You Kids Have It To Easy Today

You Kids Have It So Easy Today!

I saw a car commercial about a feature that made parking easy and the father said to the young adult driver, “You kids have it too easy these days.” I’ve heard adults telling that to young people since I was a teenager, I’ve even said it myself.

The truth is that teenagers and young adults do not have it easy in the things of life that are important, in fact the technology that “makes things easy” actually is part of the reason things are not so easy for children and young adults today. In a society where everyone does what is right in their own eyes (heart) there are no true guidelines to help people make decisions on what is right or wrong.

Let’s talk sex, today many voice concern and outrage over the sex trade and sex trafficking but the reality is that just as many participate in both the sex trade and sex trafficking otherwise it would shrivel up and be almost non-existent under the current moral outrage that is expressed in the social and news medias and all the groups that oppose it and work against it and work at rescuing and rehabilitating victims.

How about pre-marital sex?⁵ When I was a teenager most every boy wanted to have sex but most also wanted to marry a virgin, a conflict that kept many from having pre-marital sex. Today both young men and women would rather experiment with sex than wait until marriage. The social guidelines and public education systems telling them of the pit falls of sexual relationships outside of marriage; such as sexually transmitted diseases², unwanted pregnancies and soul ties after a breakup also teaches young people that sex outside of a marriage is ok and then teaches them how to do it. They provide them with disease and pregnancy prevention tools but that doesn’t seem to be working considering how many teen abortions there are in this country each year. There were about 550,000 pregnancies in girls aged 15 to 19 in 2011 in the United States, of these about 40,963 or 13.5% had abortions.¹

How about pornography? When I was an adolescent pornography was harder to get hold of but not impossible. It was mostly glossy magazines and paperback books, there were 8mm films but you needed access to a projector. Later pornography was available on video cassette tapes, then DVDs. All of these required some luck and maybe some adult assistance for teenagers to get, but it was not impossible. Since pornography hit the big time on the internet there is no stopping children of any age from viewing it and becoming addicted to it. Yet the real harm of pornography is the false reality and perversion that it makes seem normal. Pornography is allowed under politically correct but morally corrupt freedom of expression legislation and supported by our government and judicial system. So why do so many decry its negative power and influence over our society while making no restrictions on it availability? Now we have children sexting each other, adults and strangers.

How about trans-gender? There is only one truth about trans-gender, no matter what you believe your gender is, no matter what you do to your body to look like the gender you believe you are, your DNA will always determine what your gender is. Our gender is always what our DNA is. If you want to be a different gender than what you were born as then just admit that you are a homosexual and want to have sex with those of your own gender. Giving it a special name and demanding special considerations is just rude and selfish.⁴

How about world peace? Everybody says they want world peace but no one is putting down their arms and opening their borders. Well some are opening their borders and look what is happening in those countries. There has been no world peace since Cain killed his brother Able.

What about hate speech and behavior? One group’s freedom of expression is another group’s hate speech. One group’s right to practice what they believe is another group’s immorality. With today’s technology and all the forms of social media there are no clear lines of what is acceptable and what is unacceptable communication. We have groups calling for violent demonstrations and murder of those who have opposing views. We have expressions of every kind of sex and lifestyle imaginable.

What about pollution and the environment? We have nations who don’t care about their pollution and what that does to the earth and the health of every living thing. Yet we have the UN and many governments calling for the end of pollution but they are actually not doing anything to solve the problems. There are environmental groups that are so fanatical that they hate those they believe are harming the earth. GOD would approve of their fervor if they were not killing people and destroying property in the name of their environmental cause. Many call for replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources but nothing is happening except agreements and more talk. Why? Because renewable energy sources are more expensive and at this time not able to support the current and growing demand for energy.

What about bullying? Bullying like hate of any kind has been with men from the beginning, Cain feared being bullied because he murdered his brother.⁵ Children learn bullying from adults.

How about suicide? With all the issues facing the youth of today and no real solution presented to them by society or the government it’s no wonder suicide rates are so high.³

These are just a few of the issues that face the youth of today in our country and the world. So how is it that they have it so easy? The only thing that will allow the youth of today to overcome the confusion of what is politically correct and what is reality is to find the ultimate source of truth! What is that source?

GOD’s Word to humanity, the Bible.⁵ In the Bible is everything a person needs to know about GOD and His plan for their life. The Bible reveals GOD as the creator of everything, the one who forms us in our mother’s womb, the one who loves us so much that He came as a man, Jesus Christ, to die in our place so that we would not go to hell but live with Him for eternity. If you reject GOD’s love and salvation then you chose hell. The Bible tells us how to live our life in peace and harmony with Him in His eternal Kingdom (Heaven) now, we do not have to wait for some future time after we die. The Bible tells us how to live with one another in love and harmony protecting our environment. The Bible is everything we need to know and it is more than we can ever fully know.

