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Creation 16(2):14–15, March 1994

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The horror generation!

by

An epidemic of violence by youngsters is sweeping the Western world. This was brought into shocking focus late last year by the brutal murder-abduction of a two-year-old in Britain by two boys aged 10. In that country alone, there has been a ‘wave of child crime’—up 54 per cent in the past 10 years.1

The general upsurge of all types of violence in America over the past decades is well known, but recently more and more ‘atrocious crimes … are being committed by those who should be the most innocent—the young.’2

Economics not the reason

Rape, torture and murder by thrill-seeking teenagers has become so prevalent that it is no longer possible to accept as adequate such answers as poverty or unemployment. Some of the offenders come from well-to-do families; some are high school honours students. A leading Australian criminologist says that over the past 20 years violent crime has continually increased ‘over times of both economic prosperity and economic decline’.3

Those closely involved with such young offenders have noticed the ‘chilling’ fact that there is more and more a lack of conscience and remorse—‘youths brag about their exploits and shrug off their victims’ pain’.4

Stabbing plans

In Ohio, a 13-year-old was yelled at by a teacher, so she brought a large knife to school where she and a 12-year old accomplice hatched a deadly serious plot to kill the teacher in front of the class. Other students casually took bets on the outcome, which was only just foiled at the last minute.

The would-be killer matter-of-factly told police she had good reason to take the teacher’s life. She and her co-conspirator were giggling after arrest.5

Older readers can verify that at the same time as they have witnessed these and other symptoms of drastic decline, they have also seen (though most probably never made the connection) that evolution has become pushed as unassailable fact like never before.

You may be thinking—‘surely he’s not going to tell us that a 12-year-old learns about evolution and then decides as a result he’s going to go out and mug someone?’ Hardly. But children, as well as everyone else, have been deeply influenced by the general change in attitude all around them. Belief in evolution logically means to most people that the only claimed absolute standard of right and wrong (the Bible) is wrong. Children don’t have to be able to spell ‘moral relativism’ to be soaked in it everywhere they turn, and to act it out in their behaviour.

Whether through their peer group, or through films and videos,6 youngsters (even sometimes those who reject evolution) are vulnerable to the climate of the times, brought on by the whole-sale rejection of biblical absolutes. As evolution is more accepted, we see in-creasing surrender to humanistic (man-centred) ethics. Surveys have shown that even many Christians now say they no longer believe in absolute truth.

‘I want my rights!’

Evolutionary humanism has even distorted the idea of ‘human rights’. As embodied in the US Constitution, for example, people do have rights, based upon their essential dignity and worth as God’s special creation in His image—though now fallen.

So these rights come along with a package of responsibilities—to God and to each other. Today people, including the very young, are more and more demanding various ‘rights’ with-out any responsibilities.

The ‘right’ to instant gratification of any impulse or thrill-seeking urge means, of course, that others get hurt. But why should that matter in an evolutionary world? It supposedly helped our ape-man ancestors to get ahead if they clubbed their rivals, didn’t it? And if the Bible can’t be trusted about origins in Genesis, there’s no need to fear the judgment in Revelation. Logically, the only standard left is one’s own self-centred opinion.

Crumbling

Sin is, of course, the root cause.7 The family, the church and the State are all God-ordained means of partially restraining the expression and effects of human sin. TIME says that ‘society has generally been able to control and channel aggressive impulses through its basic institutions—home, schools and church. But these moral pillars are crumbling.’8

Why? Primarily because of the increasing abandonment of biblical truth inspired by public-school indoctrination in evolution. The ‘rules’ now evolve along with society. Young people have no moral anchor to give even their rebellion any meaning—and see no purpose in an evolutionary universe.

Government is meant to restrain evil by acting according to God’s immutable standards. But with each generation of voters (and politicians) more thoroughly indoctrinated in evolution than ever before (with little or no resistance from most churches and theologians) those in power have progressively less concern for biblical standards of justice and morality.9

Hope

The beginning grassroots ‘creation awakening’ offers a ray of hope amid the darkness. More Christians are getting behind solid creation ministries which put the straightforward Word of God above the opinions of men (including the opinions of professing Christians who, trained in the humanist system, urge many varieties of compromise on Genesis). As this continues to happen, more and more other Christians will be reached in this way, strengthening their spiritual foundations (and those of their children) and becoming more able to effectively reach their unconverted neighbours.

God willing, we may yet see, as His people repent of their compromise with evolutionary teaching, a prayer-filled return to biblical standards of righteousness in our nations.

References and footnotes

  1. ‘Devil’s Playground’, The Australian, 22 February 1993, p. 9 (reprinted from the Sunday Times, UK). Return to text.
  2. ‘Violent Kids’, TIME, 12 June 1989, p. 60. Return to text.
  3. The Sunday Mail (Brisbane), 31 May 1992, p. 9. Return to text.
  4. Ref. 2. Return to text.
  5. ‘The Knife in the Book Bag’, TIME, 8 February 1993, p. 28. Return to text.
  6. The young English killers of infant James Bolger may have been influenced by violent videos. Abandoning creation-based biblical absolutes, Western cultures now permit—even yawn at—entertainments which would have horrified previous generations. Return to text.
  7. Responding to the Bolger killing, an English psychology professor said (Salt Lake Tribune, 25 November 1993) that despite the common perception that babies are born naturally loving and innocent, they do not have an innate sense of compassion but need to develop this through loving relationships with family and friends. This is a refreshingly different emphasis from the common secular assumption that we are born ‘good’ if only we can avoid subsequent warping by our upbringing. Return to text.
  8. Ref. 2, p. 62. Return to text.
  9. At the same time as we are choking in a sea of red tape attempting to legislate codes of behaviour in ‘politically correct’ areas, it is becoming increasingly harder to have fair play and honest business practices—basic justice—enforced by the state. Return to text.