|
Family
Breakdown
The breakdown of two-parent
families is more than obvious. Just 40 years ago families usually lived close
to grandparents. Fathers were responsible for the welfare of the family. Moms
generally stayed home. It was safe to walk to school or go to the movies
unattended.
Today, statistics show divorce is at an all time high in
the United States. It is now so common for young people to grow up in divorced
households that the term "broken family" is now a forgotten expression in the
popular culture. Fathers are living apart from their natural children. Mothers
no longer stay at home, but work as a head of the household. As a result, women
in our society have lost their feminine identity and the moral authority of
fathers is undermined by a society that no longer embraces the structure of the
family.
In a recent study released by Metropolitan Life and the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce Center for Workforce Preparation, students were asked why
they do not talk about their problems in school or about disagreements with
other students. "Those who have been victims of violence are more likely to
believe their parents cannot help (29 percent), that adults do not understand
their problems (47 percent), that they will get into trouble (22 percent) and
that their parents are not interested or are too busy to help them (17
percent)." (cited in Dr. Billy James Hargis, "Why are U.S.
schools wracked with gunfire?," Christian Crusade, June
1998).
The
Environment
The environment in which
children are being raised has changed dramatically in recent years, creating
new anxieties for mothers and fathers. Unspeakable dangers haunt our schools
and streets that were almost unheard of a generation ago. Yesterday's families
didn't worry much about drive-by shootings, illegal drugs, sexual molesters and
kidnappers. When I was a child, my folks were more concerned about a disease
called polio than all sources of violence combined. In my adolescent years I
moved about freely and played without worry. If I was a half-hour late coming
home for dinner, my family was not seized by panic. Now we worry about our kids
playing in the front yard. Indeed, little Polly Klaas was abducted from her
bedroom in 1993, where she was surrounded by friends, and then was brutally
murdered for the perverse pleasure of her killer.
For years, one of the
Liberals favorite reasons for violence was the environment children are raised
in. They liked to say that it was poverty that drives these kids to violence.
They are now having to back away from that a little as the violence spreads
into middle class suburbia. The 15-year-old student in Springfield, Oregon who
shot his parents and gunned down his fellow students was from a good family, on
the right side of town. The high-school freshman lived in a big, beautiful
house. He hung out with the preppies at school and played football. He was just
an average, everyday kid. The High School senior involved in the shooting in
Fayetteville Tennessee was among the top 25 students in the 307-member senior
class.
It is becoming increasingly clear that Liberals are missing the
bigger picture - they ignore the personal responsibility of each and
every one of us.
It's a lack of parental supervision at home, a lack
of family involvement in school, and homes where children get NO religious
training. It's the isolation, rejection, and loneliness these kids feel in
their broken and dysfunctional families. These kids have lost that family
"connectedness" of feeling loved, wanted and cared about by parents and being
satisfied with the relationship to the mother and/or father. Many kids are
doomed to go through life not knowing God and that He loves them and is there
for them and that He can help them in time of need.
Yes, the
often-violent cultural environment we live in is a contributing factor in the
violence. It's an environment where parents are replaced with guidance
counselors, love is replaced with distrust and hate, personal responsibility is
replaced with socialist government programs, truth is replaced with relativism,
sacrifice is replaced with selfishness, and God is replaced with chaos and
evil.
Hypocrisy
We tell these kids that Joe Camel is bad for them
but glamorize and condone alcohol. Teachers send children to their alcoholic
homes where they are abused by a drunk parent and then respond by calling
Juvenile authorities who take them out of the home and place them in foster
care. These hypocritical messages are received by the kids who learn they are
only pawns meant to be played by some liberal political cause.