Stop making excuses for why things are the way they are! Start being part of the solution! Just know that joining a silent, moderate or radical group that is for or against something will not make anything better. Just like ignoring the problems will not make them go away but allows them to grow worse. All true change must start in our own heart, Jesus said, “For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.”⁵ If you really want change in the world you must seek the one who made the world and follow His instructions for correcting the wrongs in the world.

“How?” you ask; admit that you cannot do it yourself and that humanity as a whole cannot do it either. So if we are serious then we must do it GOD’s way which is through Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches that we must recognize that we have fallen short of GOD’s requirements and expectations (sin) and that we are not able on our own to change our life and live as He created us to live.⁵ Once we recognize that we cannot save ourself or our planet then we must ask, “Who can?” Jesus, the one who created everything that exists, the one who gave His life as a ransom for everyone who will receive it, the one who sent His Holy Spirit to live in us and teach us how to live for Him and His Kingdom.

Notes:

¹ Teen pregnancy, birth and abortion rates in the United States all reached new historic lows in 2011, according to two new analyses (national and state) from the Guttmacher Institute. In 2011, about 553,000 pregnancies occurred among teen women aged 15–19, for a national rate of 52.4 pregnancies per 1,000 women in that age-group. This is the lowest rate observed in the last four decades, and it marks a 23% decline from the 2008 teen pregnancy rate of 68.2. National teen birth and abortion rates have also declined sharply: in 2011, there were 31.3 births per 1,000 teen women (down from 40.2 in 2008) and 13.5 abortions per 1,000 teen women (down from 18.1 in 2008). Guttmacher Institute, April 5, 2016 news release. (Emphasis mine)

² Adolescents ages 15-24 account for nearly half of the 20 million new cases of STD's each year. Today, two in five sexually active teen girls have had an STD that can cause infertility and even death. Also, though rates of HIV are very low among adolescents, males make up more than 80 percent of HIV diagnoses among 13- to 19-year-olds. STDs often have no obvious sign or physical symptom, so regular screenings are critical. The most effective way to prevent STDs is to abstain from sexual activity; if teens are having sex, they should be using a condom correctly and with every sexual act. HHS.gov Office of Adolescent Health, Adolescent Development and STDs, Content last reviewed on September 12, 2016. (Emphasis mine)

³ Suicide is the SECOND leading cause of death for ages 10-24. (2015 CDC WISQARS)

Suicide is the SECOND leading cause of death for college-age youth and ages 12-18. (2015 CDC WISQARS) More teenagers and young adults die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease COMBINED. Each day in our nation, there are an average of over 5,240 attempts by young people grades 7-12. The Parent Resource Program, The Jason Foundation http://prp.jasonfoundation.com/facts/youth-suicide-statistics/

⁴ My brother and one of my sisters are homosexual, my sister-in-law, a niece, a great-niece and at least 1 cousin are homosexual. One of my grandsons was a homosexual now he says he is a transgender. I have known homosexuals since I was 16. I have worked with and had supervisors who were homosexual. I have known macho, effeminate, and regular homosexuals and one bi-sexual male and I have known homosexuals who left the lifestyle. I believe all my relatives and friends who are homosexual by choice know my belief about the morality of homosexuality and that does not stop us from loving each other or helping each other or being involved in each other’s lives.

⁵ The following scriptures show GOD’s will for the above noted statements, but you should read the whole Bible to learn about GOD and His plan for you and all creation. Get a translation that is easy for you to read and read 15 to 30 minutes everyday. Understand that the books of the Bible were not written with chapter and verse divisions and sometimes they breakup a thought or teaching. Start with John then Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts and Romans, read Psalms and Proverbs also; there are 31 chapters in Proverbs so you can read one each day of the month; read both the Old Testament and New Testament, it does not matter if you read the Bible Genesis to Revelation or skip around just read it.

Genesis 1-4; Matthew 5-7, Matthew 7:19-21; Mark 8:34-38; John 1-3, John 12:25, John 14:1-18; Romans 1:18-2:16, Romans 3:9-26, Romans 8:18-30; 1 Corinthians 6:8-20, 1 Corinthians 10:1-11:1; Ephesians 5:1-21; 2 Timothy 3:10-17; Revelation 21:1-8