Culture Shock

Daniel 3:4-30

INTRO: One side says: Culture. Other side says: Shock.

What is culture shock?

Defined in Webster’s dictionary as:

“A sense of confusion and uncertainty sometimes with feelings of anxiety that may affect people exposed to an alien culture or environment without adequate preparation.”

Have you ever experienced even a mild form of culture shock?

Visit a place where “Jeopardy” comes on at 7 PM instead of 7:30. Just can’t get used to it.

Moving to New Orleans, where they didn’t have Cheerwine soda, Neese’s sausage, or Duke’s mayonnaise.

Eating mangoes and jellyfish at a Chinese restaurant in Penang, Malaysia.

Riding on the back of an elephant in Thailand, when our “elephant driver” suddenly turned around, picked up our then 6-year-old son and – without asking, placed him precariously on the elephant’s forehead.

Culture shock.

Many teenagers today say their parents would be shocked if they knew what was going on in youth culture.

Listen to the words of one teenager:

“It used to be that parents protected their kids from the hard truths of life. Today, teens protect their parents. It’s a harsh world out there, and I don’t think my mom or dad could handle the things that I deal with each and every day, so I don’t say anything. … I simply let them pretend that things are the same as when they were kids.” [T. Suzanne Eller, Real Teens, Real Stories, Real Life (Colorado Springs, Colorado: Life Journey, 2002), 13]

Research shows that …

Among people born 1984 or later, only 4% are Bible-based believers.
Currently, there are over 300,000 pornographic web sites for teens to explore on the internet, and the number is growing every day.
The average age of first Internet exposure to pornography is 11 years old.
The average age of first sex is15.8 years.
23.4% of first sexual relationships are “one-night stands.”

In his book, Seven Laws of the Learner, Bruce Wilkinson cites the following statistics:

65% of all H.S. Christian students are sexually active
3.3 million teens are alcoholics
1000 teens try to commit suicide daily
10% of H.S. students have experimented with or are involved in a homosexual lifestyle.

The days of Ozzie and Harriet, of Richie and Joanie Cunningham, and of Theo and Vanessa Huxtable are gone – if they really ever existed to begin with.

This is the culture and the climate teenagers are living with every day.

No wonder that teenager said, “I don’t think my mom or dad could handle the things that I deal with each and every day, so I don’t say anything.”

She knows the culture she has to deal would be radical and shocking to her parents.

But, I want to tell something that may be shocking to you in a good way.

God is doing great and wonderful things among young people today.

You don’t hear that said all that much. That’s why it may be shocking. But God is doing great things.

I believe that God is in the midst of bringing spiritual renewal and revival to churches and to families by moving in the hearts of teenagers.

Do you realize that teenagers attend church more than adults? A 2003 survey says they do:

38 percent of adults say they attend church weekly.

43 percent of teenagers attend church weekly.

According to the 2001 Roper Youth Report, more kids and teenagers head to church in any given week than surf the Web, see a movie, hang out at parties, or visit the mall.

Daniel 3:4
Then a herald cried aloud: “To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages,

Daniel 3:5
that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up;

Daniel 3:6
and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.”

The Pressure to Conform to Our Culture

Daniel 3:7
So at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, harp, and lyre, in symphony with all kinds of music, all the people, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the gold image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

Daniel 3:8
Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and accused the Jews.

Daniel 3:12

“There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego; these men, O king, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up.”

Daniel 3:13
Then Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, gave the command to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. So they brought these men before the king.

Daniel 3:14
Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up?

Daniel 3:15a
Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good! But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.”

Peer Pressure

Fear Pressure

The Power to Challenge Our Culture

Daniel 3:15b
And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?”

Daniel 3:16
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.

Daniel 3:17
If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.

Daniel 3:18
But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

Daniel 3:19
Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.

Daniel 3:20
And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace.

Daniel 3:24
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.”

Daniel 3:25
“Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”

Daniel 3:26
Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here.” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire.

Daniel 3:27
And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.

They did not bow.

They did not bend.

They did not burn.

The Potential to Change Our Culture

Daniel 3:28
Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!

Daniel 3:29
Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this.”

Daniel 3:30
Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the province of Babylon.

He blessed their God.

He upheld their values.

He elevated their position.

