Merry Christmas In Today’s World

I would like to preface this blog with a heartfelt desire for everyone to have a Merry Christmas, one with a deep thankfulness in which we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

The opening sentence was easy to write but less so to live. I was born in 1948. My parents married late in life and then started having children after a few years. My father was born in 1901 and my mother in 1908. Both were adults in the Great Depression and my brother, sister, and I were basically raised in a home with 1940’s values. My parents were conservative democrats (Yes, at one time there were Christian conservatives living out full lives as democrats.) and both of them were unabashed in passing down to us the history and traditions they grew up with. Our upbringing began in the home, and they needed no help from the government or a school to inform us as to what right and wrong entailed. Sometimes in the early morning as I pour coffee and read the newspaper, I wonder how I could ever explain to my parents how the world is today or the price of gasoline (We now consider below $2.00 a gallon as cheap.) All of this is a segue to remind you of some of my prior writings where I cautioned against the ease with which

technology has taken over our lives.

I am linking an article here. It is rather long and somewhat wordy, but I highly recommend a complete reading of it. There are some very interesting comments about some Christians (I am guilty of this.) who equate Biblical teachings with a desire to change the overall social and institutional aspects of the nation without emphasizing some of the personal Biblical teachings. The author discusses a philosophy whereby our youth are being pulled and pushed to more of a technological self-imprint than a human one. In short, they can choose how they want themselves to be represented. This of course, is in direct conflict with Biblical teaching (man, woman, father, mother). The writer goes on to present how our children have no concept of right or wrong, history, and Biblical concepts. Now before you shake your head and remind me that your Church has an active youth group and a full-time youth minister, just read the article and decide for yourself how much good our Churches and Christian parents are doing for our kids. Over the last few years, I have had second thoughts about our Baptist Churches and their active outreach to kids. Look at the methodology our schools use in their curriculum and the results they bring, and then ask yourself if Churches aren’t falling into the same trap as we try to entice kids to come to the Church? I am not attacking any part of any Church, but I am also not willing to give our Churches a pass just because they have youth leaders or sound systems that mimic our secular lifestyle.