Then confront them
with their detestable practices, for they have committed adultery and blood is
on their hands. They committed adultery with their idols; they even sacrificed
their children, whom they bore to me as food for them. [Ezekiel
23:36-37}
We tell them that drugs will
harm them. Yet, at home their medicine cabinet is full of all sorts of drugs:
drugs for headaches, allergies, asthma, heartburn, nasal congestion, impotence,
or hair loss. Worse yet, we give our kids Prozac or other drugs to control
their behavior, but tell them that pleasurable drugs like marijuana is bad for
them. Hardly a consistent message. |
Moral Relativity
We have abandoned the traditional notion of right
and wrong and personal responsibility. These children have been raised in the
liberal philosophies of "tolerance" and "there is no one right way" of doing
things. So, given their supposition that there is more than one right way to
deal with a relationship gone bad, why not shoot her? Hey, we need to tolerate
these kids differences, right?
For 20 years or more, relative truth -
what's good for you - has been taught, rather than biblically based absolute
truth. We have indulged a generation: 'You have a right to your feelings,'
instead of the biblical idea that you need to have self-control.
Public Government Schools
It should be no surprise of the escalation
of violence in our public government run schools. It is within the walls of
those schools where our children are taught to reject God, to embrace moral
relativity, and to disrespect life.
God has been banned from our
schools. Prayer is outlawed. Christian expression is stifled and mocked. The
very foundation upon which our laws are based and upon which morality is judged
- "The Ten Commandments" has been removed. “Thou Shalt Not Kill” is a
principle not deemed important in our schools.
Public education has
rather taken up the mantle of the likes of John Dewey and his ilk teaching the
religion of Secular Humanism. It should be no surprise our kids act the way
they do... they're only doing what they've been taught. We are teaching in our
children in schools across the nation that they evolved from reptiles and
animals. Why should we be surprised when they act like animals?
Our
schools are teaching our youngsters that premarital sex is alright if they only
practice "safe sex" and protect themselves from disease. If a young girl
happens to get pregnant from this enlightened view of sex, no problem ... the
Planned Parenthood trained school counselor just sends them to a local
abortionist to kill the baby. Today, the popular culture views abortion as a
"right." And, what's the bottom line lesson? Life is cheap! When we, as a
society, can condone the killing of 1.4 million babies a year, what message can
we be giving besides, "life is cheap." When women are given the power to decide
if a helpless baby in their womb is going to die, then don't be so surprised
when they think that a baby is subject to their will, and kill it five seconds
after it's born and throw it in a dumpster, or five years after it’s born.
The principle of violence is the same.
TV Anchor Hugh Downs introduced
a 1991 ABC News segment: "Your child could be in a class that only a few years
ago might have been unthinkable- death education. These classes are
supposed to prepare young people for coping with death and while most schools
make it part of a health class, some actually make it an entire course." Tom
Jarriel went on to report how Tara Becker, a junior at Columbine High in
Littleton, Colorado believed she was seduced into a suicide attempt by her
Death Ed class. Becker told the news magazine: "I had thought about [suicide]
as a possible option for a lot of years, but I never would have gone through
with it, never, because I wasn't brave enough. The things that we learned in
the class taught us how to be brave enough to face death." [Drudge Report,
April 24, 1999]
Steadily, society's undermining of life is
growing to include calls for legalizing euthanasia, assisted suicide, and
scientific experimentation. Is it any wonder these kids don't have respect for
life? We are, in fact, teaching them to disrespect life.
|
"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to
death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many
will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many
false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of
wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end
will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole
world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. [Matthew
24:9-14] |
Corrupt Government
A government that lives off of society's moral
decay is another reason for the out of control violence we are beginning to
see.
The Roman civilization crumbled under the weight of an immoral and
corrupt government. Over the years, our government has devised the creation of
whole agencies that exist for no other reason than to manage some of the most
immoral aspects of the culture. The National Endowment for the Arts and the
Legal Services Corporation are examples of agencies that foster society's
decline.
Within the judicial branch of government, judges accountable
to no one have helped undermine the religious freedoms that were once the
centerpiece of our society. Laws once protected children and families.
