Wednesday, August 10, 2011
London Burning / UK Riots - Where we came from and where now?
People are asking: What has gone wrong? Here are a few thoughts (actually, more for myself to make sense of the world)...
When children do not grow up guided by the knowledge of God within a healthy family unit, you inevitably end up by default, absorbing the values from the likes of:
When children do not grow up guided by the knowledge of God within a healthy family unit, you inevitably end up by default, absorbing the values from the likes of:
1. Consumerism ("me, me, me", I do what as long as it is suits me, pleasurable and feels "right for me")
2. Liberalism (which says that it is morally ok to abort babies when it is inconvenient and euthanize in the name of mercy - what are we saying about the sanctity of human life?)
3. Video gaming culture (e.g. X-box, with depictions of destruction, violence and killing in stark reality without any real consequence)
The UK used to be a Christian country, but the foundational checks and balances in the country have been removed over the decades:
- Decline in loving and supporting family structures
- No male role models - fathers (and father figures) have been sidelined
- No appropriate discipline in schools
- No authority figures in schools
- Culture and legal framework where potentially harmful influences are permissible (e.g. recreational drugs, extended pub/drinking hours)
Where there are no checks and balances, young people grow up without being accountable to anyone in a meaningful way - and nothing to nurture their inner moral compass and to establish a proper respect for authority: What can we expect from our young people but to end up as human beings with a spirit of lawlessness and no vision of a future for themselves? They have nothing to lose.
Conventional wisdom may say that poverty can lead to desperation, and then eventually to crime. That is correct in one aspect. But human brings are poor in many ways, not merely financially impoverished (which for the latter, the UK is not).
This week has illustrated the high price the rest of society have to pay for the removal of the foundations that has made Great Britain great. Those foundations need to be put back in place.
As a Christian, I take in what the Bible says and warns us in this matter:
"Discipline your children, and they will give you peace of mind will make your heart glad. When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful." (Proverbs 29:17-18)
The UK used to be a Christian country, but the foundational checks and balances in the country have been removed over the decades:
- Decline in loving and supporting family structures
- No male role models - fathers (and father figures) have been sidelined
- No appropriate discipline in schools
- No authority figures in schools
- Culture and legal framework where potentially harmful influences are permissible (e.g. recreational drugs, extended pub/drinking hours)
Where there are no checks and balances, young people grow up without being accountable to anyone in a meaningful way - and nothing to nurture their inner moral compass and to establish a proper respect for authority: What can we expect from our young people but to end up as human beings with a spirit of lawlessness and no vision of a future for themselves? They have nothing to lose.
Conventional wisdom may say that poverty can lead to desperation, and then eventually to crime. That is correct in one aspect. But human brings are poor in many ways, not merely financially impoverished (which for the latter, the UK is not).
This week has illustrated the high price the rest of society have to pay for the removal of the foundations that has made Great Britain great. Those foundations need to be put back in place.
As a Christian, I take in what the Bible says and warns us in this matter:
"Discipline your children, and they will give you peace of mind will make your heart glad. When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful." (Proverbs 29:17-18)
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