in judgment and in fact though you are no longer in Israel even though you're in Babylon
11:18I want you to seek the Shalom the well-being of that city because if it's well-being will you find your own well-being?
11:26This is one of the scriptural sources why it is a fool's errand for people to profess to be Christ followers,
11:34but then take a position, I don't care what happens in America.
11:37I don't care what happens in America.
11:40Have we forgotten what the Lord said?
11:42That even to the Jews who were exiled to Babylon, the wicked pagan nation Babylon,
11:48the Lord instructed his people to seek the Shalom, the welfare, the well-being, the goodness, the thriving of Babylon.
11:55Why?
11:56Why? Because in Babylon's thriving, in Babylon's welfare,
12:00in Babylon's Shalom, will you find your own Shalom?
12:07God placed us in this place, in this nation,
12:09Acts 17 says it very plainly, to be salt and light.
12:14It is the Lord's will for the people of God
12:16to influence what happens in our nation
12:19because our nation impacts us.
12:23But even more specifically, the Lord said this,
12:26people, I don't want you to decrease there.
12:28I'm gonna read it again.
12:31Verse six, take wives and have sons and daughters.
12:38Take wives and have sons and daughters.
12:40Take wives for your sons and give your daughters
12:42in marriage that they may bear sons and daughters.
12:44Multiply there and do not decrease.
12:48That's amazing to me that even in this application
12:54of judgment, God is telling his people,
12:57don't decrease, multiply, multiply.
13:03And he adds, but seek the welfare,
13:05the shalom of the city where I sent you into exile.
13:07pray for pray to the Lord on its bad for in its welfare, you will find your own
13:11welfare. Can this not be said of the Christ follower in 21st century America
13:18that though it's chaos all around us, that doesn't mean we should invite the
13:23chaos inside that has not God given us his marching orders. Has he not given us
13:31guidance and instruction that even boils down or I should say militates down
13:35to the practical level of fruitfulness and multiplication.
13:40To where the Lord identified here as evidence
13:44of their refusal to decrease the pursuit
13:50and the cultivation of marriage.
13:54And I understand that we've been talking about this this week
13:57and so I had to call in the big guns
13:58to come and help me have this conversation today.
14:02And man, it's amazing to me all of the,
14:04not in addition to the callers that you heard on the air,
14:06I've been getting, I'm still getting messages
14:08and emails from people having this conversation.
14:10And I think it's a conversation that's been ignored too much,
14:13not just the conversation,
14:14but the reality of God's institution of marriage.
14:19Satan has been effective, unfortunately.
14:24In Mauring God's institution to such a degree
14:27to where many Christ followers are reeling,
14:31reeling from the downstream consequences
14:37of the world being effective
14:38in attacking God's institution of marriage.
14:40We're gonna get into it,
14:41but it is encouraging to me
14:43that even in judgment the Lord is encouraging his people to still pursue this vital, fundamental,
14:49foundational institution and he viewed it as indicative of their refusal to decrease even
14:55in the midst of judgment.
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16:01That's preborn.com.
16:02Shiting light into the darkness.
16:10This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
16:14Come back to the Hamilton Corner, Abraham Hamilton III,
16:17and I am joined in studio by my favorite guest.
16:20Told y'all I had my favorite guest coming.
16:23None other than Mrs. Maria Hamilton,
16:28wife, mother, committed Christ follower,
16:32dedicated to instilling into our children first,
16:37but also committed to aiding children really
16:39all across our country,
16:41and coming to know with intimate certainty,
16:45the details of the Christian faith,
16:46knowing what they believe, knowing why they believe it,
16:49and developing the ability to reasonably and winsomely
16:52communicated to a world who would inquire about it.
16:56My wife is my guest.
16:58Thank you for joining me on this show.
16:59Thank you for having me, babe.
17:01Well, the pleasure certainly is my.
17:05You heard me talking about Jeremiah 29, 11,
17:07and this whole week I've been really just gripped
17:11by the data I've been familiar with the data in total and I try to keep an eye on demographic
17:17trends around the world but in our country in particular.