Criminals were punished severely for rape. People were arrested for
cohabitation and adultery. Sodomy, outlawed in every state, was listed in the
newspaper as a "crime against nature." A couple having a child out of wedlock
was ostracized, and homosexuality was as foreign to the world as walking on the
moon. |
|
Rejection of
God
The primary reason for our lust
for violence is that our society no longer worships or acknowledges God.
Christianity had played a significant role in providing a standard in
judging education, legislation, and behavior-both public and private, yet
today, it has actually become unpopular to advocate traditional Judeo-Christian
values, such as the Ten Commandments. Thanks to Political Correctness, the
popular culture ridicules those who worship God as the sovereign creator.
Instead, it is popular to put our faith and trust in ourselves or in other
creations of God.
Hosea describes the terrible harvest reaped by those
who reject God and turn to themselves (Hosea 9 & 10).
"They have sunk deep
into corruption," (9:9) "all their leaders are rebellious," (9:15) and "because
they have not obeyed him." (9:17).
God said their wickedness was in
turning away from his counsel, ignoring his word and obeying man
instead.
What was the result of this sin?
- Total emptiness.
"Israel is an
empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself" (Hos. 10:1) Everyone
was looking out for himself - and the result was total emptiness.
- The heart is divided.
"Their heart
is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars,
he shall spoil their images." (Hos. 10:2) Our nation's heart is divided.
Our society no longer trusts God, turning instead to the government, the
President, the educational system, Social Security - all to try to find some
kind of stability. Americans pay lip service to God and religion, but they
don't worship the Lord in truth. And that has led directly to the breakdown of
all our hallowed institutions. Verse 8 says, "The high places of wickedness
will be destroyed." Do we not see our government being destroyed by corruption
and scandal? Our most hallowed office, the Presidency, is mocked and laughed at
by the nations of the world because of the wickedness we've allowed to creep
in. The once great educational system in America no longer educates our
children. And, not far from the lips of nearly all politicians is the vain cry
to "save Social Security."
- Lawsuits abound.
"They make
many promises, take false oaths and make agreements; therefore lawsuits spring
up like poisonous weeds in a plowed field." (Hos. 10:4). Throughout our
nation today people are suing others for everything. The price of all our
products have skyrocketed because of the cost of litigation and insurance to
protect companies from bankruptcy.
- War overtakes them.
"nations will
be gathered against them to put them in bonds for their double sin." (Hos.
10:10) America has been for years and is now embroiled in wars and
conflicts all over the globe. And on Sept. 11th, the enemies of this country
brought the battle to our land.
- A toilsome yoke.
"Ephraim is a
trained heifer that loves to thresh; so I will put a yoke on her fair neck."
(Hos. 10:11). Because America has rejected God, it's people will work
harder and reap less. Today in America many families have been devastated as
both parents have to work sometimes multiple jobs just to make ends meet.
Darrell Scott, the father of two
victims at Columbine High School, addressed the Subcommittee on Crime of the
House Judiciary Committee May 27, 1999, saying:
"Since the dawn of
creation there has been both good and evil in the heart of men and women. We
all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence.
"The death
of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic
teacher and the other 11 children who died must not be in vain. Their blood
cries out for answers.
"The first recorded act of violence was when
Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he
used. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer
was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.
"In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how
quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA.
"I am
not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not
here to represent or defend the NRA -- because I don't believe that they are
responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need
to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I
would be their strongest opponent.
"I am here today to declare that
Columbine was not just a tragedy -- it was a spiritual event that should be
forcing us to look at where the real blame lies!
"Much of that blame
lies here in this room. Much of that blame lies behind the pointing fingers of
the accusers themselves.
"I wrote a poem just 4 nights ago that
expresses my feelings best. This was written way before I knew I would be
speaking here today:
"Your laws ignore our
deepest needs
Your words are empty air
You've stripped away our
heritage
You've outlawed simple prayer
"Now gunshots fill
our classrooms
And precious children die
You seek for answers
everywhere
And ask the question 'Why'?