The Morgan sea gypsies are a small tribe of 181 fishermen who spend much of the year on their boats fishing in the Andaman Sea from India to Indonesia and back to Thailand. In December, though, they live in shelters on the beaches of Thailand. In December 2004, in the hours before the killer Tsunami crashed ashore, the Morgan sea gypsies were living on those beaches. They were in harm's way and would have likely all perished—had they not listened to their elders.

For generations, the elders of the tribe had passed along one piece of wisdom. The tribe's 65-year-old village chief Sarmao Kathalay says, “The elders told us that if the water recedes fast it will reappear in the same quantity in which it disappeared.”

And that is exactly what happened. The sea drained quickly from the beach, leaving stranded fish flopping on the shore. How easy it would have been for those who live off of the sea to run down where the water had been minutes ago and fill every basket available with fish. Some people did just that in other areas of South Thailand. Not the Morgan sea gypsies. When the water receded from the beach, the tribal chief ordered every one of the 181 tribal members to run to a temple in the mountains of South Surin Island. When the waters crashed ashore, the 181 sea gypsies were safe on high ground. Craig Brian Larson, Arlington Heights, Illinois; source: "How 'Sea Gypsies' Survived the Tsunami," Associated Press, as seen in

A new study links teen sexual intercourse with depression and suicide attempts. The findings are particularly true for young girls, says the Heritage Foundation. About 25 percent of sexually active girls say they are depressed all, most, or a lot of the time; 8 percent of girls who are not sexually active say they feel the same.

The Heritage study taps the government funded National Longitudenal Survey of Adolescent Health. The Heritage researchers selected federal data on 2,800 students, ages 14–17. The youth rated their own "general state of continuing unhappiness" and were not diagnosed as clinically depressed.

The Heritage study finds:

About 14 percent of girls who have had intercourse have attempted suicide, while 5 percent of sexually inactive girls have.

About 6 percent of sexually active boys have tried suicide, while fewer than 1 percent of sexually inactive boys have.

USA TODAY (6-4-03); submitted by Cliff Mansley, St. Joseph, Missouri

A 2003 survey indicated that teenagers attend religious services more than adults:

Percentage of adults who said they attended church or synagogue in the past seven days: 38

Percentage of American teens who said they did: 43 percent

"Roll Call," Associated Press, Gallup Tuesday Briefing; reprinted in "Go Figure," ChristianityToday.com (posted 8-05-03)

Steve Moore tells of a friend's experience at a retirement home dedication:

The ceremony included remarks from one of the new residents, Dr. Paul Brand, an outstanding medical doctor. Most of us know him through his best-selling book co-written with Philip Yancey, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. When it was Dr. Brand's turn to speak, he said something like this:

I remember well when I was at my physical peak. I was 27 years old and had just finished medical school. A group of friends and I were mountain climbing, and we could climb for hours. For some people, when they cross that peak, for them life is over.

I remember well my mental peak, too. I was 57 years of age and was performing groundbreaking hand surgery. All of my medical training was coming together in one place. For some people, when they cross this peak, for them life is over.

I'm now over 80 years of age. I recently realized I'm approaching another peak—my spiritual peak. All I have sought to become as a person has the opportunity to come together in wisdom, maturity, kindness, love, joy, and peace. And I realize when I cross that peak, for me, life will not be over; it will have just begun.

Arin Ahmed, age 20, looked like a typical American teenager in tight pants and a short shirt exposing a bare midriff. She was on her way to the Israeli city of Rishon le-Zion, and the bare midriff was only a disguise. She had a bomb in her backpack.

Arin, fortunately, suddenly got cold feet and an unexpected warm heart. The would-be suicide bomber looked into the faces of the crowd and saw not hateful Jews, but an aging grandmother, a gurgling baby, a loving father, a teenager who looked like a Jewish friend she once had. She saw herself: "I suddenly understood what I was about to do, and I said to myself, How can I do such a thing?" She ran back to her two handlers cowering in a car and told them she was scratching her mission. They were furious, of course. At almost the same moment, a 16-year-old boy, her intended partner in suicide, was blowing himself up like a genuine martyr. Her disappointed handlers glumly drove her back to Bethlehem.

We know Arin's story because several days later Israeli security forces arrested her and her accomplices, members of the military (and terrorist) arm of Yasser Arafat's al-Fatah organization. She's in an Israeli jail, where Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer visited her to try to learn what we all want to know: How typical is she? How many like her want to change their minds, but can't? Is there a point of no return? If so, where is it?

