More on "Our" Children

Dad
April 29, 2003

—Confirmatory Quotes from Dad! DO 2671 Comp.12/90

1. I don't like that expression "your children"!—They're all "our" children! Now naturally you have a little more feeling of personal attachment to the children you have borne & there is bound to be a particular relationship of special personal interest there. But if you were perfect in spirit before God, there would be no difference! If your spirit was perfect before God, everybody in the Family would be your brother & your sister just as much as your flesh-&-blood, & every child you would feel just as responsible for & love just as much as God loves! (249:18)

2. If the parents are busy & they've got a lot of other responsibilities & they can't be taking care of their own children all the time, they should have workers to help them, like we do. The kids know that their parents love them even if they're busy & can't be with them all the time. (688:8, 9)

3. Caring for children is part of your everyday life. Each Home has children, & everyone in the Home should know that they're expected to help out with the children while the parents do other essential work. (688:12)

4. Our children ought to feel loved by everybody. And we ought to feel like they are all our children. I said this a long time ago‚ clear back at TSC: "Don't you talk about my kids & your kids, they're our kids!" (688:16)

5. I consider it everyone's responsibility to help support the children. It should not only be the parents & childcare helpers alone who contribute to the children's support, but we need to spread the load out a little more. (688:17)

6. They're our children‚ & our system is responsible for their welfare. The Family is responsible for all its children. You say, "Well, I don't have any kids, so why should I pay for their support?"—Well, they're still your kids! (688:18)

7. They are the children of the Family, therefore the entire Family is responsible for them.—Not just those who happen to be their physical parents. They are our population‚ they are our future citizens! Therefore we are all responsible for them & we should all contribute to their education & well–being; all of us! They belong to all of us & they are our future. (688:19-21)

8. So you're all childcare workers, you all should be interested in working for the children‚ helping to take care of the children in one way or the other, because I think they are our greatest task now!—Because we have them, they are ours‚ they are our personal responsibility, every single Family Member's responsibility!—In our Home, they're not just the so-called childcare workers' responsibility, but every secretary & every cook & every maintenance man gets involved! In other Homes it should include every litnesser, every busker etc.! (1720:59)

9. Our first responsibility is to the Lord & to each other—"to love the Lord with all your heart & your neighbour as yourself," the law of love (Mat.22:37-40)—but if that's true, how much more time & effort we ought to spend on our own children! (1720:60)

10. Our children are our children, all of our children, & we are all their parents! Even if you never had a personal baby yourself‚ these are your children & you're obligated to help take care of them! (2060:5)

11. I think our Family is almost the perfect solution‚ where everybody takes responsibility!—Where we insist that the children are our responsibility. They belong to all of us! (2582:13)

12. It's the same system used for thousands of years of tribal society! This is really the way it was in the natural tribes of people of huge families. A tribe was a big family, sometimes with all the same name. They knew who their relatives were & the relatives took care of them in the tribe. (2582:15)

13. Well, praise the Lord, thanks to the Lord, we have the ideal solution! We are a tribal society & we stick together & help each other, & help make it possible. To me, our society, our tribe, is the most wonderful thing in the World! PTL! (2582:18) (—AMEN!)

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