"You regulate
restrictive laws
Through legislative creed
And yet you fail to
understand
That God is what we need!
"Men and women are
three-part beings. We all consist of body, soul, and spirit. When we refuse to
acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil,
prejudice and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc.
"Spiritual influences
were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history.
Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a
historical fact.
"What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused
to honor God, and in doing so, we open the doors to hatred and violence.
"And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs --
politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately
seek to pass more restrictive laws that continue to erode away our personal and
private liberties.
"We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and
Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can
stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre.
"The
real villain lies within our own hearts.
"Political posturing and
restrictive legislation are not the answers.
"The young people of our
nation hold the key.
"There is a spiritual awakening taking place that
will not be squelched!
"We do not need more religion. We do not need
more gaudy television evangelists spewing out verbal religious garbage. We do
not need more million dollar church buildings built while people without basic
needs are being ignored.
"We do need a change of heart and a humble
acknowledgment that this nation was founded on the principle of simple trust in
God!
"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and
saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes -- He did not hesitate to
pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right!
"I
challenge every young person in America and around the world to realize that on
April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School -- prayer was brought back to our
schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain.
"Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for
legislation that violates your conscience and denies your God-given right to
communicate with Him.
"To those of you who would point your finger at
the NRA -- I give to you a sincere challenge. Dare to examine your own heart
before you cast the first stone!
"My daughter's death will not be in
vain. The young people of this country will not allow that to
happen."
Sow for yourselves
righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed
ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers
righteousness on you. But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil,
you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own
strength and on your many warriors, the roar of battle will rise against your
people, so that all your fortresses will be devastated. (Hosea
10:12-14)
Unless we return to trusting
God, this great nation will be destroyed, "all our fortresses will be
devastated". We must stop this madness of looking to our own goodness and
wisdom for the answers - we will only come up empty and the blood of those lost
will be on our hands.
President Clinton and Al Gore
promised Americans a brighter future at the other end of his bridge to the 21st
Century. But folks, their bridge does not lead to a bright future... it leads
to death and destruction! It's a bridge where God is not invited to cross.
Many voices in our society today accuse Christians of believing they have
God on their side. They really miss the point. It's not an issue of whose
side God is on, but on whose side we are on - are you on God's side or on
man's side?
... if my people,
who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and
turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive
their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
|
The following article was submitted to
the Op-Ed of the Orange Co. (CA) Register
MIND GAMES
AND BLURRED REALITY
by Bruce Crawford
 Mid-afternoon, Tuesday, March
24. A fire alarm sounds. Teachers and students evacuate the school as had been
practiced. Pop-pop-pop. Gunfire rings out. Children and teachers drop to the
ground. Impressed, the audience cheers. Until they realize that it wasn't a
dramatization. A few students had just applauded the death of their friends and
a teacher!
This horrific punctuation to a real-life tragedy
hasn't been discussed much in the media. John Kifner wrote about it in last
Friday's (Mar. 27) New York Times. Arkansas talk radio has been abuzz about it.
Little has been said on the national level.
How could students applaud the
death of their classmates? Because our educational system has trained them to
do so. It has practiced so many psychological games on our youngsters, that
they no longer can discern reality from a dramatization. Neither do they look
to adults for advice and counsel. They have been trained to take solutions into
their own hands. And two young boys did exactly that.
Don't blame guns for this. Don't blame the
Southern hunting culture. Don't blame broken families. Don't blame innate
juvenile cruelty either. Yes, they all have some role. But the onus falls to
our education system. We are reaping the seeds they have sown for nearly 100
years.
Blame Jean Jacques-Rousseau and
John Dewey for their promotion of child-centered learning. Blame the NEA for
having made manifest its 1918 Cardinal Principles. Blame the Clinton
administration, the 103rd Congress, and the USDOEd for Goals 2000, peer
remediation, conflict resolution and collaborative learning.
They have co-conspirators.
