Rippling Effects 3
Back in the day students used to respect their teachers.
Next to their parents and minister the teacher ranked a close
third. All of a sudden things began to change. The old ways
rapidly disappeared. Rebellion began to creep in almost
everywhere. Property was no longer sacrosanct; it now
represented the enemy. In many big cities property was
defaced with an awful vengeance. Paint spray cans, magic
markers, crayon, nail files, and even lipstick became
instruments of crime, as they scrolled, scrawled, scratched,
and painted their boiling, seething new hatred for the faceless
system. Almost simultaneously the dress code changed, and
then all but disappeared. One school Superintendent said,
“I don’t care how they come dressed, as long as they come
covered.” And in today’s scene that’s about all many can look
forward to; that they come covered!
Students developed over the years an unhealthy and
unholy disrespect for just about everything. This would
include parents, teachers, administrators, policemen, judges,
themselves, and yes even God! Their language often includes
His name mingled among the vilest assortment of verbal filth.
Youthful crime has risen to unparalleled highs. The drug
culture has included in its clutches youthful offenders as far
down as the primary grades. My secretary just placed in our
Sunday bulletin a chart she found that shows that the national
SAT college scores have steadily gone down since, yep you
guessed it—1963. The rings of this spiritual pool are still
forming and expanding.
All of this has occurred and perhaps even more problems
to come because a spiritual principle was violated. We took
God out of our schools. We actually told Him to, “Go! We
don’t want you here.” The odd thing to note is that there
wasn’t that much prayer and Bible reading going on before
it was removed. It is as they say, ‘the principle of the thing’
that was violated; the consequences have to follow.
I chose this rather lengthy investigation to illustrate the
point that spiritual principles that are violated are just as
impacting and graphic as gravity ignored. Our hope is for
this work to not only reinforce the need for adhering to
spiritual principles but to also help to discover and
understand these principles, and put them to work. The
family desperately needs to discover the biblical principles
that will aid and enhance them as a unit and as individuals
that make up that unit.
To ignore these principles of marriage is to invite negative
and damaging results. To embrace these principles is to
enhance and broaden the possibilities of success.
