“I thank God that the birth mothers of my three children chose [the adoption] alternative … And it is important for men to speak out on this issue … To adopt a child in the United States [takes] 5 to 10 years. Yet, we still abort more than 4,500 babies every day … I am challenging you to continue to spread the message [of adoption] … to support a cause that saves countless lives. Be responsible fathers and parents; stand up for what is right.” Ray Nitschke
“By acting out the Genesis roles of manhood and womanhood, you can influence the children in a single-parent family. Even in a household with no father role model, you can encourage mothers to point their children to the Heavenly Father. Most importantly, you can show single moms and dads how to leave their burdens at the foot of the Cross. After all, every parent needs the forgiveness, strength, and assurance of the Savior!” Linda Bartlett
“Psalm 78 is a long one, but every parent should take the opportunity to read it. In a nutshell, it says—over and over—that fathers are to teach their children so they might not forget the works of God, and keep His commandments.” Ken Ham
“There’s a reason God created the family the way He did. Children need fathers as well as mothers in order to thrive. And even more important, in order to learn to trust God as their heavenly Father.” Charles Colson
“Martin Luther knew the importance of family teaching. A much-neglected part of his Small Catechism is that which comes just under the heading for each of the six chief parts: ‘As the Head of the Family Should Teach Them in a Simple Way to His Household.’ Every confirmation student should require his or her parents (especially fathers) to memorize this! The Christian family setting provides opportunities for such teaching of God’s Word and the value God gives to human life. The family setting provides opportunities to model what is being taught. When spouses respect each other as gifts from God, and when parents respect their children as gifts from God, respect for human life is learned as naturally as saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’” Rev. Dr. James I. Lamb
“Can single parents do an admirable job of raising children? To be sure … But our Creator God is not concerned about polls, focus groups, or surveys to determine what is truly best. It was His design that the family unit of a father and mother joined together in marriage be the model for bringing up children. This was especially made evident in the family that would raise His only begotten Son, Jesus. A heavenly messenger gave special instructions to Joseph: ‘…take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20c).’ ” Rev. J. David Wende
“Satan wants us to doubt our worth as beloved creations … to reject the high calling of fatherhood and motherhood … to collapse under the burden of our own failures. But Jesus wants us to understand that God has purpose and meaning for us as women just as He does for men. He wants us to seek His Father’s way—the way of hope and life. And when we fail, He wants us to leave those burdens at the foot of the Cross.” Linda Bartlett
“God loves fathers. He is one.” Rev. Dr. James I. Lamb
“We fathers must look to Scripture for wisdom so that we can build a godly relationship with our children. Just as God disciplines with love, so must we. In this way, we teach our children that they are accountable for their actions and that we must all submit to a higher authority. At the same time, we teach something of eternal worth—we are all sinful and in need of a Savior. But the promise of God is real in Christ Jesus! Just as we fathers have been forgiven, so we can forgive our children.” Mark Enter
“The Church must arise and take back these children that God has entrusted to us. The challenge goes out to every Christian. Will you love a child for a time? Will you embrace a child for a lifetime? Will you do whatever you can to care for the orphans and the fatherless? As pro-life Christians, can we honestly do anything less?” Joan Dower Kosmachuk
“On days when many of us gather to celebrate life, many others are reminded of death. Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Life Sunday are not happy events for those wounded by abortion. Instead, they are reminders of relationships denied.” Linda D. Bartlett
“With Christ as my model, I try to be a good listener, a wise judge and peacemaker, a man full of hope. A godly man is not always out front and visible but is always working for and watching over those he loves. As Christ is the cornerstone of His Church, so is the godly man the foundation of his family—which is, after all, a little church unto itself. He is the anchor, the gyroscope, the defender, and the comforter.” John Kamrath
“Generations to come need Lutherans who love life today! Fathers love life when they model chivalry, fidelity, courage, character, and servant-style leadership. Mothers love life when they model purity, virtue, homemaking, hospitality, and relationship-building. The Church loves life when she offers practical solutions for problems of life and models repentance and reconciliation. Grandparents love life when they pass on stories of faith.” Linda D. Bartlett
“Our children are learning that the real wealth of nations rests in families—that’s a truth borne out by recent studies showing that married people and their children tend to be healthier, wealthier, and happier. And the signs of that relearning offer reasons for a doting father to feel optimistic about the future despite the gloom and doom that currently occupy our front pages.” Thomas J. Bray, OpinionJournal.com
“In spite of attacks on fatherhood and motherhood, raising the next generation is a coveted task. No one else has the opportunity to build a culture of life in quite the same way as fathers and mothers.” Linda D. Bartlett
“When a man remembers God and His call to leadership, he is able to make a difference. A young man who guards his girlfriend’s virtue makes a difference. A husband who remains true to his wife makes a difference. A man who understands the privilege of fatherhood and accepts his responsibility as a daddy makes a difference. Men of faithfulness have a grand opportunity to defend against chaos and leave a legacy of hope.” Linda D. Bartlett
