AED..arrested emotional development

I found a rather interesting read today, I'll share the link for your benefit if you wish to go there.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/08/...stroy-america/

In short, arrested emotional development is characterized in part by adolescent behavior like lying, negative attitudes, disobedience and disrespect, drug and alcohol abuse, depression, and issues of sexuality.

My point in bringing it here is to show that sans technology, people today are pretty much the same as they have been for thousands of years, and to point to a possible correlation between abundance and emotional decay as a society. There will be holes not covered.

Biblically speaking, one of the first instances is given in Deuteronomy 32, God picked His people up, dusted them off and blessed them with plenty, and for a time they maintained the emotional maturity to recognize what He had done for them. But, the easy life began the decay and we see,

Deu 32:12-15 KJV So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. (13) He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock; (14) Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape. (15) But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

The bible is full of this behavior, it's basically the history of our people, over and over again things would get tough, we would repent, God in His love would get us back on track, we would again begin to decay from within...

Fast forward to the days of Immanuel, hear His appraisal of the nation and time in which He walked the earth.

Mat 11:16-19 KJV But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, (17) And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. (18) For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. (19) The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.

This generation, do you believe it is much different than ours?

Again.

Luk 7:31-35 KJV And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like? (32) They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept. (33) For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. (34) The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! (35) But wisdom is justified of all her children.

Perhaps I digress, the entire point of this post is to get you to look beyond the walls of your church and see the real world that you are in, but thankfully do to the grace of GOD you are not of the world.

Joh 17:9-17 KJV I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. (10) And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. (11) And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. (12) While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. (13) And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. (14) I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. (15) I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. (16) They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. (17) Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

In retrospect, this has been more of a statement than an offer to discuss, but I will let it stand.

Every generation feels the need to outdo the previous one with acts of dumbness. What is shocking is that so many are not progressing to adulthood.

@dverna, agreed

The Lew Rockwell article is right on. The demographics today in the USA are: more people have leisure time to be entertained; half the population is below average intelligence; the idea has gained currency that it is good to be an iconoclast and bad to tell people about morals.
Hence we get the Madonnas and the Kathy Griffins, and very few read the manuals about how to live properly, which is what Deuteronomy teaches (written 4400 years ago?). I try to correct this all the time, as a substitute teacher (see my other post in this forum). I take heart in the accomplishments of my current and former students, which I hear about from parents (Brittany is an attorney, Madison is a senior at UMO and will be a nurse and is Captain of their field hockey team, etc.). Each civilization can fall into a desuetude of the moral will. It is necessary for the older of us to point the way to the younger, and to discourage foolishness and to point out hoaxes (anthropogenic global warming, Russians hacking the election of 2016 being two major examples). I have great faith in the sensibleness of our youth if the nonsense and silliness of things is pointed out to them.

Amen to all above! I don't think it's any coincidence that we had the "Gay 1890's" that was followed by the Spanish American and WWI. Or that we had the "Roaring 20's," and then WWII. We just, as a species, don't seem to learn from the past, nor do we seem to have the wherewithall to complete the things we engage in. It's long been lamented that we never seem to "finish" any wars we fight. We just get to a point where we feel relatively "comfortable" ending the conflict, but we have done little to win the hearts of the defeated. I consider this a very curious thing, since our form of gov't and living, as they've traditionally been practiced during times that we've been "all that we could be," basically, COULD be easily "sold" to any defeated foe, if we just did the "Christian" thing, and tried to teach them the simple Truth.

The more we do, the more we seem to err, and the longer we err, the more deeply and thoroughly we seem to do it! Man's will seems to consistently lead us to depravity and some sort of downfall. And if our nation, the current USA, goes totally heathen, and it's headed increasingly in that direction, we will fall, and it'll be a GREAT fall, and there will (appropriately?) an awful lot of weeping and wailing, but there will be no assuaging of the pain, for we'll all know, somewhere down deep inside us, that WE were the cause of it all, by following OUR wills rather than the perfect will of our Lord, given to us in the holy words of the Bible, that has ALWAYS provided us with the very best advice and counsel that we could ever have, if only we'd learn it and utilize it.

As Shakespeare said several hundred years ago, "What fools these mortals be!"

Walking back to my truck from a field hockey game, Cassidy passes me - "thanks for coming to our game, Mr. H". "I always come out to see youth and beauty" I say. "As long as we're winning, right?" she responds. I am 76, she is 17.
I have been going to the games for ten years, whether they win or lose. I realize I have to analyze my motives and improve my offhand remark. I see in these young women (and young men, in the other sports) qualities giving wonderful hope for the future. So, I come out to see youth, beauty, strength, fitness, fortitude, determination, and teamwork. That's why.