Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Irresponsibility
(From Forerunner Commentary)
Psalm 90:10-12
It has become increasingly apparent to many who watch our culture that the age of maturity for the present young adult generation has climbed to about 30 years. The age of maturity used to be somewhere between 18 and 21—between graduation from high school and the legal drinking age—but it has steadily risen past college graduation to the threshold of a person's fourth decade of life. The country has seen far more young adults living with their parents well beyond their college years. These same people are postponing marriage, preferring "relationships" that are free of commitment and responsibility. Employers find them undependable and rootless, willing to trade a steady paycheck for a night on the town. These young adults grew up under the heaviest media onslaught in history, which continues today. Constant commercials, television programs, and movies have preached the doctrine of fun and irresponsibility throughout their lives. Beer commercials encourage incessant good times in the forms of parties, sporting events, and chic tropical beaches. In the main, TV and movies portray college-aged people as fashionable extroverts, carefree daredevils, or clueless pleasure-junkies. The kids who are serious about their studies and careers are degraded as nerds and out of touch. The icons of the young adult crowd set the pace. Highly visible athletes bank upon their reputations of enjoying the nightlife, sending the not-so-subtle message that the pinnacle of success is capped by alcohol, dancing, and loud music. Not to be outdone are male and female singers who stretch the bounds of decency in their efforts to promote the counter-culture with its immorality and rebellion. Cinema and television stars of this age group do little to raise standards. As in times past, we could blame this on reckless teenage rebellion against the standards of their parents. However, this facile excuse does not work in this case. First, these are not teenagers, and second, the standards of their parents in the '60s and '70s were little better! Much of the blame rests with these twentysomethings' parents, who instilled in their children neither a sense of responsibility nor a desire for adult life. In fact, the whole society has been geared to perpetuating the cult of youth. In ancient Israel, the age of accountability was 20, the year a young man could join the army (Numbers 1:2-3). Levites, who managed the critical duties of the Tabernacle and later the Temple, entered service at the age of 30 (Numbers 4:2-3; 23; 30, 35, 39, 43), which was also the age at which Jesus began His ministry (Luke 3:23). It was expected that at sometime in a man's third decade, he would settle down, marry, begin a family, and function as a member of the community. By the time he was 30, he was considered mature enough to take on the most important tasks of Israelite society. It could be argued that we live in a different age, but that argument proves vacuous in the end. Modernity has not changed mankind's life as much as we think. We are still born, grow up, marry, reproduce, rear children, age, and die as the ancients did. The big questions of life are still the same. We must still relate to parents, siblings, spouses, children, friends, employers, authorities, and the public as men always have. We still answer to the same God. As Moses wrote in Psalm 90, our lifespan is still only 70 or 80 years, and that passes by in a flash. If we fail to mature before 30, we have wasted more than a third of our life on things that matter little or detract from God's grand scheme. Paul enjoins us, "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:15-16). There is no time to waste.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Grow Up!
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Proverbs 6:6-9
We owe a duty to God and to the affairs of this life. We are to be diligent in our business in providing for ourselves and our families. God, at the very beginning of the Book (Genesis 1-3), when He put Adam and Eve in the Garden, says that they are to dress and keep it, meaning that they are to embellish it, to add to it, and to guard it from deterioration. Part of our responsibility is to be diligent in doing our job for our employer. We are to be careful not to squander and waste what we have. We are to look ahead and plan to provide for future demands, taking into consideration that there will be emergencies like accidents, illness, death, natural disasters. We are to prepare for such things. If we fail to do that, it is not showing faith that "God will provide," but rather presumption and irresponsibility in throwing all the responsibility on God while we ignore ours, failing to fulfill what God instructs us to do. There is much to be learned about God's Kingdom and getting prepared for it by carefully using our resources. The danger lies in our human proclivity to tend toward extremes. The most common is following human nature's inclination to be overly concerned about the things of this life and devoting too much time and energy to it. Jesus points this out in Matthew 6:25, advising us to “take no anxious thought.”
