Have you noticed how much the family is under attack these days? In many nations, about half of all marriages end in divorce. And that's just among those who choose to marry, since many avoid real commitment and decide to simply live together instead. Far from helping couples determine if they're really ready for marriage, studies have proven that living together only increases the odds that they'll later break up.

Our mass media plays a major role in undermining family. The message of much of today's music is degrading to girls and women, portraying them as sex objects for satisfying male lust. How sad that the "sex, drugs and rock and roll" of a generation ago seems so tame by today's standards!

TV sitcoms and movies glorify the single life—and the more promiscuous, the better! When married characters are portrayed, typically the husband is depicted as an inept bumbler while the wife rules the home. Children are often shown as know-it-alls who mock and insult their parents.

TV and movie screenwriters constantly push the envelope with sex, nudity, profanity and perversion—"defining deviancy downward," as one phrase captured the trend so well several years ago.

Meanwhile, our governments, rather than holding the line against influences that corrupt society, actually advocate policies that undermine families as they redefine marriage, penalize traditional marriage through higher taxes, advocate sex outside of marriage, reward promiscuity and single motherhood and teach children distorted family roles. And this is just scratching the surface.

But why? Why such a sustained, continual assault on families? Consider that the Bible refers to our day as "this present evil age" (Galatians 1:4). It further reveals that an evil being whom it calls "the god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4) has blinded the minds of people, and "the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one" (1 John 5:19) "who deceives the whole world" (Revelation 12:9). This being is, of course, Satan the devil.

A primary reason for this war on families is that Satan wants to blind humankind to God's true purpose for families. And what is that purpose? It's spelled out in the Bible, but most overlook it. The truth is that God is creating a divine family!

God is a family, currently consisting of the Father and the Son. That is clearly a family relationship! But God is in the process of expanding that family to include more family members!

Notice 2 Corinthians 6:17-18, where the apostle Paul says of God the Father, "I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty" (emphasis added throughout). Jesus Christ came to reveal God not as some distant, unapproachable being, but as a Father to us (Matthew 11:27; Luke 10:22). He tells us to pray to "our Father in heaven" (Matthew 6:9; Luke 11:2).

In Ephesians 3:14-15, Paul writes of the Father, "from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." Two members of this divine family—the Father and Jesus Christ the Son—now exist in heaven. Others—those led by God's Spirit (Romans 8:14)—now live on earth, awaiting the time when they will be glorified just as God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son now exist in radiant glory (1 John 3:2).

That is God's great purpose for family, and for you! Keep reading The Good News to learn how you can be part of that family!