17:20But I was struck this week by a study produced by the Heritage Foundation and their study publication
17:28was accompanied by a conference in which the topic was the birth of the earth, why the decline
17:37in marriage and total fertility is a genuine crisis, a genuine crisis. And the presenter,
17:45and I have her name, Lindsey Burke. Lindsey Burke was a presenter from the Heritage Foundation.
17:50And she made this statement. She said this quote, the demographic crisis in the United States is
17:55real and a threat to society as we know it. The US and almost all developed countries are failing
18:00to replace their populations. In 2022, the total fertility rate in the US was 1.665
18:07births per woman. This is well below the necessary replacement level of 2.1 births per woman.
18:15Among 38, among the 38 countries in the organization for economic cooperation and development, the
18:20OECD, fertility was even lower. So fertility rates in other western countries is even lower
18:27than where it is in the US.
18:29But in the US, it is significantly below replacement rate.
18:33And so thinking about this and reading this,
18:37I opened the phone lines earlier this week to invite people
18:41to call who were unmarried and never been married
18:43to share what they were experiencing.
18:44And then I got, I still, I'm still getting emails
18:47from people who are sharing what's happening
18:50in their neck of the woods.
18:51And so I wanted to invite you on to the program,
18:54the expert that you are.
18:55Just to have a conversation around this, because this is something I think that is vital of obviously to society, but certainly it must be considered by the church.
19:06And so when you hear these statistics, what are some of your initial thoughts?
19:11I grieve.
19:12Yeah, it's very sad to consider the reality of the culture that we're living in.
19:22And it seems like it's worldwide.
19:24Is that a study from here from the United States?
19:26Yeah. Yeah. I feel like it's more worried.
19:28Well, it is. It includes the US as well as it refers to the other
19:34developed nations in the world, but it specifically is talking about the total fertility rate here in America.
19:39Yeah. Man, I don't even know where to begin. It's so much. It's so multi-layered.
19:45But the first thought I have is that mankind has been so in our culture,
19:52Okay, so specifically in America for sure,
19:55but in our culture, mankind has been so disconnected
19:58from who God is and then who we are
20:01as a result of who God is,
20:03that we do not understand blessing.
20:06We do not understand judgment.
20:09We don't understand or see.
20:12It's like blind, leading blind.
20:14Like it's, it is literally living in pits
20:16and we don't understand what is up from down
20:19in regards to marriage and childbearing and children
20:23and reproduction and multiplication and subduing.
20:25We don't know any of that.
20:26We don't understand that from foundationally,
20:28back in Genesis, because our culture is ungodly.
20:32It is godless.
20:33And we see this today in our culture in our day,
20:40but it starts from a godless nation,
20:43from a godless society and godless culture.
20:47Yeah, so when you say we don't understand
20:50identity, fruitfulness, multiplication,
20:52But blessing is, and you know, you know me
20:55because we live together.
20:57But I often say the world is gonna world.
21:00I don't expect the world to adhere
21:04to the bountiful treasure that is Christ following.
21:08But would you say the same thing applies
21:10to much of the visible and or professing church
21:13that we don't understand some of the core foundational things
21:17that are necessary in order to enjoy the privilege
21:20that flows from obeying the Lord in his ears.
21:23Yeah, the body of Christ has likewise not known
21:28who God is and who we are as a result of who he is
21:32and what he has declared in his word.
21:34And so because we don't have that foundational understanding
21:37as a body of Christ and we have not raised the next generations
21:40to embrace that, we have a body of Christ
21:43that has embraced the world's understanding
21:47of reproduction and family and marriage
21:50and the brokenness of sin, the church has embraced those views
21:54that start with sin.
21:55Instead of the church being the light
21:58and advancing the truth of the word of God,
22:00the body of Christ has been
22:03the good company crops, good morals,
22:05but at a large scale, right?
