In a society adrift on a raging sea of changing values and uncharted permissiveness, we must take time to teach our children that freedom is not free or they will be lost with proverbial chains around their necks.
Correct principles and laws that govern freedom are being trashed and replaced with nonsensical platitudes of political correctness.
Freedom of speech has given way to freedom of promiscuous perversions. The simple truth, “All men are created equal,” has become a hysterical rant for equal rights to the money and property that belongs to the laborer without respect to “who earned it.”
Work ethic and honesty have fallen prey to the “I want it now” syndrome. The light at the end of the tunnel leading to faith and family’s societal protection is dimming with the seeping darkness of a selfish “me” society.
Children are growing up in a world where instant gratification is the norm. They walk through a mall full of every gadget imaginable. They text across the world in nanoseconds and wake up to microwaved or boxed food.
They have never had to wait for a fall harvest or pray the rains would come in time to make the plants ready for harvest. They have never left blood from a broken blister on a hoe handle. They have never had to shear sheep or card wool to make warm socks or sweaters.
They go to department stores, where everything is neatly hanging on racks waiting for perusal. Our children have never had to prepare for the seasons; they simply learn that the thermostat controls the climate in their home or the car.
Our society depends on the productivity of others. Many have lost basic survival skills. We are not as fiercely independent as our forebears. Therefore, we are in danger of losing our freedom.
If someone else must provide for our basic needs, we are in the clutches of our benefactor. Food and clothing are powerful motivators, and a starving people can be controlled, even manipulated, to abandon personal values.
We must teach our children that freedom belongs to an independent people. We must help them turn off the technology every once in a while and figure out what they know without the Internet. They must be taught reality skills: gardening, cooking from scratch, sewing, knitting and survival skills.
If we have lost the skills ourselves, we must re-learn them. Freedom has a price tag called self-reliance. Independence from the productivity of others is a mainstay. We must preach it, live it and pass it on.
Freedom is tied to the immutable laws of God. The Ten Commandments are the foundation of a solid, productive society.
If everyone followed the principles taught in The Ten Commandments, we would have empty prisons, faithful wives and husbands, obedient children, honest men in the government, no profanity, and we would be the most prosperous of all people.
If we went a little further and added the higher law of Christ as taught in the gospels, we would treat everyone as ourselves. There would be no pornography or violence because no one would even think about being lustful or vengeful.
There would be no name-calling or evil thinking. We would put God first in our lives and get direction from Him through prayer. There would be no need for gun control or any other control for that matter. People would have no desire to injure one another.
They would weed out companies that sell violence and sex. Christians wouldn’t come in and shut the company down; they would simply not buy their wares. If the company was no longer profitable, they certainly wouldn’t continue to make those products.
True Christians would take care of the poor and needy without government assistance. Out of the goodness of their hearts, they would reach into their own pockets to help.
They would be ashamed to even ask the government. They would know, in their hearts, that it is wrong to force people to be charitable.
Besides, they would know that their own blessings depend on the charity that is in their hearts. They would not think of denying themselves the blessings that come from being charitable because they know what it is like to walk side-by-side with the Savior in His glorious ministry, and that is worth more than all the money in the world.
Living the law of Christ, people would not be able to look upon poverty without being motivated to do something about it. They would be driven by a desire to bless. They would know that charity never fails and it is the pure love of the Savior. What a wonderful world that would be.
We must teach our children that the laws of God need to be safeguarded for the sake of society.
The only way we can really teach our children is by principle and example. We must teach Christian values by daily reminding our children through scripture reading and family prayer.
Then we must show them the blessings that flow from those principles by living them in our own lives. What if our children don’t see the blessings? Don’t worry, they will.
Any honest effort to bring Christ into your life will be rewarded by a feeling of peace and love. You will become more tenderhearted and kind. Your children will feel that love and eventually mimic your behavior.
Freedom has a price that must be paid with obedience to correct principles or with the blood of patriots. Ronald Reagan said, “Freedom is never more than one generation from extinction.
We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”
Our children are on the brink. It is already beginning; we sleep in our comfort zones and think “all is well in America.” Supermarkets have lots of food on the shelves. The gas station down the street has never run out of gas.
The electric company will always fix the power problem. Mom and Dad always have money for a new video game or two. Sure we have our problems, a shooting now and then, but it isn’t happening here. They are taking our guns away.
That will solve that. If nobody has guns, we don’t have to worry about that. They won’t really take away our freedom of speech and religion. We are Americans.
We don’t need to really follow the Constitution, it was written hundreds of years ago by some old men with powdered wigs. It can’t possibly solve our problems today. Besides, it is hard to read, and we don’t get all those big words.
The Bible is outdated, and church doesn’t fit into our sports events and recreational schedule. We don’t know if there really is a God. We can’t talk about it because it might offend someone.
Our teachers say we came from a one-celled animal living in the ocean. Who cares anyway! We just care about the next movie coming to a theatre near us or the next text message with a poll about the top 10 music videos.
Some have already bought into the idea that the world owes them a living. Some are already under the impression that just because they were born, they have the right to live however they please and there will be no accountability in the end.
They have been taught that equality means equal property, equal wealth and equal victory in the game. Our children are being taught by the media that cheaters win and violence is the answer to most problems.
There are other ideas being circulated that target the family as we know it. Our children are buying it under the guise of tolerance.
Of course, I must make a disclaimer. Not all Americans are on the wrong track, not all young people are blind to the changes coming. There are young people today who are intelligent, well-informed, compassionate and creative.
They are self-reliant and resourceful and could live very well without depending on the resources of others. They follow God with more fervor than any other generation that has come before. They know what freedom means and would be willing to fight for it.
We must make sure those children are our children. We can’t leave their education to somebody else. We must teach them our values or they will espouse the values of someone else.
I am not talking about teaching our children to fight. I am talking about teaching them to follow the Prince of Peace to bring peace to the world. Paraphrasing Reagan, Christianity “is only one generation away from extinction.” We must champion it and preserve it for all generations to come. PD