How Bible Principles Apply to Your Life - DEALING WITH DELINQUENCY AND CRIME

 When worldly persons fail to apply  Bible principles ad so fail to make a success of marriage, they are not the only ones that are hurt.  Their children suffer too.  There are two to four million childen of divorce, separation, and annulment in the United States today. And each year another 300,000 youngsters  under eighteen are added to the total.  Many of these become delinquents and resort to crime.  Other children from apparently  "good" homes have also picked up the rebellios spirit of our times.  During the years between 195- abd 1960 serious crims  increased  98 percent, while population in the United States rose only 18 percent in the same period.

If this matter of child delinquency is one with which you are confronted, Bible principles can help.  You may have a rebellious child that worries you.  One mother says:  "I have lost control of my daughter, not quite sixteen. She is impudent to her father, and listens to me only when she wants to. . . . She's not bad or vicious, but so unruly and rebellious I can't do anything with her.  Is there any way I can bring her under control?"  Another mother complained to police that she was unable to control her ten-year-old son who was out to become a burglar. Child psychologists differ on how to handle children, but God, who made man, knows what is best and he tell us in his Word the Bible. 

He tells parents to take the time to teach their children the word of God.  "You, fathers, do not be irritating  your children, but go on bringing them up  in the discipline  and authoritatove advice of Jehovah."  (Ephesians 6:4)  This is the best way to mold the child's thinking in godly channels and to protect it from corrupting influences of hte world in which he lives.  By teaching the child godliness, that it is wrong to lie, steal, or covet, and by coupling such instruction with their own good example, parents create a desire in the child to resist temptations. It learns self-control.  Then, too, by emphasizing that these are God's principles, that God says:  You must not murder, steal, or lie or covet; that God says You must "honor  your mother and your father" and be "obedient to your parents,"   The child learns that it must obey under all circumstances, because, even when the parents are not watching, God is. - EXODUS  20:13-17; EPHESIANS 6:1, 2; 1 PETER 3:12.

Discipline, too, is a necessary part of child training, and it is recommended in the Scriptures.   "The one holding back his rod is hating his son, but the one loving him is he that does look for him wiht discipline." (Proverbs 13:24) Discipline administered in harmony with that Bible principle is not out of irritation or in anger but motivated by love, and "love builds up."  It builds up right patterns of conduct and warm relations between parents and children.  It is a strong factor in curbing delinquency in homes where it rules. - 1 CORINTHIANS 8:1; HEBREWS 12:7-9.

Next time: How Bible Principles Apply to Your Life - SOVLING SOCIAL PROBLEMS

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