A court has ruled in Alberta Canada that it is fine for a 35 year old male to have an explicit sexual conversation on the computer and later phone a 12 year old girl at her house. The reason he was found not guilty: he did not try to lure her to have sex with him.
Understand this - it is not a crime to have a very explicit conversation with a minor and it is not wrong to phone her at her home, all without her parent's knowledge. We do not punish this sick behavior simply because at that time he made no attempt to meet her.
And so in an attempt to explain what has gone wrong we point the finger at our soft judges, our lenient justice system, our out of touch politicians or the smut on the computer. All these fingers pointing away from ourselves. We shift the blame elsewhere.
I believe one of the main reasons we read stories such as this is not courts or judges or politicians but a heart condition, that is a sin, called selfishness. Yes, pointing the finger at self we see our love of self. We are a selfish generation as we care for self first. Now, in polite circles we don't talk in such frank ways. Rather we say things like "we can't survive on one salary" or "I am just not fulfilled at home" and so on. But beneath all of this is self, pure and simple.
The result? We have a generation of children that have been ignored by their parents in the name of self. Our society no longer values children within the family and they are easily shipped out to others or left alone while parents go out and pursue their dreams. One prime example is the divorce rate. Enough said.
And sadly our children grow up alone figuring a lot of this world out on their own - or with their friends. I am not saying this mom did not love her 12 year old girl. I am saying that instead of blaming others, begin in your home and ask what place do your children have in your home? Do you value your children and spend time nurturing, guiding and loving them?
We have somehow believed a lie that says our children will be happy with the latest shoes and not the presence of their mom and dad. We have convinced ourselves that it is fine to give the most impressionable years of our children to others as we pay down a mortgage on an oversized house.
And then we wonder when a 12 year old girl finds herself on line with a 35 year old pervert wondering if this is love. Parents - they are your children, a gift given. Cherish them and love them for His sake.
4 comments:
Amen, brother. I can't thank you enough for this sobering thought. How badly we all need a wakeup call here!
David,
Very well put. Generally speaking, parents today want to have kids but do not want to be parents! Our culture tends to sacrifice nurture for extravagance, or, as you put it, care for children is exchanged for selfish pursuits.
As a new Dad I need to be challenged all I can by words of wisdom such as you wrote. As with every other sin, if we are not constantly nourished on God's Word, we will look like our sinful culture more than anything.
I need to run now. Keep bloggin'.
In Christ, Ian.
Hey David!
I didn't realise you were on the blogosphere. It's good to see you on here.
Thank you for your post.
It is very sad to see the direction our culture is going. Selfishness and Individualism is the the root and cause of Secularism.
The thing that troubles me more is the same mindset in the Church of Christ. When the Evangelical Church-goer speaks of their faith, it is quite often spoken of as "My personal decision to follow Jesus", "My style of worship music", "My favorite preacher","My beliefs"...and so on. Not that these things are innately bad; rather, the emphases has completely destroyed the concept of what it means to live in community. God's nature is a community: The Trinity; the early church was established as a community; and the main way of God's work in our world, is in the context of the local fellowship of believers. Evil is crafty, and will take the truth and twist it ever so slightly, to undermine God's character and the development of the church.
I understand that in a fallen world, people are going to act fallen; as grevious as it is to see this in the media. In the same breath, we should have no toleration for it in the church. What are church splits about? I dare to say, somtimes about personal preference.
Once again, thanks for your post, it really got my mind going.
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