Are You Whistling Past the Graveyard?

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” I John 1:8

Speaking out in a young marrieds’ Sunday School class, one new mother adamantly declared, “I believe children are born good. Children learn about sin from other adults.” She would not accept the biblical teaching of original sin being discussed in the class. In her mind, children were too innocent to have a sinful nature. Chuck Colson once likened this thinking to “whistling past our children’s graveyard.”

William Golding didn’t believe in original sin either, at least until World War II changed his thinking. In 1954 he published his first novel, Lord of The Flies, a powerful and disturbing parable about the sin nature in every man, including children. The book describes what happens when kids stranded on an island lack any moral guidance by adults.

The evidence of what happens when adult moral guidance is missing is abundantly obvious in our day. Too many kids are raised in a moral vacuum and expected to figure things out for themselves. One mother shared how she encourages her teenage daughter to bring boyfriends home to have sex because she believes it will be safer. No discussion or consideration of moral implications and consequences is involved. This is her idea of providing moral guidance.

This hands-off approach to parenting (and grandparenting) is one reason teenage pregnancy and abortion has skyrocketed. It explains why parents of kids like Eric Harris, Dylan Kiebold (the Columbine shooters), or the three Massachusetts girls who tormented Phoebe Prince several years ago till she killed herself, or twenty-one year-old Dylann Roof, who recently shot nine people in a South Carolina church prayer meeting, are totally clueless and surprised by such horrific acts committed by their own children. While there are no guarantees our children (grandchildren) will turn out differently, the truth is that moral guidance is the responsibility and expectation of good parenting, and grandparenting. That’s right—grandparenting!

Grandparents, even if your grandkids are blessed to receive excellent moral instruction at home, that does not eliminate your responsibility to also teach and model righteousness (See Deut. 4 and 6). And if moral guidance is missing at home, then your responsibility becomes even more critical. Don’t fall for the lie that they will figure it out on their own, even though, by God’s grace, some will figure it out. Such foolish reasoning is no less cavalier than whistling past your grandchildren’s graveyard. This is serious business with eternal consequences.

What are you doing to provide a godly moral compass that your grandchildren might want to imitate? Obviously, a good starting place is on your knees seeking God’s wisdom and grace for the task. I also believe there is great value in getting together with other grandparents to pray, study God’s Word, and share ideas for teaching the truth to our grandkids.

I hope you will also link arms with other grandparents to intercede on behalf of the next generations on Grandparent’s Day of Prayer this September 13^th. There’s just too much at stake eternally if we don’t… wouldn’t you agree?

GRANDPAUSE: Regeneration is not about reforming a life, but transforming it. Regeneration brings to the heart something that was never there before…new life, new hope, new heart, new goals, new purpose, new love. –Roy Lessin