"Mr. Minister," she asked of Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, "what will become of me? I have no future. I don't want my whole life to be ruined because of this. I'm at the beginning of life. I changed my mind."

Adapted from Suzanne Fields, "When a Suicide Bomber Fails," www.townhall.com (7-01-02); submitted by Eugene Maddox, Palatka, Florida

If American teens won $100,000, they say they would:

Buy gifts for parents: 93 percent

Buy new car: 67 percent

Go on vacation: 63 percent

Save money for college: 55 percent

Give money to charity: 45 percent

According to the 2001 Roper Youth Report, more kids and teenagers head to church in any given week than surf the Web, see a movie, hang out at parties, or visit the mall. The numbers represent a 7 percent increase over the previous year.

Other findings from the poll:

53 percent of respondents ranked religion and spirituality among their top personal interests.

28 percent reported participating in church groups; by comparison, just 20 percent played after-school sports.

58 percent said churches and religious groups are an important influence on their moral values.

Ninie Harmon, "Jesus, I'm Coming Home," The Southeast Outlook, Louisville, Kentucky (5-12-05); submitted by Van Morris, Mt. Washington, Kentucky

Despite what popular TV shows and music might tell us, a large minority of American teens consider premarital sex to be morally wrong.

This is the finding from the most recent Gallup Youth Survey, which asked American teenagers, ages 13-17, about sexual relationships outside of marriage. The percentage of teens who say it is wrong for a man and a woman to have sexual relations before marriage: 42.

"Emerging Trends," Princeton Religion Research Center (December 2001)

Fifteen-year-old Gilberto Dixon, a 10th grader at Beach Channel High School in Queens, New York, commenting on a city school board decision to forbid the phrase "God bless you" on school property, said,

"High School has nothing to do with God."

"Overheard," New York Post (1-24-02)

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle-income family For those with kids, that figure leads to wild fantasies about, "All the money we could have banked if not for (insert your child's name here)." For others, that number might confirm the decision to remain childless.

But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into $8,896.66 a year, $741.38 a month, or $171.09 a week. That's a mere $24.37 a day! Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is not to have children if you want to be "rich." In fact, it is just the opposite. What do you get for your $160,140? Naming rights. First, middle, and last! Glimpses of God every day. Giggles under the covers every night. More love than your heart can hold. Eskimo kisses and Velcro hugs. Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies. A hand to hold, usually covered with jam. A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, building sandcastles, and skipping down the sidewalk in the pouring rain. Someone to laugh yourself silly with no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For just $160,140, you never have to grow up. You get to finger-paint, carve pumpkins, play hide-and-seek, catch lightning bugs, and never stop believing in Santa Claus. You have an excuse to keep reading the adventures of Piglet and Pooh, watching Saturday morning cartoons, going to Disney movies, and wishing on stars. You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray-painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, handprints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof, taking the training wheels off the bike, removing a splinter, filling the wading pool, coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to pizza regardless. You get a front row seat to history to witness the first step, first word, first bra, first date, and first time behind the wheel. You get education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.

In the eyes of children, you have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, so one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost.

Submitted by Debi Zahn, Sandwich, Illinois; source: anonymous

In early 2002, the damage caused by wildfires was some of the worst Sydney, Australia, had ever seen. At one point in the catastrophe, these were the statistics:

More than 500 people were moved from houses near Sussex Inlet, a holiday resort 90 miles south of Sydney, and flames threatened suburbs on the city's north shore.

15,000 firemen faced nearly 1,100 miles of active fire fronts across New South Wales, many of them more than 15 miles long.

The largest active fire stretched for 45 miles. The area burnt at that point was more than 1,235,000 acres, mostly in national parks, with another 850,000 acres still on fire.

The fires across New South Wales had blazed out of control since Christmas, creating a pall of smoke that could be seen off the coast of New Zealand more than 2,000 miles away.

More incredible perhaps than the sheer amount of damage was the cause. Firemen in Sydney blamed bored children and the school holidays for the bush fires threatening to engulf the city.

Peter Shadbolt and Geoffrey Lee Martin, "'Bored Kids' Blamed for Sydney Fires," news.telegraph.co.uk (1-03-02)

Bill is wild haired; his wardrobe for college is jeans and a T-shirt with holes in it. He recently became a believer while attending a campus Bible study.

