Just A Thought To Think About – NEGATIVE INFLUENCES.
Are you aware of the negative influences that are viewed by
countless numbers of people? One of the more recent is Netflix. AFA ( American
Family Association) reports: “More than two years after the 2017
debut of 13 Reasons Why,
Netflix finally responded to concerns about the negative impact of the
controversial suicide-themed series. Netflix deleted Season 1’s three-minute
graphic teen suicide scene. But that was after releasing a second season about
suicide, rape, sexual assault, and mental illness, and now a third season with
a teen homicide at the helm of the show’s darkness, filth, and perversion…AFA
executive vice president Ed Vitagliano said that the whole series is a dark and
demonic primer for impressionable young people, inviting them to enter a realm
of perversion, hatred, and violence that has been birthed in hell itself.”
Of greater concern, are the influences upon a younger
generation that causes them to reject authority, church related functions, and
cultural values. With the number of younger people who have made a choice – a
decision - about life, what are the influences that causes them to consider
alternatives that prove to be negative and painful for others? Behind Heart
Failure and Cancer, Suicide is now one of the leading causes of death. Among
veterans, it is calculated that 20 veterans per day commit suicide. On
average, adjusted for age, 13.0 suicides per 100,000 people (mostly in the age
group of 15 to 24), the highest rate recorded in 28 years. Too many people brush off the idea
that the Internet or things promoted by outlets such as Facebook, You Tube,
etc. can be the contributing factor.
Two things that made me aware of some of the thinking was (1)
a Bible Study by Greg Laurie (whose Assistant recently committed suicide) in
which he stated that (a) growing up, he never knew affection in the home, and (b)
Church had no appeal to him because he viewed it as cliché religious talk; and
(2) seeing the AFA Netflix Report (www.AFA.net/netflix)
and a post by Forbes Magazine about the 13 Reasons Why influences upon impressionable
young people.
It should behoove one to know more about: (a) where are your children/young people going; (b) what are the values they are embracing; (c)
why have they stopped having interest in religion and Church related
activities; (d) what are they viewing on the devices we allow them to have and
become absorbed with; (e) do we take
time to discuss – talk with in a quality way by listening to them – about what
they are thinking (or maybe contemplating)? In too many cases Pastors and
Parents are AWOL when it comes to the inroads negative influences are having on
a younger generation. Do we care? Should we care?
In a day of wickedness, secularism, suppression of religious
values and diminishing of religious influences, Peter declared – First Peter
5:8 (MSG), “Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce,
and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up.
You’re not the only ones plunged into these hard times…” The Lord mandated in
Deuteronomy 6:6-7, “These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them
diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,
and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Is
this being done? Have we reached a plateau where we feel it is no longer
necessary?
PLEASE – don’t be offended by any of the above! You, like
me, may have been unaware of some of these negative influences that have caused
such devastating climaxes in the lives of the young, the veterans, the
depressed and the lonely.
Prayerfully – Consider these things with me.
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