Solutions to ‘Youth in Crisis’ are in the Bible
The Book of Good Family Stories
Hardly a day goes by that we don’t hear or read about a boy or girl falling victim to a violent attack by another boy or girl who cannot be named for legal reasons. Also, it is common now that every new incident is followed by calls to stop the bloodshed. Politicians on all sides of the house, peace keepers and in some instances parents whose offspring happen to be on the receiving end, never seem to be short of corrective initiatives
Calls for stiffer penalties for youngsters found with knives or guns are now common place. But at best measures introduced seem only to stem the tide, for maybe a night or two. Sooner rather than later you can bet your life that the rhetoric will be heard again and finger pointing will be rife.
My take on this is that any move to bring home real awareness of the problem may not rest in the imposition of stiffer controls or penalties alone. Take for instance, the Ray Lewis initiative. The founder and chief executive of Eastside Young Leaders Academy (EYLA ), attributes its success to strict discipline and mentoring. He believes that these are the pillars of the EYLA programme that enables otherwise belligerent youngsters to aspire to take on leadership roles in their communities.
Lewis is a former prison governor and part-time preacher. I will not try here to suggest how his governorship influenced or motivated him, but I am quite sure that his principled stance is the result of his Christian upbringing and teaching.
You see in all the talk about conjuring up a feeling of goodness and love in youngsters , no one, let alone the media, seems to consider the guidelines for living, contained in the Book of Books. It would be natural to think that in a country, built on the doctrine of Christianity, this would not be too difficult. But sad to say, we live in a Christian country that continues to turn away and stray from transmissible biblical truths and the path of righteousness.
In her book ‘The Shelter of Each Other - Rebuilding Our Families’ Dr. Mary Pipher, http://www.marypipher.net/books.html offers advice on rebuilding troubled families. If we agree that families make up communities and communities make up countries, then Pipher’s example of the ideal family is worth a look in. Here, she speaks of the need for children to mix with the older generation, so they can listen to and hear the stories of aunts, uncles, grandparents and parents. This she concludes will help them to learn from those who have gone on before.
But I can even go one better than that and point our law makers in particular to the book of Joshua, one of the books of the Old Testament. In fact, the Old Testament places much importance on the need for children to be taught about their spiritual heritage. ‘Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,’ comes to mind. It comes from a Psalm (Psalm 33:12) which speaks about the greatness and goodness of God.
I have said all this to say that until our country returns to the God of the childhood of the majority of its people, solutions to the ‘crisis of youth’ and other troubles that beset the nation will continue to elude us.
Maybe what we really need to stem the tide, is for the church to again engender spiritual interaction between generations. The Good Book is loaded with family stories and our children need to hear and know them just as much as they need a mummy and a daddy. The country today also needs law makers and leaders who still find time to read for wisdom and search the Bible for guidance in solving the nation's problems. Have your say here…
Calls for stiffer penalties for youngsters found with knives or guns are now common place. But at best measures introduced seem only to stem the tide, for maybe a night or two. Sooner rather than later you can bet your life that the rhetoric will be heard again and finger pointing will be rife.
My take on this is that any move to bring home real awareness of the problem may not rest in the imposition of stiffer controls or penalties alone. Take for instance, the Ray Lewis initiative. The founder and chief executive of Eastside Young Leaders Academy (EYLA ), attributes its success to strict discipline and mentoring. He believes that these are the pillars of the EYLA programme that enables otherwise belligerent youngsters to aspire to take on leadership roles in their communities.
Lewis is a former prison governor and part-time preacher. I will not try here to suggest how his governorship influenced or motivated him, but I am quite sure that his principled stance is the result of his Christian upbringing and teaching.
You see in all the talk about conjuring up a feeling of goodness and love in youngsters , no one, let alone the media, seems to consider the guidelines for living, contained in the Book of Books. It would be natural to think that in a country, built on the doctrine of Christianity, this would not be too difficult. But sad to say, we live in a Christian country that continues to turn away and stray from transmissible biblical truths and the path of righteousness.
In her book ‘The Shelter of Each Other - Rebuilding Our Families’ Dr. Mary Pipher, http://www.marypipher.net/books.html offers advice on rebuilding troubled families. If we agree that families make up communities and communities make up countries, then Pipher’s example of the ideal family is worth a look in. Here, she speaks of the need for children to mix with the older generation, so they can listen to and hear the stories of aunts, uncles, grandparents and parents. This she concludes will help them to learn from those who have gone on before.
But I can even go one better than that and point our law makers in particular to the book of Joshua, one of the books of the Old Testament. In fact, the Old Testament places much importance on the need for children to be taught about their spiritual heritage. ‘Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,’ comes to mind. It comes from a Psalm (Psalm 33:12) which speaks about the greatness and goodness of God.
I have said all this to say that until our country returns to the God of the childhood of the majority of its people, solutions to the ‘crisis of youth’ and other troubles that beset the nation will continue to elude us.
Maybe what we really need to stem the tide, is for the church to again engender spiritual interaction between generations. The Good Book is loaded with family stories and our children need to hear and know them just as much as they need a mummy and a daddy. The country today also needs law makers and leaders who still find time to read for wisdom and search the Bible for guidance in solving the nation's problems. Have your say here…
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