The Continuing Downward Spiral Of Parenting, Morals, And Education

It's a sad day in America when we see the continuing downward spiral of parenting (see here), morals, and education (see here) in our nation. When the priorities of our society emphasizes sports and entertainment over the education of children, something is vastly amiss. When sports figures are paid millions of dollars (see here) versus the minuscule amount paid our public school teachers (see here), we can fully understand how severely skewed our nation's priorities are.

Because our public schools have now become literal war zones because of school shootings, teachers are now having to add one additional skill to their knowledge based requirements: "How to stop the bleeding" (see here). The declining literacy rate is also mind-boggling. According to this Conservapedia article, the average 14-year-old had a vocabulary of 25,000 words in 1945 while in 2000, the equivalent student had a vocabulary of only 10,000 words (see under heading, "Educational Outcomes").

Today, vocabulary tests results indicate that students in the United States are "losing ground" (see here). Here are other reading, literacy, and education stats that are eye-opening. In looking at the above statistics, it's no wonder then that biblical literacy in our nation has undergone a downward spiral as well over the past sixty-plus years (see here). The question is, are we as a nation going the same direction as the Roman Empire? The simple sad answer is "yes, we are."

The inspired apostle Paul stated in these four passages of scripture, "I [or we] would not have you ignorant." From these passages alone, we should know that ignorance is not bliss, and God will not accept ignorance as an excuse on Judgment Day. This is why the word "study" is very important in God's command found in 2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV). 

Beloved, the Bible has solutions that will alleviate the downward spiral of parenting, morals, and education in our nation. The question is, are we willing to implement them? Or will we continue to bury our heads in the sand of ignorance, hoping that somehow, osmosis will step in and automatically take care of our problems?

---Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets