This has gotten be serious! It was, of course, serious the first time it happened. But now we are beginning to see come �copy cat� incidents.
I don�t understand it! I would venture a guess that neither do you understand this phenomena. It has become a world that us old fuddie duddie�s could never have imagined in our youth. When we once said, �Mom, I just won�t be able to survive the day a school,� we were speaking in metaphor.
We might have been worried about a text, or clothes different from some of the others, or we�d just found out that our best friend was mad at us... But, our problems were small even if we didn�t see them in that light.
Those problems were such that we would outgrow them. Indeed, as we look back upon our high school years we may see them as the highlight of our lives - or we may view them as something from which we are glad to have graduated. But, we would be hard pressed to recall a single one of those incidents which seemed such a major thing in our lives those few short years ago.
Today when a school age child says, �Mom, I just won�t be able to survive the day,� he may be speaking with a true concern having nothing to do with the inner turmoil of the teenage years.
The national press, and many other organizations, have tried to make some sort of sense out of these senseless events. By and large these voices have not been able to address the root problems of today�s youth.
Most of the answers put forth seek to give an understanding for all the ills of modern society. One of the most fanciful that I�ve heard was what I call the �Population Bomb Theory of Dysfunctional Individuals.� I heard this one while looking for a better program on the radio and didn�t pay attention as to whom to give credit - or blame, as the case may be.
This theory holds that the current population of the earth is so large as to constitute a sum total comparable to all of the history which has gone before. Then, statistically speaking, all of the �weirdo�s� and psychopaths of all of history are compressed into the world of today. That being true, so goes this theory, it is only reasonable that all of the inhumanities to man that we wee today would be expected to happen.
I have to admit that I am enough of a number�s freak that I find this theory intriguing. But, if all the baddies were alive today, so then also would be all the goodies. I have a real problem finding these men and women of principle and humanity in our society today. The theory, then, fails it would seem, in the harsh light of reality.
As we witness the plight of what may call these �poor troubled youth,� who have perpetuated this violence upon their class mates, we find another excuse offered. Society is given the blame for the actions of these young people.
I�ve got to admit, society is an attractive malefactor on which to hang the blame for the actions of these child killing children. We continue to push the envelope of tolerance in our civilization so far that we reach the edge of civility. In our mad rush to claim that every agenda be allowed it place in the sun of human accomplishment we reach toward anarchy.
We have forgotten that there are such things as right and wrong. We have forgotten that the God of Order created us to be a people of order. Not just those of us who are Christian, but all people share in this common creation.
The babble of actions in our shared society has seemingly made us unable, or unwilling, to communicate that fact that we are - each and every one of us - the culmination of creation. While we are not all brothers in Christ, we most certainly are brothers in the blood of humankind.
That to which we�ve come is a culture which devalues the very life of the individual while giving lip service to the value of the works of the individual. �Anything goes; just so long as it does not harm another,� is the catch phrase of the day. Yet much of this libertarian attitude toward life is destructive.
Drug use is, of course, widespread among both youth and the older generations. Much of this is of the illegal variety. But, much of this is also of the prescription variety. Rather than face life, many of us use a prescription to sedate us to sleep at night; and, another prescription to drag us from the bonds of sleep in the morning./
The lesson is not that life is unreal. The lesson is that life is terrifyingly real. The lesson is that life is a monster from which we must either wrest control of rest under its heal.
Couple this with the societal message of life and death and one finds a real recipe for the conduct of these adolescent assassins. One of our Western States recently voted to allow the atrocity of doctor assisted suicide. Juries of twelve men, good and true, are unable to convict a medical doctor turned merchant of death in one of our great Midwestern States.
In our nation, which many loudly trumpet to be a Christian Nation, we continue to kill between two-and-one-half to three babies every single minute of every single hour of every single day of the year!
The largest killer of young people in our land today is neither accident nor disease; it is doctor�s of medicine who claim the title of abortionist!
Is it any wonder, given the societal affirmation of the sanctity of the individual�s actions - without judgment or scorn, coupled with the seemingly complete disregard of the sanctity of human life, that incidents such as the atrocities we�ve witnessed are occurring?
Nevertheless, the deadly dilemma of this duo of dastardly distinctives in our society can not be claimed as a root cause of these problems. If this were the case there would be many, not simply a few, instances of this type.
Somewhat bizarre, at least to me since in several of these cases the perpetrator has killed his own parents, is that the parents of the children are often blamed for these acts of mindless violence.
Part of this, of course, is the very real push beginning to only allow parents who have completed a state sponsored parenting course, and received this certificate of completion, to be allowed to raise their own children in their own home. If you doubt this is possible in our free society, you haven�t been paying attention to governmental power grabs over our lives in the past fifty years.
This is also a lazy call! We look for imperfections in the parent�s lives and extrapolate that these are inherited by the offspring. I suppose this can be part of the problem I remember our daughter coming home in tears when she was in first, or second, grade. It seemed that every single child in her class - except for her! - has two sets of parents. She felt that she was being slighted because of this.
This sort of situation does teach children a certain lack of commitment to goals and people. The children also, of course, learn that getting out is preferable to sticking it out!
The government is also part of the parenting problem, of course. Disciple may be called child abuse if the child mentions that he�s been disciplined in the home. No child has ever been seriously damaged by a parent who, judiciously and with love, has applied the board of education to the seat of knowledge.
Many are the children who have been adversely affected by a lack of discipline which encouraged a child to find his own self, but denied that child the benefit of the road map of parental experience and love to search our that journey.
A quick aside: How said it is that so many children are embarked on the journey to find themselves, but never are encouraged to find the Savior! Sad. How sad!
Note, still, that we are given a promise in the Scripture for our child rearing efforts. Proverbs 22:6 says, �Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.�
To some the following will sound lazy and profane. To me it sounds like good exegesis of the passage. We are given no promise that our children will live Godly lives when they are young! What we are given is the promise from God that these children who have sown their wild oats will find the error of this way and return to the Savior later in life.
Many will continue to live a Godly life and love the Lord all through their lives. That is wonderful. The verse does not speak against that circumstance. However, this is not the stated promise of this verse.
It is through the Grace of God that many children will never know the heartache of living outside the known will of God. It is also the Grace of God that many older men and women, the children of yesteryear, will fall on their faces in true repentance before God in response to the prayers of their mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and so on - sometimes several decades after those prayers were offered!
What I am saying here is twofold. Primarily, the child - as with any human being who has ever lived upon this earth - is responsible to God for his own conduct. The parent can do as good a job as is humanly, under the leading form God, possible, and still the child may behave in an unGodly manner.
First, the parent can not be held responsible for all the actions of the child. The parent may foster an environment which would lead to pressures toward wrong doing, or he may not. Either way the child is responsible. There are just too many children throughout history who have had the curse of terrible parenting but have turned out altruistic. Conversely, many children whose parental guidance was without flaw have been guilty of the most vile acts.
Second, if you are suffering the heartbreak of a child who is denouncing that which you hold most dear, take heart. Trust God! Though you may not be on this earth to witness, or in the right place to witness, the Promise which God has given in His Word is sure.
Another source upon ;which the blame has been placed for the children�s actions is that of the public school. To be completely honest, it is mostly right-wing Bible thumpers such as myself who have done this. Still, I�ve got to note that this charge is not without cause.
We often make the complaint that the public, governmental schools fail to teach that undefinable concept we call �standards.� This is, quite simply. not true. The problem lies not a lack of teaching about standards, the problem lies in the type of standards which are taught!
The standard to which the adolescent student is taught to aspire is the very fluid standard of situational ethics. The basic standard of situation ethics is that there is no basic standard. Right is simply that which appears right at the moment. Wrong, conversely, is simply that which appears wrong at the moment.
Arguments such as: �That may be right for you but it is not right for me,� or, �That concept may work in that situation but it might be wrong in another time and place,� are the hallmark of situational ethics.
This sort of world-view runs counter to the God of the Bible. In the Scripture we always find the same set of principles from God. Even when we contrast the sacrificial system of the Old Testament with the Grace Principle of the New, we find that the same Principle is at word.
It is easy to note the solemn transfer from the lamb upon the alter to the Lamb of God upon the Cross. We see the blood of the innocent shed for the benefit of the guilty.
But, we see even more. In both the Old and the New Testament we see a God Who demands that the creature pay heed to that Word which has been revealed. In both the Old and the New we see the penitent trusting something from outside of himself as the agent of reconciliation. That something is what God has demanded, not what men may have desired.
God has given us a very sure stand upon which to approach Him. The standard of situational ethics, on the other hand, is like a target which is constantly moving - and even changing in form. One knows not where to aim expect upon his own wishes and wants. Given the normal mood swings of the adolescent this makes for a most uncertain target! This also places great stress upon the person who is most conscientious in his attempt to do right.
Then, of course, there is the public school standard of evolutionary science. The pseudo science has robbed a generation, and more!, of their humanity. �You,� the adolescent is told, �Are just another brute beast from the field. There is no such thing as an eternal soul within. Your actions are predetermined by environment and the chemistry of your physical existence. There is no special dignity, beyond that of any animal (Perhaps less than other animals since the human seeks to destroy the environment for all!), within your existence. There is no Hell to fear. Nor is there a personal God to love and to be loved by.�
With this view of himself, and with no standard of civility to which he may aspire, is it any wonder that excesses - even horrific excesses - abound?
Still, the school can not be considered as the primary cause for the fact of these school field / killing fields. Too few are those murderously inclined, and too many are the vast majority who pass out of adolescence into productive adulthood, both of whom were students in the same schools, for those schools to bear the brunt of the blame for those actions which have so sickened our national psyche.
Many in the national media have noted the ready availability of fire arms and have concluded that the real cause lies in this area.
Much could probably be said in this area. It is indeed appalling the amount of carnage reaped in our modern society which is found to flow from the barrel of a fire arm.
But, before we blame this simple yet deadly tool for all the ills of our modern society, let us realize that the words of the NRA, simplistic thought they be, are true: �Guns to not kill people. People kill people.�
It is sobering to realize that all of the gun deaths, accidental, criminal, and war related in this history of this republic would pale in comparison to the death toll at the hands of the abortion industry in just the past decade!
Were these adolescent assassins unable to access a single fire arm they would have managed to wreak havoc in another manner. It must be noted that one, at least, did hack his mother to death with a knife.
The other well-known NRA phrase, �If guns were outlawed, only outlaws would have guns,� is also true. Of all the millions of children who have had, with or without parental permission, ability to access a fire arm in this past year (1998), less than half a score have committed the brutality of these school related incidents!
No, guns, in and of themselves, and their availability, are not the root cause of the problem. After all, in times past in our frontier society especially, guns were even more readily available then they are in the present time. Yet, those olden times did not see the violence of our day.
The T. V. and movies have also been put forth as the culprits which lie at the root of the problem of violence among the young in our nation. Once again this argument is not without merit.
All of the same sins as those of society could be argued against the movie / T.V. medium. We could spend volumes, or hours, arguing whether T.V. and movies reflect or redirect society. The same controversies which applied to society could be simply redirect at these media outlets. However, in these media we find the problems of society distilled to a concentrated dose.
From sports, to drama, to comedy, to cartoon, we see persons held up as role models - whether they wish to claim this mantle or not - who are noteworthy in that they tend to solve problems in an action oriented, if not violent, manner.
