The Streets of Ferguson and Your Living Room
By Dan L. White
The Obama administration and Eric Holder just announced that they will investigate the Ferguson, Missouri police department. Certainly the militarization of local police departments does not seem like a healthy thing for a “free” society, but as the urban areas of the country grow more riotous, then the police naturally want to grow more militant to protect against that. Of course, Ferguson is where the well publicized riots recently occurred, but there is no mention from the Obama people about investigating those rioters. They are only investigating the police.
Those riots included looting of local businesses, as reported widely in the media. Did you notice that looting sounds better than robbing?
Neither term sounds really good, of course, but looting implies a crowd impulse action, while robbing is just plain stealing. Looting is robbing en masse, which actually makes it even worse than one-on-one robbing.
All the looting and rioting in Ferguson was presented as the fault of someone else other than the looters, the blame being placed either on the police or the white suburbanites who weren’t involved in the looting. Some of the looters were even heard to express the opinion that they deserved what they were taking, which made it not even stealing or robbing at all.
Most media pictured all this as justified. They did not try to find out what was truth, or wait for law to prevail. As one local TV news reported, the protesters were trying to get justice. The television producer had already reached and delivered a verdict as to what justice is. No need for an investigation. No need for a jury. The media takes care of all that for us.
Statistically, it is likely that many of those who were rioting have received government benefits of some sort. Those benefits were designed to help people who are down and out, so that with the help they can get up and in. The benefits are supposed to make them a more congenial part of the society, to align them with the society instead of against it.
What happened?
They rioted.
When Neville Chamberlain agreed to Hitler’s demands, that was supposed to satisfy Hitler and prevent war.
What happened? In reality, it only whetted Adolf’s appetite for conquest.
Several years ago Israel let the Palestinians have the Gaza Strip. The idea was that if the Palestinians had their own land, they would stop trying to exterminate Israel.
What happened?
That only gave the Palestinians a base for greater attacks, and they are still bent on exterminating the Jews, only now they are more effective at it.
What happened in all those situations is human nature. The liberal view is that if you give people enough, they will then inevitably be nice people. In contradiction to that, it turns out in today’s America, the people who have received the most in government benefits are the people who most hate America. They who were given the most feel they are the most deprived. Those who should be the most thankful are the most bitter.
All too often, that is the way human nature is. And all too often, Christian parents make the same mistake as liberal politicians. They try to pacify human nature in their children with payoffs, to correct problems with “love” instead of discipline.
The Bible is very plain that parents are to strongly discipline their children. The Proverbs are direct and firm and unmistakably clear in their teaching on that. You either accept God’s word or you reject it, as the humanists do. Some Christians in these modern times are so advanced in their faith that they don’t bother to pay attention to the Hebrew scriptures or the Old Testament including the Proverbs, yet when the early Christianos were instructed to study the scriptures, the Hebrew scriptures is what they were to study to guide their lives. To contradict the Proverbs about childrearing, as many modern American Christians do either in word or in practice, is to call God a liar. The book of Hebrews says that it is impossible for God to lie. Further, Hebrews reinforces the principle of parent disciplining, comparing it to what God does with us.
Hebrews 12:6-11 WEB
(6) For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.”
(7) It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
(8) But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then are you illegitimate, and not children.
(9) Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?
(10) For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.
(11) All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised thereby.
Giving discipline takes character in the parent and builds character in the parent. I have heard parents say, “My dad beat me so I am never going to spank my kids.” That is a cop out, using someone else’s mistakes as an excuse not to show character themselves. Parents will always make mistakes, but the greatest mistake is to try to avoid the responsibilities of parenting altogether, including disciplining.
Many modern American parents try the same approach as liberal government. Instead of demanding personal responsibility, liberal politicians give “love;” that is, they give government benefits to the “victims” of a free enterprise society. Many American parents today try to “love” their children into obedience and respect. They neglect to discipline them, as God so plainly instructs. Instead they always try positive rewards, with constant bribes and praise, always avoiding any negative evaluations of the children. When young children act up, instead of making them behave, the American way today is to give the child a bribe, often junk food, which rots teeth and bulges bellies. Such bribing actually teaches the child to misbehave, in order to get the rewards. This approach also has the constant “Good job!” praise that is now an American joke. Everything the kid does is met with a “Good job!” exclamation and the kid is never, never told, “Boy, that was lousy! You need to do better.” One school even went so far in its athletic awards presentation as to make sure those who hadn’t excelled in athletics didn’t feel badly. Of course, that made those who had excelled feel badly by minimizing their outstanding efforts and reinforced the lax efforts of those who hadn’t excelled. “Good job, goof offs!”
All of this is a sign of a dying, dilapidated society that simply does not have the character to stand for right and against wrong. Rome went down this path with its circuses and doles. Many American Christian parents are choosing this approach in their child rearing, choosing to follow liberal psychology instead of God’s word.
But there is a price to be paid. Human nature will erupt, as it always does. Again, those Americans who have received the most government benefits are the most likely to riot. In a similar way, young people who have constantly received praise and rewards instead of discipline will often riot, particularly during their teen years. Those parents who indulged their children instead of disciplining them will be somewhat surprised, but they shouldn’t be. Human nature is human nature, even in our own children.
Human nature is one of the greatest proofs of God. We are not as humanists say we are, just deprived victims. We are as God says we are, inherently selfish and evil. “For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts, coveting, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness,” Mark 7:21,22. This includes all children. One of the great lessons of the recent riots is that you cannot bribe away human nature. The liberals have had unending welfare programs in place since Lyndon Johnson. They have not changed human nature. If you try the liberal approach with your children, you will very likely wind up on the streets of Ferguson.
When the Obama people stand against the police and not against the rioters, that only encourages more people to riot. And when parents think they are going to “love” their children into obedience without giving the negative of discipline, they are only encouraging their children’s human nature, which will show itself soon enough.
– – – – –
Homeschool Helpers
Hartville, MO. 65667
Find us on Facebook
www.homeschool-helpers.info
Subscribe to this free e-newsletter
Photo by Gwydion M. Williams 
Recent Comments