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"The idea here - the passing on of the faith - is good enough. Yet it seems like Danielle hopes to pass it on without a father...and I'm pretty sure that pastor Gene would say that that is hardly a hindrance. Which is very flawed."

Excuse me?? Did it ever occur to you that perhaps she just escaped an abusive husband? Do you know how hard it can be to leave an abusive marriage?? Do you have any idea who she is or where she has been??

Maybe you shouldn't judge her or the pastor, since you do not know either of them.

I feel better now.

"Excuse me?? Did it ever occur to you that perhaps she just escaped an abusive husband? Do you know how hard it can be to leave an abusive marriage?? Do you have any idea who she is or where she has been??

Maybe you shouldn't judge her or the pastor, since you do not know either of them.

I feel better now."

My point was only that objectively it is harder to pass on the faith without a father in the house. The is objectively true. Even more so in the instance where she flees an abusive husband/father. How is the child ever going to learn of the true Father without an earthly father? It happens for sure, but it is much more difficult. That is pretty non-controversial.

I have issued no judgment on her particular situation and am not willing to speculate on her particulars. I am just making the point that fathers are important. And then pointing out that hardly a megachurch out there will defend that Biblical premise. Because the moment they do, they will lose half their congregation.

Even so, it remains the truth.

If churches spent more time on preparing young people for Biblical (ie lifelong) marriage, on discipling married couples with or without kids, and then preaching the truth of Scripture from the pulpit, including terrifying truths such as God hates divorce, then...and only then...will you see a true multi-generational sustaining of the faith. That is the Biblical methodology and we ignore it at our peril. Defense of the Biblical methodology has nothing to do with condemnation of a particular person's broken family situation. (And just as an aside, obviously the church should step into these broken situations on a case by case basis and minister to broken homes....but I would dare anyone in a megachurch small group to suggest that they adopt a widow or an orphan...that small group is going to disband lickety split).