Across from campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church. One Sunday Bill decides to go there. He walks in late and shoeless. The sanctuary is packed. Bill heads down the aisle looking for a seat. Having nearly reached the pulpit, he realizes there are no empty seats, so he squats down on the carpet. The congregation is feeling uncomfortable.

Then from the back of the church, a gray-haired elder in a three-piece suit starts walking toward Bill with a cane. The worshipers don't expect a man in his eighties to understand some college kid on the floor. With all eyes focused on the developing drama, the minister waits to begin his sermon until the elder does what he has to do.

The elderly man drops his cane on the floor and with great difficulty lowers himself to sit next to Bill.

"What I'm about to preach," the minister begins, "you'll never remember. What you've just seen, you'll never forget."

Lew Gervais, director of Pressing Onward support groups; quoted in Men of Integrity (3.2)

"I never have to play that game again."

—Billy Mitchell, 33, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, expressing relief after he became the first person ever to get a perfect score of 3,333,360 in Pac Man.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse has released an extensive study on teens and substance abuse. Their main finding was that "teens whose parents have established rules in the house have better relationships with their parents and a substantially lower risk of smoking, drinking, and using illegal drugs than the typical teen."

Out of the 526 girls and 474 boys between ages 12 and 17 evaluated, the study found that only 25 percent live with parents who establish and enforce rules in the home. These 25 percent are at less risk for drug abuse than teens whose parents impose few or no rules.

The study discovered that the successful parents habitually did at least 10 of the following 12 actions:

Monitor what their teens watch on TV.
Monitor what their teens do on the Internet.
Put restrictions on the CDs they buy.
Know where their teens are after school and on weekends.
Are told the truth by their teens about where they really are going.
Are "very aware" of their teens academic performance.
Impose a curfew.
Make clear they would be "extremely upset" if their teen used pot.
Eat dinner with their teens six or seven nights a week.
Turn off the TV during dinner.
Assign their teen regular chores.
Have an adult present when the teens return home from school.

Of the teens living in lax homes, only 24 percent had an exceptionally good relationship with their mothers and 13 percent with their fathers. Of the teens living in relatively strict homes, 57 percent had an exceptionally good relationship with their mothers and 47 percent with their fathers.

The Center's president Joseph A. Califano Jr., former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, comments: "Mothers and fathers who are parents rather than pals can greatly reduce the risk of their children smoking, drinking and using drugs."

John Maxwell, "God's 'Troublesome' Timing," Preaching Today, Tape No. 147

An Internet site lists some of the attention-grabbing analogies found in high school papers:

"He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it."

"She caught your eye like one of those pointy hook latches that used to dangle from screen doors and would fly up whenever you banged the door open again."

"The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't."

"McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty Bag filled with vegetable soup."

"From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and "Jeopardy" comes on at 7 p.m. instead of 7:30."

"Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center."

"Bob was as perplexed as a hacker who means to access T:flw.quid55328.com\\aaakk/ch@ung but gets T:\\flw.quidaaakk/ch@ung by mistake."

"Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever."

"He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree."

"The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease."

"Her date was pleasant enough, but she knew that if her life was a movie this guy would be buried in the credits as something like 'Second Tall Man.'"

"Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph."

"The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the period after the Dr. on a Dr Pepper can."

"John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met."

"The thunder was ominous-sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet of metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play."

"The red brick wall was the color of a brick-red Crayola crayon."

As found on the Internet; submitted by Mark Moring

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1cul•ture \ˈkəl-chər\ n

[ME, cultivated land, cultivation, fr. AF, fr. L cultura, fr. cultus, pp.] 15c

1 : cultivation, tillage

2 : the act of developing the intellectual and moral faculties esp. by education

3 : expert care and training 〈beauty culture〉

4 a : enlightenment and excellence of taste acquired by intellectual and aesthetic training

b : acquaintance with and taste in fine arts, humanities, and broad aspects of science as distinguished from vocational and technical skills

5 a : the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations

b : the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group also : the characteristic features of everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life} shared by people in a place or time 〈popular culture〉〈southern culture〉

c : the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization 〈a corporate culture focused on the bottom line〉

d : the set of values, conventions, or social practices associated with a particular field, activity, or societal characteristic 〈studying the effect of computers on print culture〉〈changing the culture of materialism will take time —Peggy O’Mara〉

6 : the act or process of cultivating living material (as bacteria or viruses) in prepared nutrient media also : a product of such cultivation

———————

2culture vt

cul•tured; cul•tur•ing \ˈkəlch-riŋ, ˈkəl-chə-\ 1510

1 : cultivate

2 a : to grow in a prepared medium

b : to start a culture from

Merriam-Webster, I. (2003). Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary. (Eleventh ed.). Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, Inc.

