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T he B roken H om e is Number One social problem today. It could lead ultimately to the destruction of our civilization. It does not make scream headlines, but if the home begins to break, our society is on the way to disintegration. Wherever the cancer of the broken home remains unchecked, a malignant growth eats its way into vitals of- our national existence. Almost every historian will agree that the disintegration of the Roman Empire was due largely to the broken home. In a recent study of moral conditions in Greece, Persia, and Baby lonia, scholars agreed that divorces and broken homes, more than any other single factor, contributed to the downfall of those nations. Millions of people have come to regard lightly the vows taken at marriage. As a result, the U. S. A. is rapidly surpassing all other nations in the rate of divorce, to say nothing of a host of annulments and separations. France has only one-fourth the number of divorces as the U. S. A.; Germany has only one-third; and Japan has only one-half that Americans have. Although more than a million and a half persons will have married this year, approximately 500,000 will end up in the divorce courts. But even the divorce record does not tell the whole story. In homes where husband and wife continue together, many times marriage takes on the characteristics of an endurance contest. Nor does the divorce record tell of the vast number of unfaithful husbands and wives whose extra-matital relations place them in a class of adulterers and whore mongers, concerning whom Jesus said there was no place in the kingdom of heaven. Neither do the divorce courts tell of thousands of boys and girls in reforma tories, orphanages, corrective institutions, and of those living abnormal lives because of broken homes. What to do? It is high time that our so-called experts on marriage, the fam ily, and the home turn to the Bible. We have read newspaper columns and listened to counselors on the radio; psychiatrists have done a land-office business. In much of this the One who performed the first marriage in the Garden of Eden and insti tuted the union between man and wife has been left out. It was God who made the race male and female. It was God Where did these divorces and broken homes come from? A recent survey found only one divorce to every 57 marriages took place where families were regular church-goers. The national divorce rate is one out of three. It was also found that only one divorce in 500 marriages took place where there was regular daily Bible reading and prayer in the home. This amazing survey gives us two significant facts: that divorces in America are mostly among non-religious people, and a Christian home is the best possible insurance against a broken home. Thousands of homes today are almost on the rocks. Many couples are fearful lest their homes, too, break some day on the craggy shoals of marital storm. But there is one great insurance policy that you can take out to guarantee the unity and happiness of your home. It is simple: Make Christ the Center of Your Home. It is the first of four vital rules for preserving your marriage and holding your family. This is because a home is like a solar system. The center, the great sun, holds the solar system together. If it were not for the sun, the solar system would fly to pieces. Unless the Son of God is put at the center of your home, it, too, may fiy to pieces. Make the Son of God the center of your home. who commanded, “ Be fruitful and multiply.” It was God who said, “ It is not good, that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (Gen. 2:18). It was God Himself who brought the bride to her husband in the first marriage.
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by Billy Graham
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THE KING 'S BUSINESS
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