Very few are the T.V. programs, or movies, which feature as a hero a person who uses guile rather than brawn to find solutions to his problems. Even those who do use their minds to solve these problems seem to find an excuse to use brawn at some point in the program. At the very least, their use of cunning will cause a violent reaction in the life of the bad guy. Let�s face it, if they didn�t do this they would have trouble being able to sell the program.
Still, this emphasis on action in problem solving does give a sense that violence is the best way to solve the problem of day-to-day life.
Sports, by their very nature, follow this trend. Even in a non-physical sport, such as golf, the goal must be to win. By simple deduction it follows that the others must be loses - beaten.
I am not saying that all of this is bad. It is simply sport and literature. However, the literature is being acted out in an authentic looking manner by real looking individuals. It impacts in such a way as a book never could have done.
Most people are able to separate the reality form the fiction. There will always be those who are not able to do this. These are unduly influenced toward violence. Still, I do not believe that simple T. V. and movies are responsible, as a root cause, of the violence we have witnessed.
As I set here at my word processor, I have a CD playing. The T.V. set is off. The radio is off. Even though it is somewhat chilly, the ceiling fan is one to give me that white noise that helps to shut out the tumult which sometimes goes on outside. All is quite. A am set to empty my mind of distraction and begin to write. (By the way, I do know that it sometimes looks as though I write from an empty mind!)
And yet, with all my attempts to shield myself from distraction - there is that CD. It is a CD titled Classical Favorites. It is quite and soothing, except for the times the player finds Rossini�s William Tell Overture. Those of you from the Galesburg area will appreciate that I half expect to hear someone say, �Silver Streak Basketball is one the air!,� when I hear that music play.
There are two important points to which I�ve just alluded about music. The last point had to do with the Galesburg High School basketball theme music: Music, when we become familiar with a certain piece, has the ability to transfer our consciousness to another reality.
A few years ago I was driving through a construction zone. I caught a short whiff of the explosive and, for just a moment, found myself scanning the tree line for snipers. That odor had transported me back well over twenty years to the time when I was in the Viet Nam War.
Music has that power, only stronger. How many of you can hear a song from the time you were in high school or college and not recall the friends you knew, and the places you went, in those bygone days? Music can transport us to an active participation, even if only within our minds, in an alternate reality.
The other point was the first to which I alluded: Music has the ability to alter our moods and perceptions of reality.
To what are the moods, perceptions of reality, and memories which the strange sounds and words of so much of modern music, able to transport me?
I was basically a child of the 1960's. That was my growing up era. We were told, even by some of the performers of the era, that this generations music was �The Music of Rebellion.� Now that same music is being played on Nostalgia Radio. I guess that means we�re getting old. ...older!
But, was this music really the music of rebellion or did it simply reflect a time of rebellion? I suspect that the answer is simply, �A little of both.�
So, what about the music of today? Well, for one thing, I can hardly stand the din it produces. I hate most of it! Of course, I�m still locked into the Big Band music. I enjoy a full orchestra, whether it be the swing era of Benny Goodman or the symphony sounds of Rossini, et. al.
I would harp on the imperfection of Death Metal and Gangsta Rap until the cows come home, as the old saying goes. Yes, there certainly is much wrong with much of modern music. I think that we�d all be better off listening to Spike Jones than to the music inspired by Spike Lee. But, I am biased!
We could argue that everyone should listen only to Christian Music. We could. But what is that? Sometimes I like to turn my radio on to one of the local Christian radio stations. I just figure that it is a good testimony for others to hear it from my radio at the stop sign. I�m not playing it obnoxiously loud but my truck has that 4-40 air conditioning system: Roll down all four windows and drive forty miles an hour! With the windows down, I do realize that others can hear it when I am stopped.
Sometimes I have to turn off that Christian station if I wish to have a good testimony from my truck. The timbre of that Christian music is not different from the spirit of the music of the world. That is a sad commentary, especially if we preach the distinctiveness of the Christian life.
