an alarming rate. Upon investigation, the causes for this condition are laid to intolerable home life, faulty educational methods, mental derangement, and child marriages. The majority of crimes today are committed by boys under twenty-one years of age. The aver age home is nothing more than a place in which to eat and sleep because it has ceased to be a shrine for moral and religious training. The Bible is an unknown Book, Sunday School is an unheard-of in stitution, and reverence is an unusual experience with the result that we have a great crowd of un governable youngsters who soon find their way into all sorts of mischief. It is not long until the community finds itself burdened with the heart breaking problems of juvenile delinquency. The ignorance of boys and girls concerning the Bible is appalling and one’s heart is made heavy when reading the reports of experiments con ducted by teachers relative to a child’s understand ing of simple Biblical facts to say nothing of divine truths. It has been discovered that American chil dren are deplorably unfamiliar with the features of the Saviour as represented in religious art. It is not a matter of stupidity, for it is noted that the same children instantly recognize the features of well-known movie people and other famous public entertainers. One college professor took time to test a number of children in connection with Leo nardo da Vinci’s “ Last Supper,” generally admitted to be the most famous religious picture in existence. He made many interesting observations, but far overshadowing all the rest in significance was the discovery that not one of the children of a fourth- grade class could identify the central figure in this most famous painting as that o f the Founder of Christianity. They were equally ignorant o f the identity of all the twelve apostles surrounding Christ. Let us think of T he S alvation of the C hild So far as infants are concerned, there need be no worry on the part of the parents as to their saved estate. Every baby born into the world pos sesses a carnal nature for which it is not responsi ble. When the Lord Jesus died upon the Cross, He answered for this nature in every one of us. Do we not recall how John the Baptist cried out and said, “ . . . Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!” (John 1 :29) We must keep in mind the difference between sin and sins. When a child reaches the age of accountability, which is a variable age, and comes to know the reality of his sins and especially so in relation to God, then that child must seek divine forgiveness for his sins at the hands of the Saviour. There is in the book of Job a pertinent ques tion, “Who can bring a clean thing out of an un-
In the confusing mists of life, chil dren need the guiding example of their parents to show them the way of Salvation. well with my child? Is it well with your child? We speak not merely in a physical sense, but more particularly in a spiritual way. It was a great day for Israel when Elisha ap peared upon the scene of their national life. Unlike Elijah, he did not appear amid thunder and flame, but rather he moved among the people doing the service of God and working his miracles. The story o f the Shunammite’s child illustrates this point. It did not take the prophet long to sense the anxiety upon the face and the heart o f this mother whose dead son she had laid upon the bed in the prophet’s chamber o f her home. Leaving the little corpse, she made her way to the man of God and would not rest until he himself had come to her home. Then the great miracle of raising him from the dead and restoring him to his parents took place. We pass from the physical miracle to the spirit ual miracle which needs to be wrought in the heart of every child who comes to the age of account ability. We recall reading of a train wreck on an eastern road. The conductor ordered his flagman to run down the track and wave his red lantern “ to save the other train.” We are thinking just now of the oncoming generation and with the help of God we want to hang out the red lantern of warning. A Christian man approached a heavy drinker and urged him to turn from his course. Said the liquor-soaked individual, “Do you think you can make a temperance man out of me?” “ No,” replied the Christian, “we evidently can’t do much with you, but I am thinking of your boy.” At this unex pected retort, the man dropped his jocular tone and said seriously, “Well, I guess you are right. If somebody had been after me when I was a boy, I would be better off today.” As we think about the child’s welfare, let us face A S erious C ondition Every one working with children, whether it be the school teacher, the social worker, or the Sunday School teacher, knows that a serious con dition prevails in connection with the moral and spiritual welfare of children. It is common knowl edge that suicide among children is increasing at Dr. R. S. BecU, D.D., is pastor o f the First Baptist Church, Tucson, Arizona.
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SEPTEMBER, 1967
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