22:07Like the enemy has literally swept in
22:09and taken us and the body of Christ captive
22:11in our minds, in regards to reproduction
22:14and family and marriage and all of that.
22:15And so we have a culture that in America,
22:20that the church has allowed by negligence
22:26of adhering to the word of God,
22:28but not only in obedience, but like knowing who he is.
22:31Who is God?
22:32He has revealed himself.
22:33And what is his plan for mankind?
22:34And who are we as he declares that we are?
22:38That's our identity.
22:39And so because we have not held strong to that,
22:43we have allowed the world to dictate to us
22:47how many children we have.
22:48Do we have any children?
22:49Who we marry, who we don't marry?
22:52Who do we pursue?
22:54We don't even know who to pursue.
22:56And within the body, I mean, what marriage is?
22:58What is the purpose?
23:00What does it mean for two to become one?
23:02All of those things, as a body of Christ,
23:05we have abandoned what the Lord says
23:08about those things and embrace the world's way.
23:10So then we cannot expect the world to know truth
23:13if we have embraced lies, right?
23:15And so when we are supposed to be the ones saying,
23:18this is what it is, this is what the truth is.
23:20Here's the truth.
23:22We don't have that.
23:23We don't have that strengthening.
23:25We don't have that understanding.
23:26We don't have the ability to advocate
23:28because we are embracing the lies, you know?
23:30And so then when we say, I'm sorry, real quick.
23:32So when we say that our culture
23:36is going in the opposite direction,
23:40like this data says,
23:42then what we are saying is that once upon a time,
23:47the culture outside of the body of Christ in America
23:50embraced children.
23:51Even if they didn't believe in the Lord
23:52and they weren't Christians,
23:54it was a divin, I'm not saying perfection, right?
23:56But I'm saying like, as a society,
23:58the worldview was different because the church
24:01was a lot more intentional and a lot more present
24:06in the communities.
24:07Well, we live in a time where that's not the case.
24:09We're living in a godless time.
24:11So, man, so many things are crossing my mind at one time.
24:21Some of the emails I've received have been encouraging, you know, but many of them, some
24:25of them, I won't say enough of them.
24:28I'll say this way.
24:29Frankly, it's just been heartbreaking.
24:31Yeah.
24:32You know, and heartbreaking.
24:34When you say that, and I'll try to summarize it and present my question, when you say that
24:40the broken culture surrounding the church in our nation as infiltrated and influenced the church.
24:47What are some examples of that in your mind?
24:50Well, one of the one of the realities. And let me be more specific. Yeah. Specifically as it
24:54pertains to identity for the individual. Yeah, that's what I was going to start.
25:00Marriage and family. Yeah. Yeah. So God has revealed himself to mankind in his word. And
25:07And what does that mean?
25:08That means that the all powerful,
25:10most high creator God who has authority over everything
25:13has revealed himself to us in character, in nature,
25:17his ways.
25:18And so when we know who he is, based on what he has said,
25:21now what we want the God that we want to create
25:23in our heads, but who he has said he is.
25:25And then we embrace him as he is,
25:27and then we then believe who he says that we are
25:30because by right, he can declare who we are, right?
25:34He created mankind.
25:36So he has the only authority to be a addicted identity.
25:39And when we embrace who he says that we are,
25:42we are created in his image and his likeness.
25:45And he has given us commands and instructions
25:49on how to live life.
25:51So when we embrace that,
25:52then we can be bold by the Spirit of God
25:56to advocate for that and who we are
26:00as male, female, Christians, believers, people of God.
26:04And when we do that, then we can be that light
26:06and we can be that voice to be able to declare
26:10to the people, this is who God is, this is who we are,
26:12and this is the way to live.
26:14This is the route to take.
26:16God made that way.
26:17And as, I mean, as evidenced by his redemptive power
26:21on the cross, he rescued us from darkness to light.
26:24So he has given us that in his word already,
26:28but we have rejected it.
