Another Practical Guide to the Logic, Philosophy, and Thoughts of Christianity

Section 1 - Article 8

With all those things happening, the child is in fact, most vulnerable to wayward ways, corruption and the vile influences of the world.

God is merciful. He spared me lots of the vulnerability of teenage-hood. I was short and small. The growth spurt never came. I was not studious, but rather trying to seek the meaning of all the changes in environments (be it school and classes), even bodily and emotional changes. Truth be told, I was tired of all the constant changes and the lack of stability caused me to grow tired of life itself. I truly empathize with teenage suicides for clearly, they saw no future, no meaning in anything, so a little setback like poor grades and unrequited love can snowball into suicide. Why and for what purposes are all the changes for? And the formula for life then as taught in school seemed to be only about academic achievements and planning for the future.

When you cannot stand the present, what future is there to look forward to?

And in school, one is taught life has no meaning, everything was accidentally evolved. We are random molecules.

If one is in a theistic evolution church, one gets the idea that God is a distant God, rarely interfering in the world directly, because miracles are rare. Such churches might as well teach that God had abandoned us or does not care. They are teaching compromised truth that makes matters worse and more difficult.

For me, after school, it was about more mundane meaningless things. Tuition, or extra classes in some other things, or games. All soulless, meaningless, and do not answer the deep seated questions of life and its meaning. Church (I was not in a teaching church) was just as mundane, perpetuated by fellow churchgoers that have brought the world's classification of success and goals in. Not being a studious person, I was shunned by those who did academically well or went to better schools. I thank God that my parents loved me continuously, despite the struggles which my parents went through to keep the family together, especially my dad, whose industry suffered during one of the economic recessions.

While God preserved me, but one must know how important it is for that period of time for anyone to know God. How important it was to know the meaning and purpose that God has given us at that age of changes. How crucial was it to be grounded in the Word of God and know the instructions of Our Creator. One major challenge of this age period is that of emotion, curiosity and experimentation. Without clear direction from God's Word, how easy it was to fall into the snares of the world.

The confusion on the point of academic achievements, apart from a good future job, makes no sense in bad economy, and this actually only fuels the worship of Mammon instead of God. The instability of life in school and classes as well as with physical and emotion changes cause escapism in games or worse avenues, all of which were from God. Let us not forget the social experiments of friendship, courtship and so called love typical of teenage and youth years. These are all unbiblical, although they are taught to be acceptable by the godless world in the methods, aims, and goals. While it is easy for adults to criticize the wayward child, the teenage mother, the drug addict, the alcoholic, the hooligan, we forget that those problems are all too real for the "no longer child but not yet adult" mind.

Is there truly a godly environment even in church? No. Even in the best of churches, evil will creep in in the fallen world. Vigilance can only do so much. For the devil disguises as an angel of light. And the devout Sunday school teacher or even youth pastor may be a wolf in sheep skin. So I would not even advocate the dependence in the church community.

Skepticism has gotten the better of me for the Bible tells us that there is none good. All have fallen short of the glory of God. I would not even trust myself to be a good parent if I ever have children. God forbid that I do, for I will no doubt pass and teach my evil and corrupt ways. May the Lord forbid me from being an influence ever on impressionable minds apart from the preaching and teaching of His Holy Word as they are.

It is crucial that every child be taught the Word of God firmly, that in their teenage and other periods of trouble, they learn to rely only and ONLY on God's Word. Not their parents, not their siblings, not their family, not their friends, not the school, not even the church community, and certainly not the secular world. It must and has to be the Word of God only. Let the rest come as peripheral support, for the Lord will surely use those to honor those who honor Him and His Word.

The child must be taught that the authority of God outstrips that of their parents and even pastor. It outstrips all things. One obeys their parents and submits to authority not because they are to be taught to do so, but simply because the Bible teaches so. Only with such understanding is the child, and later teenager, protected from the vices of the world, some even creeping in from within the family and church community. And with God's instruction, there is no fear for the teenager or youth against the onslaught of the fallen world.

Teenager or not. Tryingtimes or not, God's Word is above All.