Greetings, Gentle Reader,
We Americans are living in an increasingly wicked world. It wasn’t supposed to be this way in the Land of The Free and The Home of The Brave, but it is.
Our courts are mandating the acceptance of lifestyles that we LDS know are forbidden by our Heavenly Father. We know it is never good to go against His will, because He only tells us not to do things that are harmful to us. Therefore, by extrapolation, our courts deliberately are ordering us to accept things that will hurt us. That is diametrically opposed to the mandate the Constitution gives them, but many 21st century judges don’t see it that way. They see those Constitutional requirements as basic guidelines laid down by a bunch of old fashioned fuddy duddies, who were entirely too religious for modern America.
Now, if you tell your small child not to jump off the dining room chairs, and he continues to do it, you know it is only a matter of time before he will get hurt. You know you have given him a mandate that will keep him from hurting himself. He doesn’t see it that way. In his eyes, you are telling him you don’t want him to have fun.
That is how supporters of these destructive lifestyles look at Heavenly Father’s laws. He just doesn’t want them to have fun. In fact, that is an accusation leveled at parents by some of their teenage boy’s friends. "You just don’t know how to have fun, so you don’t want him to have fun." Teenage boys are especially susceptible to such blandishments. That abundant testosterone tells them to stand up to any tyranny, whether real or imagined, and what could be more tyrannical than an order to eschew all fun.
Could we say we have our work cut out for us? I think so! So, how do you defeat this dragon? You know which dragon, the one that is determined to steal not only your child’s virtue, but his very eternal life.
This is no easy task, but some parents have been much more successful than others. Why? It has to do with the degree of love and guidance, strong protective love and guidance, they show their children. Will it always succeed? No, but it is vastly better than allowing them too much room.
Remember that most teenage boys are made up of 95 parts of testosterone and foolishness and 5 parts of good sense. Am I saying they are bad? Of course not. I’m saying they don’t have enough wisdom and experience to recognize danger when they see it. Nor do they have enough natural fear to turn tail and run when they are in genuine danger.
Some of our bravest soldiers, throughout our nation’s history, have been teenage boys. In December, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked, they left school in droves to enlist. They lied about their age and went off to war. Am I finding fault with such bravery? I’m sitting at this computer and crying as I think of it, which should settle that question. But their bravery often outweighs their wisdom, which is where wise fathers and mothers come in.
Make sure your children genuinely like you. Never, but never, belittle them. Make sure they respect your knowledge. Keep up with the dangers of this age, and never hesitate to teach them what to fear. Do your homework. They will know if you are uneducated concerning the drugs they are being offered, the sexual enticements they face. Teach them about sexually transmitted diseases. Tell them about the elevated chances of marriage failure for couples who live together before they marry.
More than anything else, once they are married, teach them to watch their tongue with their spouse. One of the nastiest marriage destroyers is that mind set that says, "Hey, I have a license!" when they are spoken to about their mean verbiage.
Teach them about living within their means, which so often means they must not use credit cards. Irresponsible behavior where money is concerned is a surefire marriage killer, and if it doesn’t kill the marriage, it will keep the couple in abject bondage, yet all the while, they will continue to be barraged by credit card offers.
Teach them it is not a compliment to be offered a credit card, though they will be told it is. In truth, it is a fishing expedition to see whether they are sufficiently gullible to fall for the line of a good con-man.
Finally, make them understand that we are living in the day of Satan’s last stand. There is nothing he won’t try. There is no war he will hesitate to facilitate. There is no tyrant he will fail to support. There is no vicious social system he will fail to engender, especially if it will abuse Heavenly Father’s beloved daughters and degrade his equally beloved sons.
We do, indeed, live in a spiritually dangerous age, and we parents are on the front lines. Let us take a page from our teenage sons’ book and fight to the last day of our mortal probation for those sons and daughters. Heavenly Father expects no less, and, indeed, He deserves no less.