———————

1shock \ˈshäk\ n

[ME; akin to MHG schoc heap] 14c : a pile of sheaves of grain or stalks of Indian corn set up in a field with the butt ends down

———————

2shock vt

15c : to collect into shocks

———————

3shock n

often attrib [MF choc, fr. choquer to strike against, fr. OF choquier, prob. of Gmc origin; akin to MD schocken to jolt] 1565

1 : the impact or encounter of individuals or groups in combat

2 a : a violent shake or jar : concussion

b : an effect of such violence

3 a (1) : a disturbance in the equilibrium or permanence of something

(2) : a sudden or violent mental or emotional disturbance

b : something that causes such disturbance 〈the loss came as a shock〉

c : a state of being so disturbed 〈were in shock after they heard the news〉

4 : a state of profound depression of the vital processes associated with reduced blood volume and pressure and caused usu. by severe esp. crushing injuries, hemorrhage, or burns

5 : sudden stimulation of the nerves and convulsive contraction of the muscles caused by the discharge of electricity through the animal body

6 a : stroke 5

b : coronary thrombosis

7 : shock absorber syn see impact

———————

4shock vt

1656

1 a : to strike with surprise, terror, horror, or disgust

b : to cause to undergo a physical or nervous shock

c : to subject to the action of an electrical discharge

2 : to drive by or as if by a shock vi

1 : to meet with a shock : collide

2 : to cause surprise or shock 〈an exhibit meant to shock〉 — shock•able \ˈshä-kə-bəl\ adj

———————

5shock adj

[perh. fr. 1shock] 1681 : bushy, shaggy

———————

6shock n

1819 : a thick bushy mass (as of hair)

Merriam-Webster, I. (2003). Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary. (Eleventh ed.). Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, Inc.

Who Am I?

I have dreams

That will come true

I have goals

That I will conquer

I have morals

Which will remain pure

I have pride

That I will not let fall

I have ability

That I will turn into strength

I have respect

Which will not turn into rebellion

I have direction

And will not get lost

I have love

That is not bound by race

I have courage

Which I will use to stand up for what I believe

I have a mind

That will not be wasted

Who am I?

I am an American teenager

…

I will rise above your standards

By Melissa E., Age 18 [T. Suzanne Eller, Real Teens, Real Stories, Real Life (Colorado Springs, Colorado: Life Journey, 2002), 62-62]

God’s Mirror

From the time I was in first grade, people have called me ugly. When I entered high school, I hoped it would be different. Surely I would be surrounded by people who were more mature and who would accept me. On the first day of school, I overheard a group of people talking. One guy said that if he were as ugly as me, he would kill himself.

So much for a new start.

Nine years. That’s a long time to hear people call you names. When I looked in the mirror, I began to see myself as they did. I started to think about suicide and was very depressed. How could God love me if I was this unattractive?

As I grew older and my appearance began to change, the cruel words finally stopped, but I still felt as ugly as ever. I lived as if the taunts and jokes were my identity. I loved God, and I knew that I was a good person. I cared about people. I had many good friends that I loved and who loved me back. God had even assured me in my prayer time that He was with me. I understood all of that, but I couldn’t get past the skewed view of myself when I looked into a mirror.

When I turned sixteen, I had to face the hard facts. I had never had a boyfriend, so this had to be the absolute final proof that the words were true. Depression began to creep back in. I knew that I didn’t want to go back to that dark place, so I took a chance. I talked to my youth pastor and to some of my good friends about how I felt. They reacted in total surprise. They had no clue that I felt the way I did. My friends helped me to understand that I was looking in the wrong mirror for the answers. I had allowed people who didn’t care for me to shape how I felt about myself.