So, does the music of the world stand condemned as the root cause for the violence of the day? Once again, many are influenced for evil by this music. Many are harmed by the influence of this music. But, I have said �many.� I have not said �most.� I have definitely not said �all.� We can condemn the music of the day as the cause of violence in society or in the schools.
Each of the above could be cited as a cause for this violence. Combined the could all be cited as a cause for this violence. However, even bundled together, these forces (And, I do believe that they are forces used by Satan to attack the children and society at large.) Are not the root cause of the problem of violence in our society today.
Looking to find a root cause, we must realize that man is not the product of evolutionary forces. Man was created by direct action of God.
So, what is the root cause of this violence? The Preacher of Ecclesiastes gives us insight into this question. �The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be;; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.� (Ecclesiastes 1:9)
Now, I know that things do change. There are too many tombstones in the grave yards to argue that. New generations continue to replace older generations.
But, the writer of Ecclesiastes says that there is, �...nothing new under the sun.�
I know that things change. The church I grew up in was born of a church split. I know; I was there when it happened. The church which is split had, itself , changed from the fire and love of the Lord and His Word. They had become so liberal as to deny the reality of Hell. �It�s too scary to mention it. So don�t,� were the instructions given to one of its preachers.
Rather than gripe and complain, our group left and formed a fundamentalist church. Forty years after that warm summer event, the new church - on another warm summer evening - suffered through a split, itself. Organizations change.
But, the writer of Ecclesiastes says that there is, �...nothing new under the sun.�
As I drive up Michigan Avenue toward Main Street I look to the left and see a small business. Well, it�s not a business anymore. It is an empty lot with a cement parking lot to the front of it. The building was recently torn down.
How well I remember that building from years ago. It was our local ice cream store. I remember it well. On the last day of the ice cream season, before the store closed for the winter, the owners would give free ice cream cones to any child that asked. The lines were quite impressive. I remember going there even when I was in high school. Now? It�s gone. There is nothing left except some pleasant memories.
Our ice cream store had windows on the front of the building. We would buy the ice cream and then go back to the car (or bicycle!) to eat it.
Now it is gone. But, ten blocks or so to the West, there is a large building with inside seating that dispenses ice cream to its customers. They even have food - hamburgers, hot dogs, and more - with inside seating at this store.
Favorite haunts change.
But, the passage in Ecclesiastes said that there is, �...nothing new under the sun.�
Across the street from this ice cream store was the grocery store where I went as a child. I recall one very warm day when I was sent to the store to buy some frozen treats. I couldn�t buy them. I didn�t have enough money. The price had gone up from five cents per treat to seven cents each. The horrors of inflation.
The building is still there but it is no longer a grocery store. That store, where I went as a boy, with clerks that used long handled grabbing devices to reach items on the top shelves, is gone. Across the street to the East sits a brand new super market with a store that takes up nearly a complete city block. The excess of that block, and another complete block, is used for parking at the store.
It�s a great store. Really. But, it�s clerks will never understand the concept of, �You�ve been on �lay off� for three months. Let�s just put this on your charge,� as I once heard the clerk at the older store say back in the 1950's.
Business� change.
But, the passage in Ecclesiastes said that there is, �...nothing new under the sun.�
Across the street from where I am now sitting a friend and I - some 40 years ago - worked to train his dog for field trial races. Now, the friend is dead and the field where we spent so many afternoons hosts apartment after apartment of public housing.
Relationships and scenery change.
But, the passage in Ecclesiastes said that there is, �...nothing new under the sun.�
So, do things change or do they remain the same? An easy one! Things do change but people remain basically the same.
The hopes, wants, needs, aspirations, ...and faults of people have not changed since that fateful day in the Garden of Eden.
What is the �Root Cause� of the violence that we have witnessed? And More! Romans 5:12 gives us the definitive answer: �Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the word, and death by sin; and do death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.�
The �Root Cause� is that which stems from the sin of Adam. It sin within the hearts of mankind. The further man debases into sin, the further he will debase himself. As the culture removes restraints, new boundaries of actions will be sought.