26:29And so then we have not only a skewed understanding
26:31of who we are to be, but also a skewed understanding
26:34of how to become one with someone else.
26:37And then it just trickles.
26:38And then how to become parents and how to train children
26:41to love and understand who God is and be who God has called
26:45them to be.
26:46It starts, but the enemy knew it.
26:49And the enemy has been very effective at taking that rug
26:53from underneath us.
26:54So I think it really does start with identity in Christ.
26:57And then it affects every area that they got,
27:00they got us called us to.
27:01So as I'm hearing you talk,
27:04what immediately comes to my mind from this is,
27:07when you say the enemy has been effective, it seems,
27:10and you correct me if I'm wrong,
27:11if I'm misrepresenting what you're saying,
27:13that the enemy has been effective in even causing the,
27:16I'll say the professing invisible church,
27:18because I always say that
27:20because we should never confuse the visible church,
27:22and even the professing church with the remnant.
27:25But it seems the enemy has been effective
27:27in even causing the professing invisible church
27:30to reject what God has revealed to us in his word, simply to say that, and this is what
27:37our brother George Barnard would say, that much of, if not the majority of the professing
27:42and visible church are biblically illiterate.
27:44Yeah, yeah, yeah.
27:47And that biblical illiteracy has had large-scale societal impact.
27:52Yeah.
27:54When you have unmarried people like some of the callers you've had and the messages you've
28:00You have people and I'm going to make a statement, but it can be very offensive, but I'm going to explain it.
28:06So when we say that people who are unmarried or young people don't know who they are and that
28:14affects who they marry or or the pursuit of marriage, I am not saying that every single person, every person who is single,
28:23does not know God or does not know who they are, right?
28:27But what I am saying is that if you have a single person or a person who is not married who
28:33Knows who they are because they know the God of the Bible because they are
28:38Jesus is their Lord and Savior
28:41They will attest to the reality that when they look at their peers and
28:46They're pursuing or trying to find a mate
28:49They will say that a lot of the people that are their age or around their age
28:54do not know who they are and do not know the God of the Bible and then do not know
28:58what up from down is. So I'm not saying that every single person but I am saying
29:03that there's a lot of them and so then when you are one who knows Jesus you're
29:06having a difficult time finding ones that love Jesus and are wanting and are
29:11understanding who they are and what the Lord has called them to and all of these
29:14things so it's an epidemic and that's the grieving part because when we when the
29:20Lord says that he, that he, when he tells the people in,
29:23in the Israelites that are under captivity in Babylon,
29:26and he says, get married, multiply.
29:28You know, build houses and establish your community
29:30and be the people that I've called you to be in a foreign land.
29:35God is saying that because that is what,
29:37that is a blessing, because that is a good thing.
29:39That is a positive thing.
29:41Communicate something he values as well.
29:43That would be beneficial for his people to enjoy.
29:46And not only for them to enjoy in a consumer type
29:50of manner, but they're supposed to be the people
29:53of God in a foreign nation.
29:54We are supposed to be the church in a godless nation.
29:57So the people of God are supposed to be that light.
30:01So if they're reproducing, if they're planting
30:03and harvesting, if they're exercising their authority
30:08given from God to subdue the land and to be,
30:11oh God, it's called them to be and to have the community
30:13and be worshipers of Yahweh.
30:15Amongst a pagan culture, they will be a light.
30:19You know what I'm saying?
30:20Like they'll have the hand and eye and the Michelle
30:22and Azariah and the Daniels.
30:23Like we will produce the people and we will be a light
30:27and then the darkness will not overcome.
30:29And so then you have people that are in the world struggling
30:33and then they'll know where to go.
30:35But here we are, the body of Christ, not obeying
30:37and not seeing multiplication as a blessing
30:40and not seeing childbearing and marriage.
30:44Y'all people do not wanna be married.
30:45Y'all know it.
30:46We don't wanna be married today.
30:48Sorry, we don't want to be married today.
30:50We don't understand marriage.
30:52We don't understand the value of it.