We Americans are living in an increasingly wicked world. It wasn’t supposed to be this way in the Land of The Free and The Home of The Brave, but it is.
Our courts are mandating the acceptance of lifestyles that we LDS know are forbidden by our Heavenly Father. We know it is never good to go against His will, because He only tells us not to do things that are harmful to us. Therefore, by extrapolation, our courts deliberately are ordering us to accept things that will hurt us. That is diametrically opposed to the mandate the Constitution gives them, but many 21st century judges don’t see it that way. They see those Constitutional requirements as basic guidelines laid down by a bunch of old fashioned fuddy duddies, who were entirely too religious for modern America.
Now, if you tell your small child not to jump off the dining room chairs, and he continues to do it, you know it is only a matter of time before he will get hurt. You know you have given him a mandate that will keep him from hurting himself. He doesn’t see it that way. In his eyes, you are telling him you don’t want him to have fun.
That is how supporters of these destructive lifestyles look at Heavenly Father’s laws. He just doesn’t want them to have fun. In fact, that is an accusation leveled at parents by some of their teenage boy’s friends. "You just don’t know how to have fun, so you don’t want him to have fun." Teenage boys are especially susceptible to such blandishments. That abundant testosterone tells them to stand up to any tyranny, whether real or imagined, and what could be more tyrannical than an order to eschew all fun.
Could we say we have our work cut out for us? I think so! So, how do you defeat this dragon? You know which dragon, the one that is determined to steal not only your child’s virtue, but his very eternal life.
This is no easy task, but some parents have been much more successful than others. Why? It has to do with the degree of love and guidance, strong protective love and guidance, they show their children. Will it always succeed? No, but it is vastly better than allowing them too much room.
Remember that most teenage boys are made up of 95 parts of testosterone and foolishness and 5 parts of good sense. Am I saying they are bad? Of course not. I’m saying they don’t have enough wisdom and experience to recognize danger when they see it. Nor do they have enough natural fear to turn tail and run when they are in genuine danger.
Some of our bravest soldiers, throughout our nation’s history, have been teenage boys. In December, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked, they left school in droves to enlist. They lied about their age and went off to war. Am I finding fault with such bravery? I’m sitting at this computer and crying as I think of it, which should settle that question. But their bravery often outweighs their wisdom, which is where wise fathers and mothers come in.
Make sure your children genuinely like you. Never, but never, belittle them. Make sure they respect your knowledge. Keep up with the dangers of this age, and never hesitate to teach them what to fear. Do your homework. They will know if you are uneducated concerning the drugs they are being offered, the sexual enticements they face. Teach them about sexually transmitted diseases. Tell them about the elevated chances of marriage failure for couples who live together before they marry.
More than anything else, once they are married, teach them to watch their tongue with their spouse. One of the nastiest marriage destroyers is that mind set that says, "Hey, I have a license!" when they are spoken to about their mean verbiage.
Teach them about living within their means, which so often means they must not use credit cards. Irresponsible behavior where money is concerned is a surefire marriage killer, and if it doesn’t kill the marriage, it will keep the couple in abject bondage, yet all the while, they will continue to be barraged by credit card offers.
Teach them it is not a compliment to be offered a credit card, though they will be told it is. In truth, it is a fishing expedition to see whether they are sufficiently gullible to fall for the line of a good con-man.
Finally, make them understand that we are living in the day of Satan’s last stand. There is nothing he won’t try. There is no war he will hesitate to facilitate. There is no tyrant he will fail to support. There is no vicious social system he will fail to engender, especially if it will abuse Heavenly Father’s beloved daughters and degrade his equally beloved sons.
We do, indeed, live in a spiritually dangerous age, and we parents are on the front lines. Let us take a page from our teenage sons’ book and fight to the last day of our mortal probation for those sons and daughters. Heavenly Father expects no less, and, indeed, He deserves no less.
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