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Christian and the World (Part Eight)
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Isaiah 3:11-12
What does it say about a nation that . . . -
. . . makes an icon of a woman whose only claims to fame are to have posed nude for a magazine, married a nearly nonagenarian billionaire, had a drug problem, and conducted a string of affairs? -
. . . legally murders over a million unborn children each year? -
. . . during a time of war, essentially ignores multiple millions of illegal aliens—statistically shown to increase crime, lower wages, and burden government budgets—yet hounds smokers, drinkers, and eaters of trans-fats? -
. . . spends upwards of $85 billion on gambling each year, more than its citizens spend on the combined sales for amusement parks, spectator sports, movie theater admissions, and video games? -
. . . indulges in pornography to the point that the industry's known revenues, over $12 billion, roughly double those of all three major U.S. television networks? -
. . . goes out of its way to offend and hassle its own citizens rather than profile its enemies? -
. . . evicts God from public schools, public spaces, and essentially all public life yet allows blasphemies to be uttered dozens of times each hour on its public airwaves? -
. . . uses its deployed volunteer army, composed of a broad spectrum of dedicated, patriotic soldiers, as pawns to gain political power? In aggregate, what these statements of the current situation in the United States reveal is a profoundly sick, confused, and hypocritical society. They expose America as a nation adrift, unmoored to any firm system of beliefs or even of ethics, rocked and buffeted by every new wave of trouble, and at the mercy of cultural winds and currents out of any quarter. In short, it reveals a nation in crisis—in every sense of the term. Yet, too few of us seem to have noticed. Our fourth estate, whose job it is to inform the nation about what is going on, has succumbed to one of two—or both—failings: 1) The media have changed the emphasis of their reporting from information to entertainment, and/or 2) they have deliberately or unknowingly incorporated partisan biases into their products, becoming organs of political rather than national interests. While it can be argued that from its earliest days, the American media have been partisan, so nothing has changed, today's news outlets have far greater reach and persuasive abilities than did their nineteenth-century counterparts. Whatever the argument, the result is that the typical citizen is unaware of the depth of America's crisis. The news—even the hyped, slick, up-to-the-second product aired 24/7 on multiple stations—has to compete for attention with situation comedies, dramas, movies, video games, and the Internet, and it loses miserably. America's political representatives fare little better, if better they are. A statesman or -woman who really had the nation's best interests at heart would not be unafraid to take a principled stand against its troubles and to inspire patriots to overcome them. But there are no statesmen or -women, just politicians, desirous of reelection and the accumulation of personal power. We see no truly American leadership from the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, or really anywhere, for that matter. In Washington, grandstanding on Sunday morning news programs or engaging in bitter partisan fights over silly line items or amendments to a bill is what passes for "leadership" these days. And politicians wonder why so few Americans vote? Christian ministers from coast to coast have virtually rolled over and played dead. Rather than let their voices ring from their pulpits, decrying the rise of so many blatantly anti-Christian cultural trends, they have weakly submitted to their fears of losing their weekly take at the offering basket and busied themselves in the terribly important work of overseeing the installation of big screens and the latest sound equipment for the Christian rock band that plays during the contemporary service. Worse, most of the mainline churches have backpedaled on biblical morality to the point that they are difficult to label as even nominally "Christian." They may proclaim Christ as Lord, but they proclaim little that He believed and preached. Finally, and tragically, the most important leaders in America have also abrogated their responsibilities: parents. American dads and moms have spoiled the few kids that they have, buying them whatever they want, instilling in them little sense of responsibility or self-discipline, and letting them make too many critical decisions on their own. Instead of being parents, they have desired to be best friends with their children, who have, frankly, walked all over them, aided and abetted by big business and the entertainment industry. Thus, the culture caters to the youth, attempting to fulfill all their fantasies without truly considering whether or not they are beneficial for them or their country. With a bit of backbone, parents could have slowed or even stopped the cultural decline, but it is far too late now. What does it say about a nation that lacks both the heart and the leadership to stop itself from committing suicide? In short, He says we are headed for a fall.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
What Does It Say?
