Family and Home Archives

Marriage Still the Best Hope to Combat Poverty

Focus on the Family has long promoted an important truth: men, women and children do better when they are part of a family knit together by marriage. There’s a mountain of research that helps prove this claim, showing that marriage does more than any other single factor to protect families against poverty and financial hardships.

Well, new research is seemingly debunking this assertion. Last week, NBC News ran a provocatively-titled article, “Marriage may not be the silver bullet for poverty, study says.” It cites a study suggesting marriage is an “ineffective weapon in the War on Poverty.” Meanwhile, the article also quotes the professor who wrote the paper, Dr.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: kids, marriage, news, parenting January 20, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Focus Celebrates More Than 230,000 Babies Saved from Abortion

Every January Focus on the Family commemorates the sanctity of human life in all of its beautiful forms.

It was, of course, in January 1973 that the U.S. Supreme Court rendered its tragic decision on Roe v Wade, which legalized abortion in all fifty states. Since then about 51 million babies have been lost to abortion.

In the midst of this somber reality is a ray of hope – more than ever before we’re seeing Americans identify as “pro-life.” As technology helps to reveal the reality and beauty of life in the womb, a greater number of women facing unplanned pregnancies are choosing to parent their babies, or to place them for adoption.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: kids, parenting, policy, pro-life January 14, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

3 Thoughts About Submission in Marriage

I was working in my office with the TV on this past Friday when I heard an anchor passionately raising her voice.

It turned out the all-women panel was discussing actress Candace Cameron Bure’s recent comments on HuffPost Live about her decision to live out biblical submission in her 17-year marriage to NHL hockey player Valeri Bure.

In her interview, Bure defined biblical submission as “meekness, not weakness” and “strength under control; bridled strength.” And while in her interview Bure assured she makes her opinions “very clear” to her husband, the anchor wasn’t convinced.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: husband, marriage, pop culture, wife January 13, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

VIDEO: Meet the Man Who’s Redefining Beauty

Once upon a time Rick Guidotti was a fashion photographer taking pictures of those that many considered the most beautiful.

I’m sure the images pop into your head: people who are tall and toned and tanned.

But thankfully, Rick has a mind of his own. He had an idea.

It was about 15 years ago when he considered photographing a woman with a disability. That’s when he realized how medical textbooks coldly document men, women and children with physical and genetic abnormalities.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: pop culture, pro-life January 10, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Sexual Purity in Men

Fred Stoeker was in the fifth grade when he saw his mom try to kill his dad. She stood behind him, scissors raised, ready to stab her husband – a serial adulterer – in the back.

Fred’s dad was also addicted to pornography.

And although Fred swore he’d never treat women the way his own father treated them … he eventually did.

It’s hard to shake free from the clutches of the bad examples you’ve grown up seeing.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: husband, intimacy, marriage, sex January 9, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

You Can’t “Unfriend” Family

It’s pretty easy to avoid dealing with conflict nowadays.

Do your former college roommate’s views on parenting irritate you? Hide her posts from your Facebook news feed.

Annoyed by the neighbor’s political signs on the front lawn? Sadly, it doesn’t take much effort to avoid interacting with neighbors these days.

Things start to get a little more complicated, however, when conflict exists within the immediate family. Real life doesn’t give you the option to “unfriend” or ignore your spouse, son or daughter, even when there’s something about the family dynamic that can easily bring anger to the surface.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, marriage, parenting January 7, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

The App You Would Like Your Child to Have

On any given Sunday there’s a significant number of folks who pull out their cell phones when the pastor asks them to turn to the morning’s passage. They’re not being rude – they’re just accessing the Bible via their smartphones.

The free YouVersion Bible app is one of the most popular ways to access different versions of the Bible via a smartphone or tablet. In 2013, the app was installed about 49 million times. It was opened 31 times per second, or 1,000,000,000 total times in 2013.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, kids, parenting, technology January 3, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

All Things Are Made New

There’s something about a new year that provides a promise of hope and excitement at what will happen next.

But before we consider our resolutions and our dreams, or even our problems from 2013, perhaps it would be helpful to ponder and park on one of the most hope filled passages in the Bible:

“He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:5)

Not some things … ALL things.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith January 1, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Protecting Your Family from the Digital Invasion

I recently asked my blog readers if they could do without a handheld device like a smartphone or tablet for 24 hours.

It’s a reasonable question to ask since mobile users check their smartphones an average of 150 times a day.

Digital addiction can be an easy thing to fall prey to, especially since access is all around us. We use computers for work, we carry devices in our pockets and most places offer free WIFI.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, kids, parenting, technology December 31, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

The Grand Miracle

Just the other day a colleague forwarded me an excerpt from a marvelous C.S. Lewis essay. It is titled, The Grand Miracle. What wonderful Christmas imagery! I loved it – and thought you would as well:

“He comes down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity; down further still…to the very roots and seabed of the Nature He has created. But He goes down to come up again and bring the whole ruined world up with Him.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith December 26, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura