One of my greatest desires in life is to be the best dad that I can be. With six kids, that can be a heavy responsibility. Knowing that, I try to find as many excellent resources to help me be a better dad.
Roland C. Warren, former President of the National Fatherhood Initiative, has added another great resource to my shelf. His book, Bad Dads Of The Bible, gives some excellent input into how to be a better father to your kids.
Most of the time, books for dads are written from the perspective of what a dad should do. In this case, Warren has written his book from the perspective of what not to do.
Warren takes a brief look at the lives of eight men from the Bible, and examines the mistakes they each made with their children. From there, Warren encourages us to avoid those kinds of mistakes, and gives some positive actions to take to help.
The eight lives Warren examines are both well known and more obscure. Some are stories we are familiar with and others aren’t. And some of them you may find surprising. Here are the eight dads, and their mistakes.
- David – He was paralyzed by his past failures
- Laban – He made his children compete for his affection
- Jacob – He turned a blind eye to sibling rivalry
- Saul – He made it difficult for his children to honor him
- Abraham – He abandoned his child
- Eli – He failed to discipline his children
- Manoah – He failed to tame his child’s talents
- Lot – He pitched his family’s tent near temptation
Each of these men demonstrate well a lesson that we all need to learn in order to be the best dads we can be. If we can learn from their mistakes, we can avoid making them ourselves.
Each chapter of Bad Dads Of The Bible concludes with a set of actions and reflections, along with a promise to implement to your kids, your wife, and to God.
Though at times Warren’s writing seems a bit simplistic, and his examinations of these lives are too brief, Bad Dads Of The Bible is a resource that can help a lot of dads. These are eight areas that each of us needs to step up and implement into our lives. I would encourage you to grab a copy of Warren’s book and read it. You’ll be glad you, and your dadhood skills will improve if you can avoid these blunders.
Question: Do any of the mistakes examined in this book sound familiar? How have you avoided making blunders like these? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
I received this book free from Harper Collins Christian Publishing as part of their BookLook Bloggers review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.