Proverbs 30:11 There is a generation that curses its father, and does not bless its mother.
12 There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its filthiness.
13 There is a generation—oh, how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.
14 There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and whose fangs are like knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.
Proverbs 30: 11-14. O, how we lament the problem of “young people today.”
Young people today have no respect for their parents.
Young folks today think they know everything.
Young people today. They commit any and every sin they can think of and act like it’s O.K.
These young people today will kill you as soon as look at you.
Young folks these days don’t care about anyone but themselves.
The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates even said, “Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.”
When we complain about TODAY’s kids or THIS GENERATION, we’re implying that the problem is the day/ the times, that the problem is our particular cultural context.
But, the same issues we have today existed in ancient times.
The same complaints about young people were voiced in the conservative, overtly godly culture of Old Testament Israel, a time and place where parents could legally stone their children for disrespectful language (Exodus 21: 17; Leviticus 20: 9).
The criticisms we make of our younger generation are the same which were made in the religiously pluralistic, sexually liberal squares of ancient Greece.
The problem is not the times. The problem is not the culture. The problem with “young people today” is not TODAY.
And, the problem isn’t that they’re young.
Solomon called children an inheritance from God, a reward, a source of the parents’ strength like arrows in the hand of a warrior. (Psalm 127: 3-5)
In Matthew 19: 13, 14, Jesus called children the model for the people of the Kingdom of Heaven.
The problem with “young people today” isn’t that they live in today’s culture. It isn’t that they are young. The problem is that they’re PEOPLE. Each young person is a complete PERSON.
If my son cusses me out, it’s not the nation’s fault for taking prayer out of schools. It’s not the media’s fault for playing Lil’ Wayne records and airing episodes of “American Dad” and “Family Guy.” It didn’t happen because we are living in the end times and such behavior is inevitable (not that we aren’t living in the end times). And it isn’t because my boy got in with “the wrong crowd.”
Listen. If my son cusses me out the problem is MY SON. It’s not the culture. It’s not the times. It’s the person.
Young people today sin for the same reason that old people today sin and for the same reason that people have sinned in every time and culture since Eden--------because they individually choose to.
Stop making excuses. Stop looking for labels and diagnoses to excuse what they did.
Your child’s sins are your child’s fault.
Deal with it.
Seriously. Do something to deal with it.
Don’t acquiesce dominance in your house to the screaming, hitting 2 year old. Check them and teach them not to scream and hit.
Don’t believe the hype that every teen yells at his/her parents and slams their bedroom door. It’s not inevitable. It’s not a necessary part of the maturing process. It’s mean. It’s disrespectful. It’s sin. Deal with it while the kid’s still short and cute and you won’t have to suffer with it when he’s awkward and tall.
When your child throws a pencil in class, stop blaming it on ADHD. ADHD makes your child’s brain change the subject. Choosing the subject of pencil throwing and then acting upon that subject isn’t ADHD.
It’s free freakin’ will.
Young people may not be fully developed, but young people are fully human. And every human being has full access to his/her free will.
Free will exercised contrary to God’s will = SIN.
Whatever the age, whatever the times, sin is the real problem.
Deal with it.
How can you deal with it? How can a young man cleanse his way? (Psalm 119:9a)
By taking heed according to Your word. (Psalm 119:9b)
The Word says that Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— …much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. (Romans 5: 12, 15)
The problem with kids today is sin. The solution to sin is Jesus.
O.K.?
Good. Now deal with it.
---Anderson T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
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When I was a kid I loved the “Looney Tunes” cartoon show. My favorite was Wile E. Coyote who went out everyday trying to catch the Road Runner.