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Ezekiel 18:1-4
During Ezekiel's time, Israel made a grave mistake in their reasoning, concluding that God was judging the present generation harshly because of the wickedness of their forefathers. They wrongly believed that it made no difference what they did, blaming their parents for all their woes. These people reasoned that they were the unfortunate victims of the ancient law in Exodus 20:5: "I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me." These Israelites obviously misunderstood the message of this verse, which teaches that descendants are affected by their fathers' sins, not that the children are predestined to make the same mistakes or are punished for what their forbears did. Sadly, because of their upbringing, children frequently find themselves practicing the same sinful acts as their fathers, and therefore, they receive the same just punishment. However, each person is still individually responsible for his or her own actions. The Israelites' misunderstanding, leading to irresponsibility and fatalism, is expressed by the proverb, "The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." Jeremiah 31:29 records that this proverb was being repeated throughout Judah. The discourse that follows in Ezekiel 18 confounds the flawed reasoning behind this proverb, showing that responsibility equals accountability for one's own actions. God's response to their misconception is flatly summarized in verse 3: "You shall no longer use this proverb in Israel." The people had come to believe that righteousness and wickedness were hereditary, so there was no reason to change one's ways. God argues, however, that they were free to decide to walk in His ways or not; they were not bound by what their fathers had done. God states the basic principle of judgment for irresponsibility in Ezekiel 18:4: "The soul who sins shall die." His judgment is personal and individual. Three illustrations of this principle are found in Ezekiel 18:5-18: Verses 5-9 describe a righteous father; verses 10-13, 18 describe an unrighteous son; and verses 14-17 describe a righteous grandson. In the first illustration (Ezekiel 18:5-9), God differentiates righteousness from unrighteousness by stating five areas of His law: In the first, the righteous man refrains from involvement in pagan sacrificial meals at the high places and from the idolatry prevalent in Israel. In the second, the righteous man refuses to defile his neighbor's wife (adultery) or to have relations with a woman during her menstrual period (sexual perversion). In the third, the righteous man does not oppress people through maltreatment and extortion but restores the pledge of a poor person's debt. In the fourth, the righteous man does not steal but feeds and clothes the destitute. In the fifth, the righteous man practices justice among his fellow Israelites and refuses to take interest from them. This list shows that a person's attitude and acts toward others provide a true indication of his faith toward God. In the second illustration (Ezekiel 18:10-13, 18), the unrighteous son of the righteous father demonstrates his unrighteousness and lack of faith in a lifestyle opposite that of his father. Whatever his father did in righteousness, the son does not do, and whatever his father refrained from in righteousness, the unrighteous son does. Verse 18 summarizes his wicked deeds: "he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother by violence, and did what is not good among his people." The third illustration (Ezekiel 18:14-17) shows that a righteous son can descend from an unrighteous father. If the son does all the righteous acts of God's law, as his righteous grandfather did, and refuses to follow his wicked father's unrighteous acts, he would not die because of his father's wickedness but would live. God repeats and expands the basic principle regarding judgment in Ezekiel 18:20: "The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself." In other words, responsibility equals accountability for our own actions. This principle is also taught in the New Testament, as, for instance, in Romans 14:12, the apostle Paul writes, "So then each of us shall give account of himself to God." Likewise, the resurrected Jesus says in Revelation 2:23, "I will give to each one of you according to his works." If we sin as individuals, we will be judged as individuals. It is a fact that we suffer from the effects of the sins of our ancestors. Look at the poor health and degenerative diseases around us, as well as what has been done to the earth by those who have gone before us. We can easily see and feel the effects of our forefathers' sins. However, their sins do not predestine or condemn us to repeat what they did. Each individual is responsible for his own actions and will receive personal judgment: "The soul who sins shall die," not the righteous person.
