The Sewers of Society
High School censorship of information is alive and well; don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Frankly I am ALL for the selective dissemination of information to young people in particular, but in our day of cultural depravity, the censorship tends to always run in the wrong direction.
Here's what I mean.
12 hours prior to the event taking place, the principal of the school informs Vets for Freedom that the program would not be allowed to take place citing "'several phone calls'" from an unspecified number of '"concerned parents'" warning there would be protests if the program came off.
Now let me move you to another northern state--our frigid state of
God forbid that teenagers should be able to listen to some of our country's heroes who have risked life and limb for their freedom but by all means, let's indoctrinate them into the perversion and filth of a culture descending ever lower into a sewer of smut.
And then we wring our hands when these young adults hang themselves, die of diseases contracted from their sexual recreation, or go on rampages murdering everyone in the sights of their assault rifles. Is it really such a mystery?
I have to be honest and tell you I am sick of writing about this stuff. If there is any "righteous response" at all from those "who know better" it is over as quickly as the 15 second sound bite that broadcast it in the first place. Ho-hum, on to the next cultural catastrophe over which we can get worked up and feel good about the fact that we got worked up about it maybe yelling at the TV and then we are comfortably absolved of responsibility to do anything further.
Our biblical mandate to be light in a dark world is appeased in the momentary purging of emotion with the result of zero impact on that world of darkness.
There--I feel better--now onto something else…
posted by PB at 10:58 AM
6 Comments:
In light of your final statement, it must be asked...
Who are you speaking to, and is this your,
"momentary purging of emotion with the result of zero impact on that world of darkness"
or do you have any thoughts on what one would do to have an impact?
Also, in saying that someone has a biblical mandate to be light, you seem to be addressing the church, so,,, Are you speaking to Christians that are sending their teens on such trips? If so, I'm right with you. Though I cannot say in exactly what way, even though we can have assurance that our sin has been put away as far as the east is to the west, yet in some way, when we stand before God, He will ask us to account for how we raised our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. If we have let the world conform our children into its mold, we will in, some way, regret it before our God.
I have been working in a middle school for about 6 months now, and I've learned a big lesson myself. I work with an eighth grade class, what they are being taught is a lot of adults will look the other way and ignore the fact that you are being disrespectful and talking about things that teenagers shouldn't be talking about. Yet, if they start to talk about their spiritual beliefs, they better do that off school grounds. We wouldn't want to offend anyone now would we? What about the kids who are offended by the inappropriate talk and swearing? It is definitely up to parents to model behavior, and show faith. If we fail in doing so, the world will convince our children to grow up and follow along the wrong path.
There is no doubt that the world that we currently live in is seemingly filled with irreversible perversities. Our objection to our children becoming tainted by these perversities must be a top priority in our roles as parents, and teachers, but there exists many obstructions to thwart our efforts to this effect. The primary and most offensive of these obstructions is free-will itself, which if not for its very existence Eve would have not been able to become tempted by the serpent in the first instance of sin by tasting the fruit of the forbidden tree, thus leading humanity into its current fallen state. Of course if Eve had not eaten of the tree women would not have been cursed with the “pain” of childbirth and none of us would be here (Gen, 3.16).
Jesus was also faced with such temptation by Satan himself when he was in the wilderness, and was able to resist the temptation that was continually brought forth by the tempter. He was able to resist not because he failed to expose himself to the temptation, but instead by applying the wisdom of the LORD to the situation at hand. He was hungry and Satan tempted him to turn stones to loaves of bread, and he resisted by saying that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mat, 4.4). Jesus existed with free-will as do us all, but he chose to resist all temptations, and remain pure under God so that we may be saved for our indiscretions. The only way he was able to achieve this was through the wisdom of the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit. But we are not the same as Jesus. We cannot access the wisdom of the Father directly, but there is good news – We are saved through Jesus!!!
