COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL AND YOU=++

How can we understand the carnage at Columbine High School
of Littleton, Colorado?  One reason may be the freedom that
the courts have given students, but we must go much deeper
for the real reason.=++

Many are asking, "Why did two students go on a rampage and
kill fellow students? What can be done to prevent similar
tragedies?"  One thing seems certain -- those who think that
it takes a village (Washington, D.C.) to raise a child, will
have their ideas.=++

One reason may be the freedom that the courts have given
students, but the real reason goes much deeper.  The real
question is not Columbine High School.  It penetrates to the
roots of Christian ministries and Christian families.  But
for now, back to students and their freedoms.=++

Students have been freed from Bible reading and prayer. 
They have been freed from being exposed to a copy of the Ten
Commandments hung on a wall.  By preventing creationism from
being taught in the schools, evolution (that pseudoscience
that says anything can happen if you allow enough time) has
freed them from the God of Creation.=++

Freeing students from the Bible and from the God of
Creation, has freed them from knowing why they are here. 
They have been freed from knowing the meaning of life.  Life
has become meaningless.=++

They have been freed from a Creator who says what is right
and wrong.  They have been freed from a God who will judge
and punish.  They have been freed from a heaven to gain, and
from a hell to avoid.=++

Students have been freed from the value of life.  If we
can't tell when human life begins, then any abortion, at any
time from the movement of conception, may kill a human
being, and life in our country is protected by our
Constitution.  But it seems that the Supreme Court could not
follow this simple logic.  Now, if a baby's head is born,
but his feet are not yet born, it is legal to kill him.  If
an expectant mother can kill her unborn baby, we have taken
a big step in freeing students to take the lives of fellow
students.=++

Having been freed from the fear of God (which is the
beginning of wisdom -- Prov. 1:7) and the moral restraint of
this fear, to an alarming extent young people have also been
freed, by parents, schools, and the juvenile courts, from
the wisdom that is imparted by the rod and rebuke (Prov.
19:15).  They have been freed to bring shame to their
mothers (Prov. 29:15).=++

After freeing them from moral restraint, the world has given
students music that teaches violence and glamorizes suicide,
violence on TV and in movies, and video games that provide
vicarious participation and training in violence.  Why
should we be surprised and shocked by the carnage at
Columbine high school?=++

The family -- God's glue for society -- has disintegrated. 
All too many students have been freed from parental
guidance.  An alarming number have even been freed from
having both a mother and a father.  Most of those who have
two parents have been freed from spiritual guidance, a moral
compass, or even a moral example.=++

Christianity, through the work of God, transforms society. 
But in the last 50 or 60 years, society in the United States
has disintegrated.  The United States is now a
post-Christian nation.  And the results look very much like
Romans 1:28 -- "God gave them up . . . ."=++

Why is the United States now a post-Christian nation?  Could
it be that we have failed to follow God's plan?=++

If we have lost the United States, and if we don't know why,
how can we know how to regain it?  If we don't know why we
have lost the United States, can we have any assurance that
our missions work, whether here or abroad, will avoid
similar failures?=++

Did we fail to follow God's plan?  Did we miss His
instructions?  Shouldn't we go back to the Scriptures and
see if our church programs reflect His plan?  Shouldn't we
go back to the Scriptures and develop a biblical philosophy
of ministries?=++

If you are not absolutely sure that you and your church have
a philosophy of ministries that is truly biblical, why not
consider the one proposed at
http://www.biblical-counsel.org/philmin1.htm?=++

We grieve for the suffering and loss of life caused by the
tragedy at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, we
bemoan the general disintegration of society, but we must
not fail to look closer to home.  The world is turning
Christian living up-side-down.  Divorce and adultery are
prevalent among professing Christians.  Children of
Christian parents are going the way of the world.  It should
not surprise us that Christianity has little power to
transform society, when it fails to transform among its
professing members.  Something is wrong--very wrong.  Isn't
it time to go back and develop (or redevelop) a biblical
philosophy of Christian ministries?=++
Downloaded from http://www.biblical-counsel.org=++

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