Martin G. Collins
Responsibility Equals Accountability
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Luke 12:45-46
The attitude of the evil servant is contrary to the command to be ready. His severe treatment of the other servants is similar to the description of false leaders who ravage the congregation (Acts 20:29-30). Similarly, the dramatic portrayal of the servant's punishment, "cut him in two," stresses the seriousness of his evasion of responsibility. The original statement in Aramaic was probably "he was cut off," which has two implications: to be executed or exiled for sin. With respect to the church, it means being disfellowshipped from associating with church members because of flagrant sin. Luke 12:42-46 emphasizes our responsibility for those placed under our care. On the other hand, verses 47-48 focus on our response to our Master's command.
Martin G. Collins
Parable of the Faithful and Evil Servants
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John 2:7-8
Jesus shows us that God is pleased to use human instruments in performing the wonders of His grace. He did nothing in changing water to wine that was unnecessary for Him to do. The servants filled the vessels and took the wine to the master of the marriage feast. There was no reason for Christ to do this kind of work for them. Instead, He did what no one else could do. This principle applies to His work in us: He does not do things for us that we can do ourselves. Further, He will not perform miracles if they would destroy industriousness or encourage laziness and irresponsibility. Miracles do not excuse us from carrying out our responsibilities. Likewise, faith without works is dead (James 2:14-19). It is an honor to work with God in faith to accomplish His will, and if done with the right attitude, no one ever regrets his involvement in that service. God's commands are usually not easy to do, but they are possible—and necessary to do—if we want His blessing. In light of this principle, Paul states, "If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat" (II Thessalonians 3:10). This miracle prods all who follow Christ to grow in faith.
Martin G. Collins
The Miracles of Jesus Christ: Water Into Wine (Part Two)
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2 Thessalonians 3:10
Some fellowshipping with the church say that the church is responsible to take care of them. No, it is not. A Christian is responsible to provide care where there is an honest need, but not for one created by laziness. Paul says plainly in II Thessalonians 3:10: "If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat." Jesus declares, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working" (John 5:17). He is our example. Paul also writes in I Timothy 5:8, "But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his own household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." In the United States is a well-developed social and governmental movement that some commentators derisively name "nannyism." Political pundits also refer to it as "cradle to the grave" social care. As a nanny state, Canada is ahead of America but lags behind England, Germany, and France, and far behind the Scandinavian countries. Tax rates in Europe are high due to the many costly social programs, yet this nannyism is at the root of Europe's growing social problems. Nations like Germany, France, Italy, England, Spain, and Sweden have native birth rates below replacement levels, and presently, their populations are aging into retirement. What did their politicians come up with to provide a large enough tax base to support their social programs? They opened their borders wide to Muslim immigration, and we hear the results on the evening news. This provides evidence that for every social action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Nannyism also contributes to a decline of self-reliance and personal responsibility as it becomes more prevalent in the United States. This nation was settled and developed by self-reliant, self-motivated people. Yet, today, too many people seem frozen in place, waiting for the government to do something for them, a dependency called by some a "welfare mentality." People learn to work the system and somehow manage to be perpetually on the dole, refusing to make their own way through work. Nannyism and the resulting decrease in self-reliance and increase in irresponsibility are gaining speed as the return of Jesus Christ nears. This phenomenon occurs regardless of the form of government because it is a human nature problem, since it involves regulation and control of the populace. It gives credence to another general principle: Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Public irresponsibility is now seen nearly everywhere. For example, our roadways are littered with cigarette butts and the debris of thousands of fast food restaurants thoughtlessly tossed from passing vehicles. Not to worry, though: "The government is paying somebody to clean up the garbage. I am not responsible; they will take care of it." Regulation of society is necessary, but the place where it should begin—and as much as possible end—is in the self. Responsible people have a quality—indeed, a virtue—that the irresponsible do not have: They care. They care about what God thinks. They care about what others think. They care about beauty and cleanliness. They