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Topic: Apathy and Indifference Are Killing Us…and it’s Not a Teenage Problem!
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helpforhomeschoolers
Advanced Member
Member # 15
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posted
How good is a good enough role model? Was David? Was Sarah? What about Rebekka?
I was a great role model of how to be an self sufficient independant rebellious unsubmitted self determined woman to my girls.
I was for the greater part of their lives really a terrible role model of a Godly woman.
But for all thier lives I looked pretty good on paper.. on the surface. I was a pretty good picture of a responsible citizen, hard worker, charitable giver, modest dresser, no foul language (unless you really made me mad) no course jesting, kept a clean house, dinner for my family every day, baked, sewed, and did crafts, volunteered at school, read to them; taught them most of the children's Bible stories; expected their best from them; I disciplined but not to harshly. I helped with homework... You get the picture... I looked good on paper.
Still, I did not teach them to be Godly women.. a Godly women is Godly in the heart and from the inside out. I only looked ok on the outside and thus I raised 3 independant strong willed, head strong, all about me women... then I had to go and tell them how I messed up and was wrong.
So,how in the world was I gonna do that???
I did not go and teach them do as I say and not as I do. That would have made me a hypocrite.
I taught them.... DO as HE says, and you will never go wrong. We who are born again are all in the process of becoming like him and so at any given point I will both do and say things that are not as HE says... learn what HE says and do that! Pray that you dont fall short as often as I have.
That became our household Motto... what does the Bible say about that? and I dont care what so and so is doing, or not doing, what does the Bible say? As for me and my house we will serve the Lord! God gave you me... not so and so's mom!
They have not always liked that, but I know that I made their lives a lot more difficult that it needed to be, by not getting that from the beginning.
The oldest had the most years of my poor stewardship over them. For her the trek to the right path has been and continues to be the most difficult. The middle one struggled with her flesh some in the 17- 18 yr range, but I am pretty pleased with where she is now. Desi, has had the easiest walk with the Lord of the three.
I think that maybe the greatest thing that we can give our children is a Biblical Worldview to include a healthy reverant fear of GOD and solid knowledge of the scripture. I think if we do that God will do HIS part with the rest.
Posts: 4684 | From: Southern Black Hills of South Dakota | Registered: Jun 2002
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HisGrace
unregistered
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posted
I heard a woman say just within the last couple of days that she is insisting that her engaged daughter live with her fiance before they get married.
The boyfriend lives down in the States, and they see each other only a very few times a year. The mother says "They have no idea how they will get along if they get married, so they should move in with each other first."
A mother?? A sign of the times ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
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HisGrace
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quote:
Originally posted by helpforhomeschoolers:
Someone Will Train the Next Generation;
The Only Question is Who, and for What Purposes
This is primarily a call to parents, since God holds parents—not the government, not schools, not the church—accountable for the raising of their children.
But it is also a call to those to whom parents sometimes delegate this responsibility—pastors and teachers—and to the body of Christ, the community of faith that comes along-side young people to demonstrate the wisdom of living a godly life.
Passing the baton of faithfulness is the most important thing one generation can do for the next generation.
The problem is that parents are often are not very good role models for their children. There is very low accountability in the society we live in. Kids see their parents on a morally destructive path, and doing much that is not in step with the will of God for Christians.
It seems as if it's 'Don't do as I do, do as I say."
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WKUHilltopper
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Member # 5472
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Interesting article...right on, too. Thanks for posting it.
Posts: 259 | From: KY | Registered: Feb 2006
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helpforhomeschoolers
Advanced Member
Member # 15
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posted
Apathy and Indifference Are Killing Us…and it’s Not a Teenage Problem!
Jeff Myers, Ph.D.
One of the biggest breakthroughs for me personally in the last few years was the realization that I cannot not pass the baton to the next generation. Either I pass it gracefully and on purpose, or I fling it out of my casket before they close the lid. But pass it I will.
Most people fail to understand this. George Barna’s surveys consistently show that parents have no problem outsourcing the spiritual development of their children. “Someone else will take care of it,” they reason.
Institutions that used to be for the purpose of “rescuing” spiritually abandoned children now are seen as the normative way to train children. For example, the founders of the Sunday school movement assumed that most parents would nurture their children spiritually, but they also recognized that many parents were failing in this regard. The Sunday schools were founded to fill the gap.
But if George Barna’s research (as reported in Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions) is to be trusted, only one in 20 families have any spiritual connection with their children outside of church.
This “Someone else will do it” mentality is an imposing barrier to training the next generation of culture-shaping leaders.
If parents and caregivers understood the story I’m about to tell, I’m certain that they would be shocked out of their apathy.
Don’t Worry: Somebody Else Will Train Your Kids
Last year I was gathering information about the history of leadership for my class at Bryan College and came across a few facts about how Constantinople fell to the Muslim invaders in the 1400s. My question was this: how could the strongest city in the world—spiritually, economically, culturally, and militarily—come to the point of collapse?
Through research the pieces fell in place and a chilling picture emerged of parents who chose to let someone else “pass the baton” to their young.
In the 1400s a weakened Christian culture found itself under constant attack by a growing Muslim culture. As Amurath I, ruler of the Ottoman Empire, conquered more and more territory, he decided that if one-fifth of the spoils of battle were the Emperor’s share, he should also have a right to one-fifth of the captives.
Amurath instructed his troops to choose the smartest and strongest of the sons of Christian families he had captured. These boys—as young as seven years of age—underwent training in everything from agriculture to statesmanship.
Many Christian parents voluntarily turned their sons over, treating such slavery as a “scholarship” that would guarantee food, supervision, and education to their children.
What they didn’t seem to realize—or just ignored—was that the young men were being indoctrinated in a fanatical ideology and shaped into a brutal fighting force. They were called the Janizaries.
Over time, the power of the Ottoman Empire grew, while that of eastern Christianity declined. In 1453, hordes of Muslim Ottoman Turks surrounded Constantinople, the seat of the Eastern church.
Sultan Mehmet II, a ruthless and shrewd commander just 23 years old, led the siege with 100,000 troops, including 70,000 trained infantry and cavalry, 20,000 skirmishers known for their love of raping and looting, and 10,000 Janizaries.
A mere 7,000 troops rallied to the defense of Constantinople. They were well trained and desperate to protect their families, but weeks of pounding attacks made Mehmet’s victory inevitable.
Just as the exhausted defenders steeled themselves for Mehmet’s final onslaught, they were frozen by the blood-curdling screams of thousands of young voices: Mehmet had unleashed the elite Janizaries. These young warriors swarmed against the walls, found a breach and charged through, wreaking havoc and slaughter.
The Janizaries had no idea—or didn’t care—that their swords were drenched with the blood of their own families.
Someone Will Train the Next Generation;
The Only Question is Who, and for What Purposes
This is primarily a call to parents, since God holds parents—not the government, not schools, not the church—accountable for the raising of their children.
But it is also a call to those to whom parents sometimes delegate this responsibility—pastors and teachers—and to the body of Christ, the community of faith that comes along-side young people to demonstrate the wisdom of living a godly life.
Passing the baton of faithfulness is the most important thing one generation can do for the next generation.
Dr. Jeff Myers is Associate Professor of Communication Arts at Bryan College and President of the Myers Institute for Communication and Leadership. His new project is http://www.passingthebaton.org, a strategy for identifying and mobilizing conservative Christian adults to personally equip the next generation of culture-shaping leaders.
Posts: 4684 | From: Southern Black Hills of South Dakota | Registered: Jun 2002
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