[Biblemat] S) I SAW A CHILD

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  Here is a study from my
files.  Use to the glory of God.

I SAW A CHILD

     What I saw was not what one reads about children in story
books and poems:  It was not the beauty of childish innocen-
ce; the simple trusting faith in something big, wide and wond-
erful; a child roaming the fields with his beloved dog, search-
ing out the marvelous mysteries and wonders of nature.
Though I thank my Lord that I can still see these, I am sadden-
ed by what I see more and more each day.  But these children
I am telling about, I actually saw myself.

     I Saw A Girl: -- about the age of eleven, leaving home dressed as if she 
were training in the art of prostitution.  Cheap, vulgar and sexy standards 
were permitted by her 
mother and father.  Her clothing was a shame to the very
name of "Modesty."  Yes, I see hundreds of such going to
school, to parties and elsewhere, destroying the God-given
beauthy of childhood by the cheap and vulgar attire and make-
up.  I saw an older girl who was the victim of her parents' per-
missive up-bringing, who was forever ruined by the vicious
act of rape, a shattered mind and body through drug addict-
ion, and many other abuses.

     I saw a boy: -- about fourteen, chased by the police becau-
se he stole several cartons of cigarettes from a neighborhood
grocery.  I saw him after he was caught and checked over --
defiant, foul-mouthed, with only ugly contempt for the law
officers who apprehended him.  I also saw a boy, about nine,
with a switch-blade knife and boasting of his skill in its use.

     I saw so many young boys and girls living in a lew manner
in a "hippie colony" like a pack of wild animals, stripped of
pride and decency, honor and integrity.

     I saw a child: -- of those professing to be Christians roam-
ing the streets while their parents were on the way to services of the 
church.  If these children are not taught to 
obey God and parental authority which demands they should
be brought up "in the nuture and admonition of the Lord"
(Eph. 6:4), then there is not much authority for which they are
taught to show respect.  If these children are not taught to
show respect for God's authority, which is the highest of all,
how can they be expected to respect civil authority (Rom. 13:
1), or even parental authority (Eph. 6:1)?

     This is not the end of all the tragedy that I saw among these children.  
This but the beginning.  The suffering and
remorse -- the lives ruined cannot all be told on this page.

     But then I saw a mother: -- who feared for the lack of res-
pect for law and order in our society.  I saw a father who com-
plained that our government failed to take corrective measure
to curb violence, rioting, looting, bloodshed that has swept
as a devouring fire across the nation.  Yes, I saw parents who
were responsible for allowing their children to deverlop into
law-breakers, allowing them to show disrespect for law and
order, allowing their children (even encouraging them) to en-
gage in sinful, immoral acts, then blaming our government
for their own failures at home!  I see and hear church mem-
bers complaining about church problems, yet allowing their
children to develop into undesirable church members.  What
better kind of church do we expect than that made up of people corrupted by 
the pollutions of the world?

     What I saw can be multiplied by the thousands: -- What I
saw has been seen by thousands of others.  When these sad
cases are multiplied by so many thousands, is it any wonder
that the whole nation become influenced?  the basic unit of
our society is the home.  Destroy moral and spiritual stand-
ards in the home and this evil reflects in the whole society.
Multiply this type of home environment by the thousands and
you have the answer to all the lawlessness and unrest in our
nation.  No government OF THE PEOPLE can accomplish any
more FOR THE PEOPLE than the basic units of its society,
the homes, are willing to accomplish.  There is always room
for improvements in our government, as there is in any area
of our lives, but the government cannot substitute for the home.  No matter 
how good a government we have, it can 
never amend the breakdown of the moral and spiritual stand-
ards of the home.

     And this same principle is true in the church.  How weak
or strong is the church depends on the weakness or strengt-
hs of the individual members who make up the church.  If we
complain about the ills of the church, it is, in reality, the cry 
of a guilty conscience of those who fail to live up to the de-
mands of the gospel, by which and upon which each Christ-
ian stands, and by which and upon which the church stands.

     Yes, we want to see a healthy society and a strong church.  But this 
will be only whent he little girl is taught by
her parents to behave as a little girl should; when that boy
who was caught stealing is taught, at home, true principles
of honesty and virtue; when boys and girls all over the land
will have the security of good, sound and proper parental dis-
cipline at home.  The home, then, is thefirst place to look for
the problems which cause the effects of lawlessness.  This is
not a political issue to be tossed about by candidates.  It is
an issue that must be faced at home.  The problems of the 
nation are the problems of the home.  What kind of children
are seen in your home?  ---- Leo Rogol in Apostolic Doctrine,
March 1969.
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