Blame the courts for their absurd rulings nullifying parental and adult
authority. Blame the pop-psychologists for offering up the pap that judges and
educators actually swallow.
A week before the Jonesboro
tragedy a Seattle-area psychologist warned that we have created a generation of
Lords of the Flies. Our government, especially public education, has taught our
children to reject parental guidance. Immature kids have been trained to look
to one another for help in times of personal crisis.
Courts rule that parents have
no say in decisions related to their child's pregnancy. In some states, career
guidance and academic counseling session with students are treated with
physician-patient confidentiality. Parents are precluded from knowing what went
on.
Gynecological exams and cavity
searches are conducted absent parental consent, with no attendant present.
Parents are denied access to student portfolios and performance assessments.
Students are pulled out of class for group sessions, and are told not to tell
their parents. Administrators get livid when parents demand to know what was
discussed, and what records were kept.
Child abuse laws are contorted
in the most absurd manner. Parents are threatened with child endangerment when
they resist state usurpation of their rights and responsibilities. As intrusive
as these things are, they just set the stage for the state's dirty work -- mind
games -- to begin.
Administrators and teachers
chide parental views as "old-fashioned" and not sufficiently "progressive."
When on-campus tension exists, the kids are brought in for conflict resolution
therapy. Yes, it's therapy. Real issues are glossed over with politically
correct banalities. The real issues are not addressed, only suppressed. They
fester and smolder beneath the surface.
The students are taught that
consensus is the order of the day. There must be no strife-inducing dissension.
Individualism is subordinated to group- think. Principles are capitulated in
the name of harmony.
Schools go to great lengths to
promote consensus, collaboration and group think. Then, ironically, we turn
around and conduct realistic psychodramas to counteract the deleterious effects
of peer pressure. They attempt to cancel the negative consequences of one set
of mind games with another set.
The very adults who have
trained these youngsters to not be assertive, to not stand their ground on
principles, to not show signs of individualism, can't understand how a
Jonesboro or Paducah can happen.
Well, zero tolerance laws won't
fix it. Gun control won't help. More conflict resolution won't stop it. More
training in how to recognize the tell-tale signs won't end it. They're but mere
band-aids.
The only thing that will help
is to quit training our youngsters to look to each other when serious troubles
exist. Instead of breeding Lords of the Flies, train them to ask their parents.
Or consult their clergy. Or find a teacher or coach in whom they have
confidence. Get peer remediation out of our schools.
Get conflict resolution out,
too. This namby-pamby feel-good psychobabble, politically correct nonsense
pushes problems down so deep that the only way they can be finally resolved is
via a volcanic eruption. Conflict resolution doesn't deter violence, it defers
and amplifies it.
Minors don't have full rights
under the law because they aren't mature enough to deal with life's tougher
issues. Why train the immature to seek help from the inexperienced under
duress? It's a formula for failure.
I am deeply saddened about the
Jonesboro tragedy. But I am horrified that we have created a generation so
detached that they applaud a mass murder because they can not tell the
difference between what is real and what is not.
While we hotly debate the
academic issues of illiteracy and innumeracy, we also have to deal with the
non-academic programs in our schools that are fostering a generation of Lords
of the Flies.
F.A. Hayek once wrote that the
real advantage of competition is that it punishes foolish ideas. Public
education, having no real competition, has grown replete with foolish ideas. We
have to winnow out and punish these foolish ideas.
As I see it, competition is our
only real hope that this will ever happen.
|
|
|
Reader comments...
John wrote, saying: "I agree with your view about
America. However, I also believe it's too late to turn this sin sick country
around. We threw the Creator out of our schools, courthouses and in many cases
our lives. Then we wonder how those kids in Colorado could possibly commit
those savage acts. Satan fills the vacuum left by the Holy Spirit. Our only
Hope is that God Almighty would raise up another Elijah to silence the prophets
of Baal!! - or that Jesus comes quickly. "
More Comments |
|
Children with NO MORAL VALUES kill
people.