30:56It is not just a piece of paper.
30:57You know, if you consider it the way that God has declared
31:00to be who has the only authority to declare what marriage is.
31:02So I'm saying that to say that it really does affect
31:07every area when we don't know who God is.
31:11I got one message from a brother who described himself
31:15as a Christian who desired to be married.
31:22And let me segue back to the study.
31:25Lindsey Burke in her study,
31:27a highlighted education in the pursuit of higher education,
31:31not from a causal standpoint.
31:33Not saying there's a causal nexus saying,
31:35because of this, therefore this,
31:36but just as an observation,
31:38that the pursuit of higher education is an observation
31:42that she's recognized that has contributed
31:45to a delaying a deferral or even a denial of marriage
31:48or some instance, which again, I was seeking this week
31:51to take the data and match it up to real people's stories
31:53in real life.
31:54A young man emailed me, he said he's 29 years old now.
31:57He's desire to be married, but throughout his 20s,
32:01the young ladies that were in marriage were ages
32:03in his age bracket, they all were not interested in marriage
32:09and pursuing committed relationships
32:11because they were all pursuing careers.
32:14The disrespectful music has just started because I want to get a bit more practical.
32:18I don't want to get what you think about that when this young man said that those who were
32:23in his peer group, the majority of the young ladies weren't interested in discussing or pursuing
32:28marriage because they were pursuing careers and higher education.
32:34So you want to take what do you think Maria Hamilton the first?
32:38We come back guys.
32:40We will get the Mrs. answer to this and try to get a little bit more practical.
32:44According to the data, we're not having children at a rate sufficient to replace our existing
32:50population.
32:51What type of impact would that have downstream upon the fibers of American society?
32:57The Hamilton Quarter Podcast and One-Bitted Common Terrets are available at eFR.net back
33:15to the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
33:20Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner, Abraham Hamilton III here joined by the lovely Mrs.
33:26Hamilton.
33:27And we're just having a conversation about marriage, family, faith.
33:32Before we went to the break, I presented a question because Lindsay Burke highlighted as one of the
33:37observations again, not saying there's a causal nexus. She was not saying that because of the pursuit
33:44of higher education and career, therefore people are not having children sufficiently,
33:50But she made the observation that contrary to past times in America's history,
33:57the priorities for many and not just not just men, not just women, but across the board has been higher
34:05education and career pursuits while delaying deferring or even outright completely denying
34:12entering into marriage, which would produce children as a fruit of that marriage.
34:15And so I wanted to get your thoughts, Maria, when you hear the observation of where in the past
34:23family, well, let me go ahead and say it better, marriage, family, and bearing children was a life
34:28priority. Now for many people that has been replaced by the pursuit of higher education and careers,
34:34what do you think in light of that? Yeah, so I get mad because the enemy has really deceived us.
34:40The enemy has really done a great job at spewing his lies.
34:45And again, because of an unsteady, unstable foundation
34:51for us as believers, we have embraced what the world says
34:54or the culture dictates in regards to these things.
34:57And so when we consider young people,
35:02as they are matriculating through high school
35:05and approaching college age,
35:09they are trying to find themselves, right?
35:11They're trying to figure out who they are.
35:13And so I agree that we need to ensure that our children
35:21have the right understanding of marriage
35:23and understand that there has to be guidelines,
35:27boundaries and parameters as they're matricling
35:29through those stages instead of allowing them
35:31to just date kind of randomly and just whatever,
35:34even though it's a natural thing to be attracted
35:36to the opposite sex and all those things.
35:38there has to be boundaries, right?
35:39But then we come to a place where within the body of Christ,
35:45we do not equip them to what it really looks like to pursue
35:51and why we should pursue boys pursuing girls
35:55or in that stage of preparation for marriage men.
35:58I guess they have to be men at that point, right?
36:00Yes, it can be boys.
36:01So males, like I said, I should say males pursuing females.
36:04And so at that point, you can stay at men.