“The foundation of national morality must be laid in private families … How is it possible that children can have any just sense of the sacred obligations of morality or religion if, from their earliest infancy, they learn their mothers live in habitual infidelity to their fathers, and their fathers in as constant infidelity to their mothers?” John Adams, President of the United States (1797-1801)
“By profession I am a soldier and take great pride in that fact, but I am prouder, infinitely prouder, to be a father. A soldier destroys in order to build; the father only builds, never destroys. The one has the potentialities of death; the other embodies creations and life. And while the hordes of death are mighty, the battalions of life are mightier still.” General Douglas MacArthur
“Marriage is about children. Not about begetting them; God has made that easy (for men) and pleasurable … but about providing a safe, stable place for children as they grow up … Marriage … is a commitment—like a set of rails that run into the far distant future, keeping us on-track when emotions might blow us off-course … Children need the stability of marriage; and they also need a mother and a father—both parents are crucial to their understanding of what it means to be a man or a woman. Society needs marriage—the kind of marriage that thousands of generations have made the normal definition: one man and one woman. For governments or courts to experiment with anything that might threaten marriage is playing with fire.” Ron Gray, National Leader, Christian Heritage Party of Canada
“Loving fathers bring a vital dose of love, security, and stability to their wives and children and they make a very positive difference, indeed. Yet … America has transformed itself from being ‘a culture of belonging’ to being ‘a culture of rejection.’ And the children caught in the middle pay the price. So to all the fathers out there: Don’t let the pop culture relegate you to oblivion. We need your leadership and your love—we need you. You are vital to your families, to our society, and to our nation’s future. Please make every day a day of fathering.” Rebecca Hagelin, author and syndicated columnist.
“Call not that man wretched who, whatever ills he suffers, has a child to love.” Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) U.S. philosopher.
“God gave an ordinary man, Joseph, the unparalleled responsibility to care for and nurture Jesus. The carpenter from Nazareth did the best he could with the gifts God had given him. That’s the responsibility God gives to fathers today. ‘Do the best you can with what I have given you to care for and nurture your children. Bring them to My house. Read them My Word. I will be at work in their lives and yours.’” Rev. Dr. James I. Lamb, executive director of Lutherans For Life
“America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father’s role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts—a child—as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the independent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters.” Mother Teresa
“Dads don’t realize they are heroes because this concept has either never been passed on to them by their own father, or they have ignored or forgotten God’s Word that mightily reminds them of their powerful role. Either way, they are left ill-equipped to battle the culture that beats up on them and tries to destroy their confidence. There is a Man, however, who forgives and then faithfully encourages every human father to try—over and over again, to be the man God designed him to be. That Man is Jesus Christ.” Linda D. Bartlett, former president of Lutherans For Life
“What a valuable reminder that while teens may not be known for their ability to verbalize their feelings, they have the same needs as when they were tiny. There is no replacement for Dad’s attention, love, acceptance, and healthy affection. In its absence, a substitute will be sought. May Father’s Day be every parent’s reminder that their child really needs them!” Janette Clausen, LBSW, Lutheran Family Services of Iowa
“Children, vulnerable and dependent, desperately need security, and it has ever been a duty and a joy of fatherhood to offer it. Being a father requires strength … and more than a little courage … to persevere, to fight discouragement, and to keep working for the family … With God’s grace, fathers find the patience to teach, the fortitude to provide, the compassion to comfort, and the mercy to forgive … Let us … express our thanks and affection to our fathers, whether we can do so in person or in prayer.” Ronald Reagan, former president of the United States
“Every earthly father, regardless of his own or inherited sin, can learn from the Heavenly Father. The Heavenly Father did not abandon His creation, but is totally involved with and committed to His children. He is not content to have His family exist in chaos, but provides just and protective boundaries. He, indeed, brought eternal life through the defining and hopeful relationship of Father and Son.” Linda D. Bartlett, www.titus2-4life.org
“How very important for Christian mothers and fathers to raise their children in the Lord, not only that they might gain saving faith, but also that they might use their gifts and talents for service in God’s kingdom and for the glory of His holy name.” Rev. Mark Gullerud, Redeemer Lutheran Church, Bowdle, South Dakota
“[W]hen a man remembers God’s call to headship, he is able to make a positive difference. A man makes a difference when he guards the virtue of his girlfriend, remains true to his wife, or engages faithfully as a father.” Linda D. Bartlett, www.titus2-4life.org
“Just as our children are part of us, and we are part of them, so our heavenly Father is part of us, and we are part of Him. As we celebrate Father’s Day this year, we can spare a thought for our Heavenly Father. Better still, spare Him a prayer. Say thank you for all the blessings we have, and ask Him for whatever you need. He will only give you the very best.” Rev. John Henderson, Face to Face radio program (Australia)