Being a Spiritual Father (Part 1)
Research has demonstrated that fathers who are engaged spiritually are apt to produce spiritually minded children. The mothers of the home may be 100% spiritual, but if their fathers are not, the children are not as apt to be either. Fathers need to have a close, loving, and nurturing relationship with their children. They must engage spiritually in several key areas: faithfulness to teaching, intensity of focus, attendance at weekly services, belief in biblical literalism, religious intensity, and civic engagement of one’s beliefs (Families and Faith, Bengtson, Oxford: 2013, p.76-77). It is for these reasons that the Bible says, “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).