Jesus is the bridge that allows the un-pure descendants of Adam and Eve to achieve purity, and through him we gain knowledge and wisdom from the Father. But how does this all apply to the situation described as censorship in American High Schools? It seems as if the ability to point fingers has left a void in the taking of responsibility. As if to address a problem then automatically absolves one of the responsibility in not perpetuating it. In terms of school censorship, one must remember that it is not the school that is censoring, but the parents, and in turn the community. The school is part of the community, and thus a responsibility for all. So, however easy it may be to blame a school for providing (or in some cases not providing) an experience for its students, the end result is a narrowing of the ultimate problem, which is the abundance of uneducated, uninformed, and ignorant in our communities who are not only allowing such ignorance and perversity to perpetuate, but indeed adding fuel to the fire by limiting the scope of the argument to one that is manageable under the constructs of their own particular belief system. Humility dictates that we reassess ourselves constantly, because if we don’t we may just be seeing what we believe to be true, instead of the reality of Truth that is available to us through the sacrifice of Jesus. We must be careful not to intersperse our own understanding with that of the Father and thus nullify the veracity of His teachings.
"David" What you have stated is well said however there is one little problem area in your sweep. You wrote--
"In terms of school censorship, one must remember that it is not the school that is censoring, but the parents, and in turn the community. The school is part of the community, and thus a responsibility for all."
This is categorically untrue. I have been too involved over the years to let that one slide. In fact--it is the school (ie., teachers and leaders) and NOT the parents in many situations for while the old way of life where parents supposedly dictate policy, goals, etc., has long since gone the way of the Dodo. In fact, many schools now pride themselves on either keeping parents in the dark or even deceiving parents by keeping two sets of curriculum handy--one for the inquisitive parent and one actually used. Without doubt--the reason it has been able to get to this point is because of lackadaisical parents who abdicated their responsibility to do as you suggest.
This is true that bureaucracies do at some points eclipse our intended democracy, and in turn the effectiveness of our parenting in concern of the school system. Our current economic system does not allow the majority of parents time to get involved with the outlets that are allotted to them such as the PTA or other similar organizations. My sister is lucky to be able to fully integrate herself into such a system and thus has more accessibility to what her own children are learning on a day to day basis, baring the notion that those teachers she confers with do not concoct an entirely separate lesson plan by which she may remain ignorant of their true curriculum. However even in the best of circumstances, the only reason she is able to be as involved as much she is is because of her full-time status as a “stay at home Mom” (capital “M” to infer her professional standing).
The reality of our American lifestyle does not give every family this kind of opportunity, and because of this many teachers are placed in a position of not only sowing a child’s intelligence, but also instilling a kind of moral conduct that may be lacking from said child’s home life. It can easily be said that not all teachers take this responsibility to heart – indeed from the perspective of a conservative Christian the entire secular public school system itself may be seen to blame for the sum of what is wrong with our American youth at present. Unfortunately it is again much more complicated than such an outlook can adequately describe, because the reality is intimately tied to the economic stresses that many families feel. This economic pinch becomes even worse as the community itself is fractured, because to an economically endangered family there seems to exist no means of support. That is unless such a family may find refuge within a congregation of conscientious Christians.
The benefits of programs designed around supporting economically (and time [for time is money]) challenged families are many fold. Not only providing children an opportunity to become educated about God, but also filling the void that can become apparent in an increasingly fractured community. For as you say we may not have the power to control what is taught to our children in schools, but we have all the power that the Lord may grant us in order so they may be spiritually educated under God. If there is a moral void within our current system than it is our responsibility as Christians to fill it, because as we all know - if we don’t fill it with something good there is always someone else who will contaminate it with something bad. The master of illusions is always wanting and waiting for us to think that we have “zero impact on that world of darkness,” because that’s precisely the moment that he wins.
Much more could be said about the whole economic impact of the subject matter but I would say in capsulized form that the "need" for a two income household is a symptom and not a cause. I am a rabid and whole hearted proponent of stay at home Moms! Preach it!!!
Post a Comment
<< Home