Winston Salem church of Christ

Take a baby boy. Put him in a middle class home. Run him through a parade of nannies, babysitters, daycares, & nursery schools. Wean him on quality time when you have the time. When he is able to focus on picture books, teach him that he’s the latest, greatest, product of organic evolution. Supplement that as he grows with cartoons, movies, songs, science classes, TV, and educational programming, all designed to convince him he is second cousin to the other animals. Use TV news to teach him how mean & nasty it is to kill the baby seals, and how enlightened it is to kill the unborn baby humans.

Saturate his world with drugs, violence & sex. Sex in movies, & books, sex in ads & music, sex on TV; subtle sex, loud & crude sex, perverted sex, all kinds of sex. Make heroes of sex perverts. Assure him he will have social agencies and the government dispensing free protection from the consequences of his sexual liaisons. Take him to church, but insist on teachers who relate but don’t preach; on a pulpit which is always positive & powerless. Don’t allow attendance to interfere with fun or an opportunity to obtain more money. Never say no meaningfully; nor let anything be his fault; nor allow him to be punished. Fill home with bickering, resentment, complaining, peevishness, & conflict. Have his parents divorce. Tell him it is because his parents have grown apart and they just don’t love one another anymore. Convey to him that this is the way mature people deal with their problems, and that it will work out for the best for all concerned, including him. Cite some sociologists’ studies to reassure him. If that doesn’t work, just tune in to NBC, ABC, FOX, or Disney. He’ll get the message.

Assemble a congregation of boys and girls similarly raised, add to them an even greater multitude of kids of the same generation who didn’t have the buffer of middle class and whose lessons were not nearly so theoretical & antiseptic. Let these all grow to adulthood, have children of their own, and let that second generation grow to young adulthood in the fragmented homes that are their heritage. Now sit back, watch all the corruption, violence, perversion, and hopelessness that constitute the evening news, shake your head slowly side from side, turn to your wife and gloomingly say, What is this world coming to? (adapted from Johnny Mack)

Take a baby boy. Put him in a home of any social or economic background. Give him parents honoring their vows. Teach him from the beginning that humans are the crowning creation of an all-powerful & loving heavenly Father. Teach him conscientiousness toward all creation, and to hallow humans as God’s image. Have his parents spend much time with him, working & playing together, teaching, training, encouraging, & disciplining. Have dad be an example of responsible manhood, honesty, industry, and respect for his mother and all women. Have mom model true femininity in graciousness, dignity, & mutual respect for his father. Teach him the answer is not money, drugs, sex, social programs, politics, popularity, physical beauty, prestige, or advanced degrees, but in Jesus. Never allow doubt about church attendance. Make it a part of his life from the beginning. Wean him on the Bible. Insist on Biblical preaching & teaching. Teach him religion is not entertainment. Instill in him by word & example a respect for all legitimate authority, from school crossing guards up to, and above all, God. Say no to him, meaning it. Elevate noble things: responsibility, personal purity, work, service, doing right because it is right rather than convenient, respect for the aged, reverence for things holy, integrity, charity, the value of people over things & the spiritual over the material, love of God and neighbor before self. Assemble a whole generation of boys & girls thusly reared. Allow them to mature and raise their children in like manner. Now stand back and bask in the glow of a world set right. But alas Jesus says that the majority chooses the way that lead to destruction (Mt.7:13-14). This world is not our home. But think how much better things would be even if only a significant minority were to choose the course described above. God would have spared Sodom if only ten righteous people could have been found (Gen.18:32). That’s how important God’s people are to this county and this world, and the world is not aware of it. Think of what a tragedy it would be if the light of God’s minority were to be extinguished or even worse if it simply burned out.

“…prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as light in the world.” (Phil.2:15) adapted