Quality Time
There is no doubt that we live in a world of changing morality. Over the years we have regularly talked about the steady – and sometimes rapid – decline in moral standards around us. We have noted that some people view the breaking down of barriers and taboos as progress towards a freer, more accepting society while the more conservative see only a disturbing downhill slide.
This predictable dichotomy spawns an accompanying reaction. Those who welcome broadening worldviews tend to promote the important role of schools in influencing the next generation. At the same time those more inclined to hold onto traditional values see the family as primary and vital to the transmission of moral standards. The trend over the past half century has definitely tipped the scales towards influences outside the home as the main vehicles by which young people develop their moral code. The school system has not only changed with the times in every way but has, in a very short time, become the foremost proponent of removing parental authority.
The flipside to that situation is that decent teachers are being punished if they don’t go along with the immoral curriculum. We hear much about teachers being laid off because they won’t toe the liberal line.
Are we now in a time when those children who have been reared in the unbiblical environment of moral relativity in the educational systems of the western world are now producing offspring who are taking moral relativity to new levels? Are we seeing cause and effect? It cannot be denied that moral values are not being taught at home as they used to be, but is this not the result of previous conditioning? It is a challenge to raise children in this environment, but it is a challenge that parents in God’s Church must rise to. We must not give up our responsibility to teach our children God’s principles of life, which are not principles of moral relativity, but concepts based on God’s law, the true standard that our children need to learn.
“You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deuteronomy 6:7).
The Feast of Tabernacles affords families wonderful opportunities to sit, walk, lie down and rise up. Make sure you plan some quality family time at the Feast.
Brian Orchard