care about peace and order. They care about the health and safety of others. Such people will regulate themselves; they do not need many laws issued by the state to tell them what to do because their caring virtually assures that they will do the right thing. Self-reliance and responsibility is learned. The best place for it to be instilled is at home and as early as possible. When teaching children to be responsible, we must begin by instructing them to care for small things: for their toys, for their clothing, for their bedroom, for simple jobs. They must learn to be concerned about what Mom and Dad think of them, which begins to teach them the fear of God, the foundation of true wisdom (Proverbs 9:10; see Psalm 34:11). As their sense of responsibility strengthens and as they learn to care about the outcome of their lives, their desire to succeed through their own efforts increases, diminishing the likelihood that they will succumb to this curse on our society, the welfare mentality.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Nannyism and Caring
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2 Timothy 3:1-5
The apostle Paul writes that "evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived" (II Timothy 3:13). People today are no different from when Moses wrote the Pentateuch or Paul his epistles, but the occasion to sin, the incentive to do so and thus sin's frequency and intensity are at their highest levels since just before the Flood. In other words, the environment to commit sin more easily grows ever more amenable, and human nature is taking advantage of it. We have been born into—indeed have unwittingly contributed to creating—an environment in which it is exceedingly difficult to remain faithful. We live in a world in which self-centeredness is being promoted to its greatest extent in human history. Appealing advertising hammers away at us to gratify ourselves: Why wait, why deny ourselves, why sacrifice, why not go along with everyone else? Constantly we hear, "Indulge yourself because you deserve it." This world always appeals to moral and ethical standards lower than those of the great God and His way of life. In Technicolor with emotion-stirring music, Hollywood "sells" adultery and fornication as acceptable as long as the couple involved are attractive and somehow oppressed—thus "deserving" of a "better" relationship. War, murder, lying, stealing, coveting, Sabbath-breaking, and idolatry are acts that almost everyone in the world would claim as being wrong, yet most unwittingly commit them to some degree and promote them in our culture. They justify their sin because everybody else is doing it, and they see no good reason why they should not just go along. If they try to swim against the tide, they think they will be taken advantage of. Not too long ago, a person's word was his bond, and mere handshakes sealed major business agreements. Tales of Abraham Lincoln's honesty over pennies are an almost legendary part of our nation's history. Historians say that faithfulness was such a hallmark of the Roman Republic that not one divorce occurred in its first seven hundred years! But in the last fifty years this nation has seen a calamitous, family-destroying rise in the divorce rate that threatens the very stability of society. Faithlessness is playing a major role in this destruction. People are without natural affection and traitors to their marital contract. Child abuse is becoming ever more prevalent. Athletes seem to break contracts almost at will. Manufacturers lie about the quality of their products, and workers fudge in the quality of their work. Faithlessness is rising to its peak because self-centeredness, the father of irresponsibility, is being promoted to its utmost. It is the spirit of this age, but we have cause to resist it by what God has offered us in His revelation. God-centeredness in our lives is the answer to faithlessness and irresponsibility. But God-centeredness is not cheap, and few are willing to pay the price: their lives!
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Fruit of the Spirit: Faithfulness
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Titus 2:1-6
These instructions are an overall exhortation for the various age groups to hold to a sense of duty with regard to their conduct. But none of the instructions given here should be ignored simply because they are not addressed directly to an individual's sex or age group. For example, Paul says "girls should be discreet and modest." Does this mean, then, because it is addressed to girls that a fellow may be as indiscreet and immodest as he wants because he is male? Simply because the fellows are not mentioned does not excuse them from being discreet and modest as well. In an overall sense, God is telling all of us—parents, young people, male, female—to be sane, sober-thinking, serious about our responsibilities, exercising self-control, curbing our passions, and aiming for self-mastery. There is a proverb that teaches: "He that rules his spirit is better than he who takes a city." Ruling one's spirit involves self-discipline. Self-discipline is willing yourself to do the right, regardless of feelings. It may not be glamorous, but it is the stuff of life.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Sanctification and the Teens
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