We’ve Got Issues – Like Bullying!

[fusion_dropcap boxed=”no” boxed_radius=”” class=”” id=”” color=””]A[/fusion_dropcap]s the last days of Summer dissipate like a puff of smoke on the breeze, teachers are preparing their classrooms while parents are purchasing last minute supplies, clothing, and oodles of snacks. Meanwhile, a growing percentage of students are dreading the fateful ring of the welcome bell. What will this year hold? Will the teachers be nice? Will I have any friends? Will the bullies ever leave me alone?

Since the sexual revolution of the 1960s, concerted efforts have been made to remove God and the Bible from our classrooms and government facilities. Citing “separation of church and state,” individuals like Madelyn Murray O’Hair and organizations like the ACLU have made it their mission to thoroughly obliterate the very mention of a Creator from the public sphere. Before our children have even begun to read, seeds of doubt are planted in their minds regarding their origins, their purpose, and their destiny. In school they learn to reject and mistrust the Bible, while simultaneously learning that they are nothing more than highly evolved primates which accidentally evolved from a bit of slime. There is no right and wrong. Morality is relative. Survival belongs to the strongest.

Yet, as our nation reels from two terrorist attacks this week, it seems obvious that we don’t believe what we have been teaching for the last 60 years. There is right and wrong. Morality is not relative. Survival is not achieved by eliminating the weak. Most people would agree that it IS wrong to take a gun and murder a bunch of people in the name of white supremacy. Shocked by such blatant brutality we listen to the talking heads as they discuss every detail they can manage to squeeze from the unfolding stories. Yet I wonder: Have we done this to ourselves? By teaching our kids that they are nothing more than highly evolved primates with no sense of purpose and no destiny, are we not creating more domestic terrorists?

If the Book of Judges were to be summed up in a solitary sentence, it would be this one: Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Today, that statement seems to be a fitting one for our nation. Yet the results do not reveal a utopia of human goodness. Rather they display the depths of depravity inherent to human nature.

Do what thou wilt. Isn’t that our mantra today? From the movies our kids watch, the books they read, and the classes they take, personal pleasure and autonomy is set up as the highest goal in life. Just do what makes you happy. Follow your heart. Do what is right in your own eyes.

So, what does this have to do with bullying? Throughout the centuries the strong have oppressed the weak verbally, physically, and socially. Even Christian circles are not immune from bullying.

It always amuses me when I get into a discussion with an atheist and the subject of morality is addressed. To prove that Christianity is false, the atheist will point to abhorrent things done by those who claim to be Christian. While some would respond defensively, arguing that the perpetrator of the atrocity was not truly Christian, I prefer to use the opportunity to persuade my opponent that there is such a thing as absolute morality. Whether he claimed to be a Christian or not, what Hitler did to millions of Jews and “inferior species” was absolutely immoral. If they are being honest, even my atheist friends will agree to that. But for something to be absolutely immoral, there must be Absolute Morality. Who determines what is true and good and beautiful?

As a nation, we have a responsibility to train the next generation in morality by proclaiming to them the existence of the Biblical God. Our forefathers knew that only by submission to His laws could we find freedom.

Our schools will not be fixed by once again allowing prayer and Bible class, but it is a step in the right direction, and I am so thankful for the schools, districts, and states who take a stand on this issue. But any education that is not God-centered, will be man-centered. As such it will continue to reap the devastation wrought by humanistic philosophy and practices. Students who are taught that they are nothing more than highly evolved primates with no purpose and no destiny, will continue to do horrific things to those whom they consider weaker than themselves.

The solution starts at home. Kids bully other kids because they feel insecure. They have no empathy for others because they have been neglected by those who should love them. They are hungry for purpose but are shuffled through the system like cattle through the slaughterhouse. God gave parents the responsibility to train their children and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Only through obedience to His Word can we find the solution to this alarming issue of bullying.