Monkey see, Monkey do

You've heard the expression monkey see, monkey do?? As we are talking about how the culture affects young people and people in general, I wanted to share this quick thought with you tonight.

I was getting ready for Bible Study earlier tonight and was fixing my hair and my 16 month old son came up behind me and started watching the way I was fixing my hair. After a couple of minutes he figured that he needed to fix his hair as well so he started mimicking my actions.

This triggered a question in my mind, if a 16 month old copies the actions of someone he loves and looks up to, how much more do teenagers do this all the time?? Why do teenage guys think it is cool to have sex with as many girls as they possibly can, because that is what is portrayed as normal and is even praised in our culture. Why do teenage girls think that it is cool to get pregnant outside of marriage, because in the last few years this is something that has been glorified in our culture.

Teenager, instead of looking for someone here to model yourself after, why not look into the Bible and model yourself after Jesus Christ!! Men will always let us down, but Jesus will never fail!! He is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Parents, Pastors, Youth Pastors, etc., know that there are teenagers that are going to be watching you, we need to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ and anytime a young person seems to trying to model themselves after you let them know that they need to be looking to Jesus Christ!!!

God Bless,
Nathan

The Influencing Culture

When you hear the word culture, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? The first thing I think of is the influence culture has on our lives, the decisions we make, where we shop, the clothes we wear, the places we eat, etc. People really have no idea how influential the culture that surrounds you can be.

I imagine that you could finish the following phrases from popular advertising campaigns, McDonald's - I'm ________.
Burger King - Have it ________.
Taco Bell - Think ____________.
This is a very simple example of how familar we are with our culture and how ingrained these things are in our mind.

So don't you think that all of the emphasis that is placed on young girls being skinny and looking like a model contributes to the many girls that are bulimic or anorexic. These girls that have it constantly before them that if they are going to amount to anything in life that they have to be a certain weight or do their hair a certain way or dress a certain way. Or, how about the young man that all he sees on TV is guys that are having sex with any and every girl that will let them and they are led to believe that this is what makes them a Man, or the young man that sees homosexuality always before him and is led to believe that he was born that way? Absolutely, our culture, our scoiety, has a great influence in this area.

More and more we are seeing these thing I just mentioned placed before our young people and we wonder why our society is in a downward spiral. We wonder why are young people are not turning out to be upstanding citizens, when all they see and hear is that there is no absolute, no right and wrong, and it all depends on the situation.

How do we combat this culture that so influences us and our young people??? We can only reverse the course we are right now with one action, to tell this generation the truth of the Word of God!!! The church and christians have got to stop hiding in a corner and stand up and proclaim the Word of God!!!

Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

God Bless,
Nathan