B-A-C
Loyal
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2008
- Messages
- 11,270
I've seen over half a century go by. Things have sure changed.
When I was young most moms stayed at home and raised children. Today most consider even saying that a chauvinistic statement. Perhaps, but it was true none the less.
Kids then knew about respect and discipline. They knew about being punished, and they knew that even though they were sometimes punished, they were still loved.
Now a days so many moms are working, for so many different reasons,... often they are single parents just trying to survive. But for whatever the reason, many children these days are raised in day cares, some are latch key, who raise themselves. Often parents are gone most of the day. So they are raised by television, video games, peers, and their own experiences. Parents aren't always their to teach them about sharing, caring, compassion, self-control, consequences for certain actions and behaviors. Respect for elders and respect for their experience.
Now obviously this is the case for everyone... but I would say it is for the majority.
Not only have kids forgotten how to be kids, but adults have forgotten how to be adults.
We haven't taught our children respect, compassion, discipline... and it isn't their fault. It's ours. We have become afraid of discipline. In some cases, things that used to be allowed for discipline are now illegal by law.
People have gotten more selfish, more self-centered, more materialistic,and more detached.
The Bible says if we don't discipline our children, we don't love them.
It also says God disciplines those he loves.
It seems almost every day I hear the statement God is love. And He is....
(he is also Holy and Just) ... but love doesn't mean letting your children do whatever they want.
Sometimes it means trials, discipline, self-control, changing priorities, less selfishness, more compassion,
and becoming more like Jesus.
Somehow many of us believe that love only means letting people have what they want, do what they want,
and no consequences or punishment at all.. But this isn't love.
Some would argue our standard of living has gotten better. We have a better economy, we are better educated,
and we have more "stuff". While there is nothing wrong with having stuff... it seems many times the "stuff" has us.
We obsess over it, we work overtime for it, we neglect our family and kids for it, we even neglect our relationship with God for it. But what does it profit it to gain the whole world and forfeit our soul?
There are more people out of work than ever, the US has the highest rate of starvation and poverty of any time
in it's history. More violent crime involving youths, teenage pregnancies, and drug use. More juveniles in prison,
it's not hard to see the relationship between these statistics and the family. Moms aren't alone in this.
Fathers have left families, divorce rates are more than tripled since I was a child. Fathers are just as much to blame as mothers.
Another by-product of all this, is how we view our Father... not our earthly father.. but our heavenly Father.
Some of us have become convinced that because He loves us, he does punish us or discipline us.
But God doesn't change. Society might change, but God doesn't.
Somehow we have gotten the idea that if don't approve of everything someone does,.. we don't love them. As a parent of 4 children, and 3 step children.. I can tell you I love them all, but I don't approve of everything they always do.
God loves us all... but He doesn't approve of everything we do.
When I was young most moms stayed at home and raised children. Today most consider even saying that a chauvinistic statement. Perhaps, but it was true none the less.
Kids then knew about respect and discipline. They knew about being punished, and they knew that even though they were sometimes punished, they were still loved.
Now a days so many moms are working, for so many different reasons,... often they are single parents just trying to survive. But for whatever the reason, many children these days are raised in day cares, some are latch key, who raise themselves. Often parents are gone most of the day. So they are raised by television, video games, peers, and their own experiences. Parents aren't always their to teach them about sharing, caring, compassion, self-control, consequences for certain actions and behaviors. Respect for elders and respect for their experience.
Now obviously this is the case for everyone... but I would say it is for the majority.
Not only have kids forgotten how to be kids, but adults have forgotten how to be adults.
We haven't taught our children respect, compassion, discipline... and it isn't their fault. It's ours. We have become afraid of discipline. In some cases, things that used to be allowed for discipline are now illegal by law.
People have gotten more selfish, more self-centered, more materialistic,and more detached.
The Bible says if we don't discipline our children, we don't love them.
It also says God disciplines those he loves.
It seems almost every day I hear the statement God is love. And He is....
(he is also Holy and Just) ... but love doesn't mean letting your children do whatever they want.
Sometimes it means trials, discipline, self-control, changing priorities, less selfishness, more compassion,
and becoming more like Jesus.
Somehow many of us believe that love only means letting people have what they want, do what they want,
and no consequences or punishment at all.. But this isn't love.
Some would argue our standard of living has gotten better. We have a better economy, we are better educated,
and we have more "stuff". While there is nothing wrong with having stuff... it seems many times the "stuff" has us.
We obsess over it, we work overtime for it, we neglect our family and kids for it, we even neglect our relationship with God for it. But what does it profit it to gain the whole world and forfeit our soul?
There are more people out of work than ever, the US has the highest rate of starvation and poverty of any time
in it's history. More violent crime involving youths, teenage pregnancies, and drug use. More juveniles in prison,
it's not hard to see the relationship between these statistics and the family. Moms aren't alone in this.
Fathers have left families, divorce rates are more than tripled since I was a child. Fathers are just as much to blame as mothers.
Another by-product of all this, is how we view our Father... not our earthly father.. but our heavenly Father.
Some of us have become convinced that because He loves us, he does punish us or discipline us.
But God doesn't change. Society might change, but God doesn't.
Somehow we have gotten the idea that if don't approve of everything someone does,.. we don't love them. As a parent of 4 children, and 3 step children.. I can tell you I love them all, but I don't approve of everything they always do.
God loves us all... but He doesn't approve of everything we do.
