Ben Watson Claims Inheritance of Faith, Family For His Children
By Movieguide® Staff
Former NFL star Ben Watson, producer of DIVIDED HEARTS OF AMERICA, penned a poignant op-ed for Fox News in light of Black History Month.
Watson used the essay to celebrate the importance of faith and family and how it inspires his own parenting journey.
“This legacy of faith and family is the inheritance I am actively instilling in the children God has placed in our care for this season. In pride of story and knowledge of this intangible blood equity, these seven arrows will eventually spring forth carrying the torch of both the renowned and the nameless whose shoulders they stand on,” Watson wrote.
Watson further elaborated on the importance of family in society.
“In the human experience, the family is the first form of government, health care, community and early education an individual will encounter,” Watson began his op-ed.
He continued:
From creation through the millennia this unit of man, woman and child would always be the holistic way that social capital, moral order and ingenuity would be passed to the next generation. It remains the most impactful mechanism by which language, faith and self-concept are imparted to the young and demonstrated by the old.
This truth is not up for debate; nor shall it submit to recurring trends that exalt the contrary. The home is the world’s oldest and most important institution. Civilization’s other two great institution’s, the church and the government, find their roots in the nurturing influence and subsequent trajectory of the inhabitants of the home. Without strong families raising the confident and capable leaders of tomorrow, a nation will not only suffer internally, but it will also become increasingly vulnerable to outside threats.
Collectively we have a vested interest in protecting and promoting the importance of family, from the heights of domestic policy to the daily interactions of social routine. The current state of the American family is a precarious one. Like a wrecking ball to a watchtower, unfaithfulness, divorce, abuse, abortion and addiction erode the strength of the family in each of their uniquely unforgiving ways.
Watson has been very upfront about the impact of family on the community. Watson previously said that the Bible is God’s playbook for families.
As Decision magazine reported:
“Satan is going to attack the family,” Benjamin says. “We see that in Genesis. When the serpent tempted, he did not go to Adam, who was the head of the family, he went to Eve. Then Adam gave up his role as the spiritual head and submitted to Eve and what the serpent wanted.”
God’s design for the family, Benjamin says, is the essential foundation for a flourishing and healthy civilization and culture.
“When you don’t have families, you don’t have strength,” he says. “You don’t have identity. You don’t have leadership. You don’t have respect. You don’t have the glue that holds together the building block of any strong society, which is the family.”
During his NFL career, Benjamin also played for the New Orleans Saints, Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens—a brotherhood that inspired him, alongside his family, to persevere in overcoming a ruptured Achilles tendon, ruptured disc, torn ACL and several concussions.
And with each team, the common denominator for success was found in every team member fulfilling their unique role. With the family, Benjamin says, that formula applies as well.
“Satan is going to confuse roles within the family,” he says. “He’s going to pit husband against wife; he’s going to pit male against female; he’s going to say one person is more important than the other; he’s going to pervert Scripture and pervert truth. And the way we combat that is the same way Jesus combated it when He was tempted. He spoke the truth of Scripture. He didn’t speak the truth of culture.”
Watson’s regard for family also extends to the sanctity of life. He recently produced the documentary DIVIDED HEARTS OF AMERICA that shares the truth of how abortion affects families.