That some would move outside the new boundaries is not surprising. It should be expected. That is part of the dynamic of the shifting boundaries of acceptable activity. That society has reacted so strongly against these actions is a good thing. Man�s heart has always reached to exceed the limits of his restraints. That is a bad thing.
There is a lot of what we could, non-theologically of course, call �good� in society. One of the goodest is that we are allowed to spread the Gospel Message. Of course, that�s something we ought to be doing even if society said that we could not.
We should not that the calls to, �Keep your religion to yourself,� and, �Your private morality has no place in pubic discourse,� and �The wall of Separation between Church and State,� are all examples of though processes which will one day inhibit our freedom to freely give out the Gospel Message.
Even now many expect us to keep the spread of the Gospel Message within the four walls of the church buildings.
That is important because I believe that the only answer to the root cause of sin, is the message that there is a cure for sin. Romans 5:18 says, �Therefore as by the offence of one judgement cane upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification and life.�
Salvation through the atonement of Jesus Christ is the answer for what ails society. Be careful here, we are not called as Christians to change society. Neither are we called to lock ourselves up in a cubicle like a dark ages monk.
We are to reach out to individuals with the message that Jesus Christ died to save sinners. It is good that we use wise aggression into the world of sin. This is a war for the souls of men and women, boys and girls.
Wise aggression. It is a good thing to leave a tract along with the tip at a restaurant. It is a foolish thing to leave just the tract. We need to reach out to people where they may be, understanding their needs. Their reaction to the gospel may have much to do with the way in which we choose to put forth that message.
Wise aggression.
Look at the person across form you at that restaurant and consider the importance of that persons immortal soul. Confronting, in love and under the guidance of the Holy spirit (How very important is His leading!) can lead to the eternal joy of that person. Failing to act, through fear or otherwise, can result in that person being thrust into a Christless eternity.
Once again, and I hate to harp on these points - but they are foundational and completely important! First, we need to rely on a life of prayer to not only be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, but also so that we can have real love for the souls of those who need the Savior. This is a necessity! If our total purpose in doing personal work is to put notches on our Bibles, we are doing it for the wrong reasons. By the way, before anyone gets too smug at the hypocrisy of a person such as this - at least he is doing something!
We do not do the work of evangelism simply to get a good feeling for ourselves. We may often get quite the opposite type of feeling as we realize the opportunities that we�ve squandered and the many with whom we�ve come in contract that we have not shared the Good News that Jesus Christ came to die to save sinners. We may well grieve over those to whom we�ve given the Message which means life eternal, and yet they have resisted to their own peril.
Oh, but he joys of seeing a soul come to the Father... The great glory of seeing a person find salvation in Jesus Christ... The wonder of seeing a life find meaning through the Gospel Message... The peace of knowing that we are engaged in the Will and Work of God... The wonder of being allowed to work with the Author of the Universe... Nothing else in this life can compare with allowing ourselves to be used of God in that important work of soul-winning
The world may wonder what is the cause of the violence which we see. Though the world may never understand the Truth, it is the sin nature. The world needs to find the answer to that cause. Jesus Christ is The Answer.
Don�t expect the world to understand this fact. That brings us to the second part of my harping: You need to study the Scripture.
I do not mean simply taking your Bible to church each Sunday and reading the text with the preacher. I mean study.
I know that each of us has a different capacity to study and understand. That is simply not important. We are not speaking of preparing for a class at the local college. We are talking about presenting ourselves to God as Paul suggested: �I beseech you therefore, brethren by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.� (Romans 12:1)
We should present to God not simply what we have. We should present to God the best that we have. The more we study His Word, the more we will have of that Word to present to Him. We need not worry about our abilities to perform for Him. We need to stand assured in His ability to energize the poor materials we may gave to Him for His Word.
Let us give Him the best that we possibly can!