YOUTHS-RESIST THE SPIRIT OF THE WORLD

"Our younger generation is dispirited, rejected and rebelling."  So declared the Australian newspaper the Sun Herald.  It added: "Court record show a 22 percent rise [over the previous  year] in the number of juveniles appearing on charges of serious assault . . .  Kids are killing themselves at a rate that's tripled since the mid 60's . . .And the generation gap has become a veritable gulf down which young people are sliding in ever increasing numbers into a drug, alcohol and self-annihilation oblivion."  This situation is hardly limited to one land, however.  Throughout the world, parents, teachers and mental-health professionals lament the state of young ones.

What a dramatic contrast there is between most of today's youths and the wholesome ones  found in the congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses!  Not that they are perfect.  They too have their struggles with "the desires incidental to youth."  (2 Timothy 2:22)  But as a group, these young ones have taken a courageous stand for what is right and have refused to give in to the world's pressures.  We wholeheartedly commend all of you young ones who are winning  the war against Satan's "crafty acts"!  (Ephesians 6:11) Like the apostle John, we are moved to comment:  "I write you, young men [and women], because you are strong and the word of God remains in you and you have conquered the wicked ones." -1John 2:14.

Nevertheless, to continue winning your battle against the wicked one, you must strenuously resist what the Bible calls "the spirit of the world."  ( 1 Corinthians 2:12) According to one authority on Greek, "spirit" can mean "the disposition or influence which fills and governs the soul of anyone."  For example, if you observe that someone is ill-tempered, you might say that he has a bad "spirit."  Your "spirit disposition, or mental inclination influences the choices you make; it drives your actions and speech.  Interestingly, both individuals and group can manifest a "spirit."  The apostle Paul wrote to a group of Christians:  "The undeserved kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ be with the spirit you people show."  (Philemon 25) Just what the spirit, then, does this world manifest?  Since "the whole world is lying in the  power of the wicked one,"  Satan the Devil, the spirit of the world cannot possibly be  be wholesome, can  it? -1 John 5:19.

Next time: Identifying the World's Spirit

Watchtower, 1999