36:07Yes, I know, but what I'm saying is when they are young,
36:10the world doesn't see them as men yet.
36:11And we are saying that they have to be men, yes.
36:14But from the world's perspective,
36:16I'm talking about from the world's perspective
36:18when a male is pursuing a female,
36:20the skewed perspective is that they are not ready to do that.
36:26They don't know who they are.
36:27They don't know how to go about pursuing
36:30because they have not achieved careers or finances.
36:34Oh, no, I don't think that's the world's perspective.
36:36No, I think the world's perspective is that boys are
36:41Cultivated to pursue girls with no thought of
36:45Commitment fidelity marriage almost like as a rite of passage, you know teenage boys. Yeah, who wears a girlfriend, you know
36:52That kind of thing right okay, so pursuing them but not for marriage
36:55No, I was talking about marriage. Exactly pursuing and for sexual whatever. You know, I mean yeah and romantic daleons
37:00Yes, and I was talking more so of the the point that
37:04that career is going to be prioritized over marriage.
37:09And children, that's it.
37:11So, but yeah, so they don't necessarily know up from down,
37:16but the world says, don't be married
37:19until you have your career.
37:20And what does the church say?
37:21The same thing.
37:22The church is saying, don't be married
37:25until you have your career and your finances in order
37:27and you know who you are.
37:29As if we have to create who we are.
37:32And as if we have to search for and achieve who we are,
37:40when I ask you who are you or people ask you who are you,
37:44your answer, I know you're answer won't be this,
37:46but the world would say, who is Abe?
37:48He's a lawyer, but that's not who he is,
37:50that's what he does, right?
37:52To earn an income or whatever,
37:54but you are a man and you're a man of God.
37:56And so who am I?
37:59I am a woman, I am a child of God.
38:01And so we have a sitting Supreme Court justice who during her confirmation hearing was asked
38:06what a woman was and she said, well, she's not a biologist.
38:10Yeah, which is extremely true.
38:12So she couldn't in that context really say what a woman was.
38:16So you got that again, we don't know from down.
38:20You understand blind people even blind.
38:22Anyway, so, but we have a culture within the body of Christ that says we need to postpone
38:28marriage.
38:29We don't need to be married.
38:32We need to just come up with, figure out who we are, as if it's not given by God.
38:37See, because identity is not created or achieved, it is received.
38:42God has told us who we are.
38:44And we cry out to Him for purpose and direction and vision.
38:48Now, that will include careers.
38:50I'm not saying that we don't need to go to school and learn and do in income.
38:55Of course we do those things.
38:56But when we make those the priority, we see.
38:5929, 30 year olds who desire to be married and who can't find a mate, you know, because again,
39:07going back to identity, we don't know who God is, we don't know who we are.
39:10And so many different thoughts I'm having in light of what you're saying.
39:15So am I right to hear you say that the cultivation of a first an understanding of what marriage is,
39:25a desire for marriage and the God honoring manner of pursuing one's spouse for a young man,
39:32these are aspects of discipleship that need to be conveyed and trained and established as normative
39:40within the body of Christ. Yes, yes. This should be viewed as a part of the biblical mandate to make disciples.
39:48Yes, in Psalm 78, the Lord instructs, well, it's inspired by God, but the Israelites are
39:56crying out and they're saying, you know, we have to remember what God has done and his
40:03works and his deeds.
40:05And we have to tell our children about his works and his deeds.
40:08What is that talking about?
40:09And then to say children, it lists five different generations.
40:12And even those yet to be born.
40:14Yes.
40:15So then we have a people of God who do not do that, meaning we have failed to understand
40:24that when it says, tell the future generations what my works and my deeds are, is tell them
40:29who I am.
40:30Because if we start with a proper understanding of who God is as he has revealed himself, creator,
40:35God authority over all things, then we can then they, excuse me, they therefore can know
40:41who they are.
40:43then they can receive their identity from God
40:46and seek Him for their purpose in life, starting young.
40:50Right?