For the first time, I took a long look in God’s mirror, and there I was – His child, His creation! God made me the way that I am. He delighted in me.

Today I am truly happy. I will never understand why people are cruel or why they say things that are so hurtful. I’m not sure why I faced teasing for such a long time, but I’m not angry. It’s not my job to make them pay for what they did. All I’m called to do is to love them. In my youth group, I look for people who walk through the door with that look on their face – uncertain, not sure if they will be accepted – and I go to them and welcome them.

There will always be those who speak without thinking. Sometimes I feel the thoughts trying to steal back into my mind. When that happens, I push them away by taking a good long look in God’s mirror, and I love what I see: His love is staring back at me. By AnaLisha A., age 16. [T. Suzanne Eller, Real Teens, Real Stories, Real Life (Colorado Springs, Colorado: Life Journey, 2002), 83-85.]

It is well documented that the percentage of Bible-based believers has steadily decreased since the Builder generation, as reflected in the following table from the book The Bridger Generation by Thom S. Rainer:

Builders (born 1927-1945): 65% Bible-based believers

Boomers (born 1946-1964): 35% Bible-based believers

Busters (born 1965-1983): 16% Bible-based believers

Bridgers (or Millennials, born 1984 or later): 4% Bible-based believers.

Currently, there are over 300,000 pornographic Web sites for teens to explore on the Internet, according to David Burt of N2H2, and the number is growing every day. [Ron Luce, Battle Cry for a Generation: The Fight to Save America’s Youth (Colorado Springs: Nexgen, 2005), 43.]

Young people average 16 to 17 hours per week watching television. If we add video games and video movies, we find that teenagers spend as many at 35 to 55 hours per week in front of a screen. Despite the hectic pace of the average home’s daily activities, families still have time to tune into over 50 hours of television per week. [Ron Luce, Battle Cry for a Generation: The Fight to Save America’s Youth (Colorado Springs: Nexgen, 2005), 45.]

Average age of first sex: 15.8 years

Average length of first sexual relationship: 3.8 months

24.4% of adolescents reported having first sex during the same month as the start of the relationship.

23.4% of first sexual relationships were “one-night stands.” [Ron Luce, Battle Cry for a Generation: The Fight to Save America’s Youth (Colorado Springs: Nexgen, 2005), 77.]

The average age of first Internet exposure to pornography is 11 years old. [“Pornography Statistics 2003,” Family Safe Media, quoted in Ron Luce, Battle Cry for a Generation: The Fight to Save America’s Youth (Colorado Springs: Nexgen, 2005), 81.]

To Be Educated

By Carolyn Caines, Supervisor

Columbia Heights Christian Academy, Longview, Washington

If I learn my ABCs, can read 600 words per minute, and can write with perfect penmanship, but have not been shown how to communicate with the Designer of all language, I have not been educated.

If I can deliver an eloquent speech and persuade you with my stunning logic, but have not been instructed in God’s wisdom, I have not been educated.

If I have read Shakespeare and John Locke and can discuss their writings with keen insight, but have not read the greatest of all books – the Bible – and have no knowledge of its personal importance, I have not been educated.

If I have memorized addition facts, multiplication tables, and chemical formulas, but have never been disciplined to hide God’s Word in my heart, I have not been educated.

If I can explain the law of gravity and Einstein’s theory of relativity, but have never been instructed in the unchangeable laws of the One Who orders our universe, I have not been educated.

If I can classify animals by their family, genus, and species, and can write a lengthy scientific paper that wins an award, but have not been introduced to the Maker’s purpose for all creation, I have not been educated.

If I can recite the Gettysburg Address and the Preamble to the Constitution, but have not been informed of the hand of God in the history of our country, I have not been educated.

If I can play the piano, the violin, six other instruments, and can write music that moves men to tears, but have not been taught to listen to the Director of the universe and worship Him, I have not been educated.

If I can run cross-country races, star in basketball, and do 100 push-ups without stopping, but have never been shown how to bend my spirit to do God’s will, I have not been educated.

If I can identify a Picasso, describe the style of da Vinci, and even paint a portrait that earns an A+, but have not learned that all harmony and beauty comes from a relationship with God, I have not been educated.

If I graduate with a perfect 4.0 and am accepted at the best university with a full scholarship, but have not been guided into a career of God’s choosing for me, I have not been educated.

