Train up a Child

       King Solomon, in Proverbs 22: 6 makes a simple statement: Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.  The inference within is twofold. First, it's assumed that someone of authority must train a child. Though that person may or may not be a parent; it's implied that a child is disciplined by a teacher/mentor and trained in 'the' way he/she 'should' go.  I think of it simply as someone who would trail blaze a course in life - and hopefully a good one.  Also, it's a statement of reasonable assumption that there is an absolute way in which the child 'should' go.  This course is not the teacher/parent's course necessarily - meaning each child has a unique path that leads to their own life.  But oftentimes the legacy of parents isn't just found in the DNA, but also in applied gifts trained into a contemporary occupation in the next generation.  The parent /teacher is to support, train, discipline and guide a child to find their way.


Current societal trends have eroded the authority of parents (or teachers) and thus breaking a viable chain of command.  Granted, sometimes by their own making no doubt, (one loses authority when one doesn't walk the talk).  Divorce also takes its toll, breaking up the family unit and damaging the relationship between parents and children.  And absent fathers, who were once primary protecting agents of the family, are a grave problem. Fathers significantly name children by affirmation (or degradation) and provide necessary discipline for character development.  Most mothers will attest that an involved father makes child rearing far more effective.  Children are very vulnerable in these precarious times. My point here is this: we lose the next generation and a whole society is changed forever - and not for the good of it.  


I was disturbed to learn recently from a teacher friend of mine, as she shared about an event in her classroom just how much this guiding 'authority' has eroded.  She had a female student (registered as female) come to her and request to be addressed as a male.  This teacher explained in loving terms that she couldn't add to her 12yr. old confusion by doing that as she was in fact a girl (the girl was probably influenced by the recent celebration of Chad Bono on 'Dancing with the Stars').  Her administrator admonished this teacher saying that in these times the student's request must respected.  Have things gotten this upside down? Without absolutes to guide, to what end is this helping these who need direction?  The problem with children is that they are just children.  They have little of life experience, which contributes to informed, wise decisions.  When they fail or have missteps of judgment, it's expected because they are simply developing children.  Failure is the very stepping stone that governs consequential maturation.  Mentors, parents, teachers and the like are helpful agents also in that process toward adulthood.  But how do these agents for development provide helpful guidance if all absolutes are in question? When 'critical thinking' became a thread in our school curriculum back in the 80s; I'm sure it didn't mean to question DNA.  So what next? It's a slippery slope when we forgive all standards and twist reality to subjectively suit the politics at hand.  When a child is confused as to their sexual orientation or gender; I question the support system that developed that confusion.   


So sorry folks. Respectfully I don't buy into the notion that one is born with what is pervertedly unnatural (yes, I said unnatural - a better term than 'normal'). Some would say I'm a bigoted homophobe or intolerant.  I'm not and I don't hate anyone.  But when a segment of a community increases in number, progressively permeating a society with greater influence - it's a developing phenomenon not a genetic happening.  And history confirms any society that embraced homosexuality began a decline to its end.  So yeah, I'm not going to tolerate unnatural perversion of any kind, especially when guiding developing children.  


The problem I see with sexual perversion especially is that it's POWERFUL in confusing the natural order for a child's development and self discovery.  The compulsive yearnings of sexual inclinations are next to impossible to change once breached through experience.  Folks, our children are vulnerable to ions of clamoring stimulation for sexual experience at all ages - whether by molestation, the internet, TV or even socializing (indoctrination) at school.  It defiles within and shapes, at the core of a person, behavior thereafter. 


I don't mean to suggest there are gender roles to play, yet we do need to define what it means to be a man or woman because there are definitive virtues to each.  Simply put for example, men are more-less warriors by nature, hence protective - and women are more-less nurturers (helpful since women bear children).  But herein lies the problem - who decided that a quiet man, artistic, musical or tended to dwell in the tents like Jacob (reference Genesis 25:27) had to  be gay, perverting sexual activity?  Jacob would have never enjoyed the posterity of his offspring if he was thus.  Same as with strong athletic women.  Why must we label them as lesbians, perverting what is natural? Was not a Joan of Arc (who wasn't lesbian, though many have tried to label her as such) a gifted servant in her mission? I argue that different gifts and talents don't lay claim to sexual orientation.  To pervert what is natural at the very least, steals a birthright for procreation.  


So yeah, folks, there - I said it.  It's time to draw a line in the sand and step up to protect our kids courageously, unselfishly, offering loving guidance to our youth.  They're being confused and misled to the detriment of our society.  


Somebody had to say it - like when "The Emperor has no Clothes".  It's time to speak the obvious.