40:51And so when we neglect to do that, we are not discipling them.
40:53They are not going to be disciplined learners
40:56and followers of Christ.
40:58And so when we are getting to the age
41:00where we're seeking mates, we can't find them
41:02because they're not being made.
41:04They're not being discipled.
41:05And I'm not talking about human strength.
41:07I'm talking about the spirit of God,
41:08leading husbands and wives, discipling their children.
41:13so that when the time comes for them to join themselves
41:17to a bride, you know, for our young men,
41:19they will know who they are, the wives will know who they are,
41:23the Lord has revealed the purpose and the mission
41:24and the vision for their union.
41:26And man, we go about and do Father's business,
41:29but we are not discipling our children.
41:32One of the other things in light of what you said
41:33that I see happening with this kind of crises of identity,
41:39there is a reality, the scripture bears us out,
41:41the Apostle Paul talks about this,
41:42there's a reality of the vocation of singleness, right?
41:45There are some people who God has called to sing to singleness,
41:48but I said this in the church,
41:50this past Sunday, the vocation of singleness
41:52is accompanied by the gift of celibacy.
41:54Yes.
41:55If you don't have the gift of celibacy,
41:57you probably have not been called
41:58to the vocation of singleness regardless
42:00of your relationship history.
42:02But with this crisis of identity,
42:04I have seen unfortunately many churches
42:06in their efforts to refuse to serve
42:11and to refuse to ostracize people who are not married
42:16from the body of the church.
42:18I have found some places attempt really to not in word
42:24but in practice to begin to denigrate marriage.
42:27So that marriage is no longer something
42:29that's important to the life of the church.
42:31It's just another thing that kinda falls by the wayside.
42:35And so in an effort to kind of elevate the station
42:39of the unmarried person in the church,
42:41it's been a denigration of marriage, whereas when you say identity,
42:46it's not only the understanding of identity,
42:47it should be identity in pursuit of God's purposes, personally and broadly.
42:53Yes.
42:54So that the person who was called to the vocation of singleness,
42:57they should be able to rejoice at the place that God has given marriage.
43:01But then you brought it to Christ. One more thing I want to say.
43:03And then I know this is a long build up, but I think this is important.
43:06And simultaneously, the married person should be able to rejoice
43:10in the person's vocation of singleness.
43:13And in between those who are not yet married,
43:16who are not called to singleness,
43:17but have a desire towards marriage,
43:20there is a way to address and approach all of it
43:23without denigrating any of it while understanding
43:25the majority position will be within the body of Christ,
43:28marriage, fruitfulness, multiplication,
43:30and then subduing.
43:31That's right, that's exactly right.
43:33That's exactly right.
43:34When we consider who God is
43:36and who He is made us to be,
43:38He says, love God with all of our hearts, mind, soul, and strength.
43:44That's our entire being.
43:45So our identity as image bearers is that's who God made us to be.
43:50Ones who love him with our whole selves.
43:53So when we, who are believers, love God with our entire selves, then he fulfills us.
44:00He is our treasure.
44:01So then, and I'm saying this because it's true, but I'm also saying it because I learned it
44:06as part of experiencing this, right?
44:09So when you are captivated by the love of God
44:12and you're captivated by a relationship
44:15with the creator God, the creator God, most high,
44:19who has authority over everything, who created all things
44:22and calls you to an intimate relationship with Him,
44:24you have been fulfilled, like you are filled to the fullest.
44:28So then your mate doesn't fill you.
44:30It is not that I need to find my mate
44:32so that I can become whole, you are whole.
44:36It takes 100% and 50-50.
44:37So it's not the doctor and the Tom Cruise.
44:39You complete me?
44:40No, no.
44:41You complete me.
44:42No, no.
44:43Oh my God, two fallen people completing each other?
44:45No, that is incomplete.
44:46So let's not do that.
44:48And bars right there.
44:50Two fallen people completing each other?
44:51That is incomplete.
44:53So we have to be made whole first.
44:56In him.
