Article June 19, 1995 Issue

Fatherhood and standing up to the false male image

Fatherhood. It's foundational to the well-being of children. We yearn to think of it as an inviolable institution, invulnerable to weakness. This era, however, shouts of just the opposite. In response, fatherhood groups have sprung up across the United States to connect fathers with their children and to strengthen their commitment to family. U.S. News & World Report refers to a new book, Fatherless America: Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Problem, in which author David Blankenhorn is spreading the word that "being a loving father and a good husband is the best part of being a man." See "Honor thy Children," U.S. News & World Report, February 27, 1995 . But what are the underlying spiritual issues? Recently, the Sentinel explored that question with a number of men. In the following interview, Gail Menschel speaks with Christian Scientist Craig Stephens of Marblehead, Massachusetts, a father of three children, ranging in age from five to eleven. In part two of this look at fathering, which will appear in the July 31 Sentinel, other fathers will share the spiritual concepts they have most relied on.

How do you think of your role as father?

Well, with our children, we've tried to be pretty consistent with the idea that I'm their dad, there to help them, but God is their Father-Mother—in the spirit of what the Bible teaches: "It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves" (Ps. 100:3). From a very young age, they understand that. I see my mission as "Dad" to demonstrate in concrete ways the fatherhood and motherhood of God—particularly, to give a sense of the consistency of the Father-Mother and of His immovable power. In fact, we've sometimes found that in situations where there was a need for healing with a child, the essential ingredient in our prayers was the sense that there is only one power and that it is present right now for that child. Our children have always had quick healings when their mom and I have gotten that sense of God's constancy, which dispels parental fear for the child's safety. I see that as something dads can represent.

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