If I become a good citizen, voting at each election for what is moral and right, but have not been told of the sinfulness of man and his hopelessness without Christ, I have not been educated.

However, if one day I see the world as God sees it, and come to know Him, Whom to know is life eternal, and glorify God by fulfilling His purpose for me, then I have been educated!

Rosa Parks is one of the most famous names in civil rights history. In 1955, Parks refused to give her bus seat to a white man. She was arrested for her defiance.

In her book Quiet Strength, Parks writes:

When I sat down on the bus that day, I had no idea history was being made—I was only thinking of getting home. But I had made up my mind. After so many years of being a victim of the mistreatment my people suffered, not giving up my seat—and whatever I had to face afterwards—was not important. I did not feel any fear sitting there. I felt the Lord would give me the strength to endure whatever I had to face. It was time for someone to stand up—or in my case, sit down. So I refused to move.

In an interview about that historic day, Parks corrected some misconceptions:

People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.

Greg Asimakoupoulos and Bill White; sources: Rosa Parks: My Story (Puffin Books, 1999), and Today in the Word (Spring 2002), p.19

The story of Sir Ernest Shackleton's daring expedition to cross the Antarctic is captured in the film Endurance.

In December of 1914, Shackleton and his 27-member crew aboard the ship Endurance entered the ice fields of Weddell Sea, navigating through dangerous pack ice. With only 100 miles left in the journey, Shackleton made the fateful decision to stop and wait for a break in the heavy ice. The temperature dropped and the ice closed in around the ship making it impossible to proceed. The crew would live aboard the ship for the next ten months.

Gradually the ship succumbed to the crushing grip of the ice. Shackleton gave the order to abandon ship. The crew began a march in search of safety, carrying minimal supplies and dragging three lifeboats. Eventually reaching open water, they boarded the lifeboats and sailed off in an attempt to find land. Surviving perilous conditions, they finally landed on the deserted Elephant Island.

Stranded on the island, with no hope of rescue, Shackleton and four other crew members set sail in a lifeboat in an effort to reach the island of South Georgia. Traveling 800 miles through the world's worst seas, they arrived only to discover the whaling station was on the other side of the island. In order to rescue the remaining crew in time, Shackleton and two of his men must cross on foot the treacherous cliffs of the island, which were icy and forbidding, vulnerable to sudden blizzards and hurricane winds. The island's inhabitants considered the journey impossible. Nevertheless, Shackleton and his two partners crossed in 36 hours.

Shackleton's diary provides an interesting perspective on the South Georgia Island crossing:

I know that during that long and racking march of 36 hours over the unnamed mountains of South Georgia, it seemed to me often that there were four, not three. I said nothing to my companions, but afterwards Worsley said to me, "Boss, I had a curious feeling that there was another person with us."

Content: Endurance is rated G. Elapsed time: From the White Mountain Films logo, this scene begins at 01:22:30, and ends at 01:23:02 (DVD chapter 24).

Survey

1986

70% of high school grads leave the church, never to return
65% of evangelical teens never read their Bibles
33% believe religion is out of date and out of touch
40% of all teens believe in astrology
30% read astrology column daily
93% know their sign
58% of Protestant teens believe students should have access to contraceptives.
25% of high school students contract some form of V.D.
42% of Protestant teens say there are many ways to God.
60% question that miracles are possible
28% feel the content of the Bible are not accurate.

1990

65% of all H.S. Christian students are sexually active
75% of all H.S. students cheat regularly
30% of all H.S. students have shoplifted in the past 30 days
45-50% of all teen pregnancies are aborted
3.3 million teens are alcoholics
1000 teens try to commit suicide daily
10% of H.S. students have experimented with or are involved in a homosexual lifestyle.

Bruce Wilkinson, 7 Laws of the Learner

Belief System of the Modern Man

James Engel summarized the belief system and the presuppositions that commonly prevail among what he calls modern man:

God, if He exists at all, is just an impersonal moral force.
Man basically has the capacity within himself to improve morally and make the right choices.
Happiness consists of unlimited material acquisition.
There really is no objective basis for right and wrong.
The supernatural is just a figment of someone’s imagination.
If a person lives a “good life,” the eternal destiny is assured.
The Bible is nothing other than a book written by man.

Living Proof by Jim Peterson, NavPress, 1989, p. 198