44:57In him and that's the only way to be made whole, right?
44:59So we are, so again, that's what we don't make marriage
45:02an idol, but we also, like you're saying,
45:03We don't denigrate it because it's not above something else
45:07because that's comparing, you know,
45:08ourselves to amongst ourselves.
45:10We are talking about an identity in Christ,
45:13a love and a passion and pursuit for the Lord.
45:15And as a result of that,
45:17He will reveal to us what marriage is and our purpose
45:20and the two becoming one.
45:21And those things need to be honored, you know,
45:25and pursued, yes, but once you're whole
45:27and you're identity in Christ.
45:30I've also gotten some message from some sisters
45:34who, you know, and I don't want to focus on any particular
45:37strategy in our, the callers who responded during the week.
45:41They were a particular age group, then some of the emails
45:43were younger, it's cute young from people that were younger.
45:46But I did get some emails from some sisters that are saying,
45:48man, one of the problems is that Christian men don't know
45:52how to approach Christian women.
45:54You know, and there's a reality of having youth,
45:56I mean, younger people that are involved
45:58and their parents are involved, but what do you do
45:59in the circumstance where you have like,
46:01call it this week, I had one woman who was 49, another who was 50.
46:07Do we need to have a Shoot Your Shot Ministry established?
46:10Where the men are taught how to approach, I mean, what is going on?
46:16Well, let's use A by the exhibit.
46:17A baby, let's do that.
46:18Hold up now.
46:19Why are you talking about using me as exhibit A?
46:21Because you know how to pursue sir.
46:23So listen, so we're quick though, in light of that though.
46:26And I'm going to use you as an example.
46:27So you knew who you were in Christ, right?
46:31like you loved God and you knew who you were in Christ.
46:34And you were confident in your walking out
46:37who God called you to be without me, without a mate.
46:41And when I met you, what was the first thing?
46:44One of the first things you said was,
46:46I'm a believer, I'm a follower of Christ,
46:48I literally follow His will
46:50and I do only what the Lord says to do.
46:52And I'm like, I can marry you tomorrow.
46:54Like it was that simple, you know?
46:56Because you knew who you were.
46:57So we have women who are saying rightfully
47:00that men don't know how to approach them
47:02because men don't know who they are.
47:05Oh man, there's so much here.
47:08And you know this, and I told you, told you this,
47:12I was forthright with you as to where I was coming from
47:15because I didn't want you to have any confusion
47:21that I love the Lord.
47:22And if you think following the Lord, everything is weird,
47:24then it's cool, I'll give you piling the hallway
47:27when I see you, but I ain't trying to outlet you
47:29because it's gonna go either one or two H.
47:31You either think I'm a weirdo, or you would be willing
47:36to entertain further gestures.
47:39So which, here we are.
47:41Year 16, we're on year 16.
47:43Going to year 16.
47:44Six-year-old and later.
47:46So apparently it went this particular way.
47:48This is a conversation I wanna have more.
47:50There was so many other things I wanted to get into,
47:51but y'all hear that disrespectful music.
47:53This might require a part two, if not more,
47:57because some of the other things I wanted to get into
48:00is approaching this phenomenon within the presence
48:03of a fallen world.
48:04You know, you have the biblical outline
48:08and the Jewish tradition that often include parents,
48:10but what do you do in a circumstance
48:12where you have potential candidates for marriage
48:15and their parents are divorced?
48:16What do you do in a circumstance
48:17where you have older people?
48:19Older people have never been married.
48:21What do you do in a circumstance
48:22where children are present?
48:23Just a whole host of things.
48:26So one thing we need to understand
48:27is that the word of God remains to be the standard.
48:30Regardless of the prevalence of brokenness, God's word is the standard.
48:33So how do we discern, interpret, and apply?
48:36Not discern, but how do we apply God's word to our present circumstances?
48:39We got to talk about that in another episode.
48:42But I love you, girl.
48:45The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American
48:50Family Association or American Family Radio.

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