From The Principal's Desk
Dear Parents,
Today we will look at the final aspect of the effects of permissive parenting.
The Effects of Permissive Parenting
Effects on the Nation
Permissiveness touches everyone. Yes, moms and dads are affected and children are affected. But the entire nation is also affected. The results of permissiveness on a nation are detrimental. When we look at I Samuel 2-4, we see that Eli and his sons were punished in a severe way, but so was the nation. This passage shows the effects of permissiveness on a nation: worship becomes less reverent (cf. I Sam 2:13-17), morals fail (cf. I Sam 2:22), and men are killed (I Sam 4:2, 10). The worst part is that the presence of God is removed (I Sam 4:17).
When children are allowed to go their way, they develop a greater thirst for their way. This natural, sinful way always and necessarily attacks the worship of God. People become more concerned about pleasing self than they are about pleasing God. They deviate from the technical requirements of worship found in God’s Word to a worldly, fleshly approach that gratifies self. As creatures of influence, we influence one another toward greater or toward lesser reverence of God. The sons of Eli caused men to abhor the offering of the Lord. What was once thought to be lofty and sacred became despised and profane. Based on this passage, a scriptural connection can be made between permissiveness and irreverence. Permissiveness in our own country over the last fifty years had led to great spiritual decay in the majority of our churches. What never would have been accepted as worship three and four generations ago is now commonplace. In fact, the Biblical way is now abhorred. The attitude of “I want my way” spawned in permissiveness has led to irreverence in the worship of God.
Is it no wonder that permissiveness also leads to immorality! Permissiveness allows a child to continue in his natural way, doing what he feels like doing. So when the body has urges for the opposite gender, the established pattern is to do what the body wants. Since the young person is not accustomed to telling himself no, he becomes immoral. This is not to say that there was no immorality prior to the wave of permissive parenting. But it is to say that immorality exploded after instituting permissiveness. Immorality ruins a nation. Immorality brings the judgment of God (Heb. 13:4), and immorality sets up an idol that a person will worship instead of God. The Bible says that in the last days men shall be “lovers of their own selves, incontinent, and lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (II Tim. 3:1-4). Permissiveness leads to immorality.
Finally, permissiveness produces death. This, perhaps, is the hardest consequence for people to accept because of death’s harshness and finality; but in the context of I Samuel 2-4, death is the sad reality for a nation that adopts permissiveness in parenting. The Lord first spoke of Hophni’s and Phinehas’ death in I Samuel 2:25, although the fulfillment could have taken as much as twenty years. On that dreadful day, the Philistines put the battle in array against Israel, and at the word of Samuel, the people of God fought their enemies, and were smitten. Again they fought, and again they were smitten. Between those two battles, 34,000 Israelites died; not to mention, Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, and Phinehas’ wife. The Bible says, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man [or nation] soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal 6:7). When will we admit that our permissive style of parenting is causing countless people in our country to die?
When the Philistines took the ark of God, the special presence of God also departed. I Samuel 4:21 says “The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken.” There is not room for a nation to reject God and still have the special working of God. At some point, the Lord turns a people over “to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient” (Rom 1:28). Hence, the downfall of a nation.
Permissiveness leads to the destruction of a nation. At first permissiveness seems harmless because most people are still holding on to the traditional way. But in time the nation reaches a tipping point when the influence of the wrong way becomes wide spread. First, permissiveness becomes an accepted way, then it becomes the popular way, and finally it takes over as the practiced way. Each generation raised under a permissive hand becomes a little worse, until a society has fallen to its control. Child by child, family by family, generation by generation decay spreads through a nation, until the inevitable collapse of that nation. That is the sad end of a nation that goes the way of permissiveness.
Sincerely,
Pastor Sutton
Dear Parents,
Today we will look at the final aspect of the effects of permissive parenting.
The Effects of Permissive Parenting
Effects on the Nation
Permissiveness touches everyone. Yes, moms and dads are affected and children are affected. But the entire nation is also affected. The results of permissiveness on a nation are detrimental. When we look at I Samuel 2-4, we see that Eli and his sons were punished in a severe way, but so was the nation. This passage shows the effects of permissiveness on a nation: worship becomes less reverent (cf. I Sam 2:13-17), morals fail (cf. I Sam 2:22), and men are killed (I Sam 4:2, 10). The worst part is that the presence of God is removed (I Sam 4:17).
When children are allowed to go their way, they develop a greater thirst for their way. This natural, sinful way always and necessarily attacks the worship of God. People become more concerned about pleasing self than they are about pleasing God. They deviate from the technical requirements of worship found in God’s Word to a worldly, fleshly approach that gratifies self. As creatures of influence, we influence one another toward greater or toward lesser reverence of God. The sons of Eli caused men to abhor the offering of the Lord. What was once thought to be lofty and sacred became despised and profane. Based on this passage, a scriptural connection can be made between permissiveness and irreverence. Permissiveness in our own country over the last fifty years had led to great spiritual decay in the majority of our churches. What never would have been accepted as worship three and four generations ago is now commonplace. In fact, the Biblical way is now abhorred. The attitude of “I want my way” spawned in permissiveness has led to irreverence in the worship of God.
Is it no wonder that permissiveness also leads to immorality! Permissiveness allows a child to continue in his natural way, doing what he feels like doing. So when the body has urges for the opposite gender, the established pattern is to do what the body wants. Since the young person is not accustomed to telling himself no, he becomes immoral. This is not to say that there was no immorality prior to the wave of permissive parenting. But it is to say that immorality exploded after instituting permissiveness. Immorality ruins a nation. Immorality brings the judgment of God (Heb. 13:4), and immorality sets up an idol that a person will worship instead of God. The Bible says that in the last days men shall be “lovers of their own selves, incontinent, and lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (II Tim. 3:1-4). Permissiveness leads to immorality.
Finally, permissiveness produces death. This, perhaps, is the hardest consequence for people to accept because of death’s harshness and finality; but in the context of I Samuel 2-4, death is the sad reality for a nation that adopts permissiveness in parenting. The Lord first spoke of Hophni’s and Phinehas’ death in I Samuel 2:25, although the fulfillment could have taken as much as twenty years. On that dreadful day, the Philistines put the battle in array against Israel, and at the word of Samuel, the people of God fought their enemies, and were smitten. Again they fought, and again they were smitten. Between those two battles, 34,000 Israelites died; not to mention, Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, and Phinehas’ wife. The Bible says, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man [or nation] soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal 6:7). When will we admit that our permissive style of parenting is causing countless people in our country to die?
When the Philistines took the ark of God, the special presence of God also departed. I Samuel 4:21 says “The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken.” There is not room for a nation to reject God and still have the special working of God. At some point, the Lord turns a people over “to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient” (Rom 1:28). Hence, the downfall of a nation.
Permissiveness leads to the destruction of a nation. At first permissiveness seems harmless because most people are still holding on to the traditional way. But in time the nation reaches a tipping point when the influence of the wrong way becomes wide spread. First, permissiveness becomes an accepted way, then it becomes the popular way, and finally it takes over as the practiced way. Each generation raised under a permissive hand becomes a little worse, until a society has fallen to its control. Child by child, family by family, generation by generation decay spreads through a nation, until the inevitable collapse of that nation. That is the sad end of a nation that goes the way of permissiveness.
Sincerely,
Pastor Sutton