
But
what of the legal consequences that are associated with this activity?
According to recent studies, bullying has reached epidemic proportions. Of
course, now a days whenever something attracts the news media’s attention, it
will be tagged as an epidemic regardless of what the actual facts may be. But
there is no denying that this behavior has been on the increase for many years.
Some of it can no doubt be attributed to the increasing reach that technology
has. Many of the problems that we face today have been around for a very long
time. But now we are able to see such issues up close and personal in a matter
of seconds. If someone goes on a shooting spree half way around the world, we
find out about it in a matter of minutes.
All
that aside, however, my real issue with all this is the fact that people want
to sow to the wind, but not reap the whirlwind. The prophet long ago reminded
us that we cannot expect to reap anything but the whirlwind if our reaping is
consistently done to the wind (Hosea 8). In other words, don’t expect a bumper
crop if you don’t put the seed in the ground! But today, everyone wants to
violate this axiom and still come up smelling like roses. You see it every day.
We don’t want more teen promiscuity, but we go out of our way to give such
individuals the “right” to have abortions or the “day after” pill. As a matter
of fact, we are ever decreasing the age at which a child has to get their parents’
permission to do much of anything, while at the same time ever increasing the
age at which we hold the child accountable for their actions.
Studies are now being conducted that are
questioning the long standing law that sees someone 18 and older as a legal
adult for criminal purposes. Up to now, if you committed a crime and you were
18 years old, you were treated as an adult and were subject to such adult
penalties. However, there is now a movement that seeks to use psychological
studies to bolster their belief that such individuals should not receive adult
penalties if they are any younger than 25! Can you imagine that? And what about
the health insurance issue? As we know, under the so-called Obamacare, children
can now stay on their parents’ health insurance up to age 26. Again, one more sign
that we seek to infantilize the adult and “adultetize” the child.
Where
can all this lead? Just as the laws of nature cannot be violated—regardless of
how much you may want to think otherwise, stepping off a tall building will
probably kill you—the laws of God cannot be either. “Be not deceived, God is
not mocked, for whatever a man sows that also hall he reap. Those who sow to the
flesh from the flesh will reap corruption” (Galatians 6:7-8). It is impossible
to continue to hold the beliefs and ideas that we so often do and expect good to
come out of it. How can anyone with half a brain think that allowing a 12 year
old to have an abortion, and without their parents’ consent, indeed without
even their knowledge result in anything worthwhile?
Of
a truth it is that our society has fallen under the spell of the evil one. In 2
Corinthians 4, Paul reminds his readers that those who are of the world have
had their minds blinded by the evil one. In fact, says Paul, their minds are so
blinded and they are in such as stupor, that they are even unable to see the
light of the glorious gospel of Christ. It is as if the apostle is telling the
Corinthians that some are so blinded that even the good news of the gospel
cannot penetrate such a mind! Thus, we should not be surprised that their
concept of love and tolerance includes such perversions as the ones I have
already mentioned.
As
children of light, however, we do not follow such pursuits. On the contrary, we
are always awake and ready for the day when the Lord comes for it can come at
any moment (1 Thessalonians 5). Every generation, from the apostles who
proclaimed the message in the shadow of the cross, to the bishops that met at
Nicaea to us today, expect the Lord to come in their lifetimes. And that is as
it should be. Let us not be of those who continue in their blindness and who
are asleep in their sin. But rather, let us be of those who shine a light on such
behavior and seek to be salt to this earth.
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