Values Clarification

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” In our sermon series on the Beatitudes, this is where we are now. I marvel at how timely this message is given the occurrence of another school shooting last week. My other “home church” and I are also feeling it deeply because in one month two dear men went to be with the Lord after battling cancer. “We do not “grieve as do the rest who have no hope,” but still we “weep with those who weep.” These things are one aspect of what Jesus referred to when he cautioned believers that, “in the world, [we] will have tribulation.”

In the midst of mourning the school shootings a post floated across Facebook that really struck me. It said, “Dear God, why do you allow violence in schools? Concerned Student… Dear Concerned Student, I am not allowed in schools. God.”.” Enough said? For more than a generation our public schools have been preaching (yes, preaching the religion of) "values clarification.” What that phrase actually means is you get to create your own value system because there is no absolute truth. This is also known as moral relativism. Situation ethics is another way to explain what it means. Based on the teaching they have received, the school shooters have every right to express their feelings with violence against others if it fits their “value system.”

The “tribulation” Jesus promised is usually thought of as persecution of believers, and that is not wrong given the context of our Savior’s words. But to fully understand tribulation, one must look behind the curtain of the “world” to which Jesus referred. We should recall that God created a perfect world for His children. They are the ones who messed it up by writing a script totally independent from God rather than dependent upon Him. The Fall must be seen as a historical reality to understand the tribulation through which we now travail.

Immediately after the Fall, God promised redemption through the heel-bruised Seed. Unfortunately, He also promised blood, sweat, toil and tears in the meantime. What I am saying is that the original sin in the Garden set the stage for the tribulation to which Jesus referred. So after a long stretch of history, but a short logical chain, young people splatter the results of values clarification all over their schools. I’m not saying there would be no violence in schools if we had not kicked God out; evil continues to exist. I am saying that we should not be surprised by it after a generation of telling children that they may choose their own version of right and wrong. What was it the Serpent said to Eve? “That you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

So we still mourn, but not like those who have no true value system. We value the righteousness that has been lost to a whole generation of our children. We mourn because of the effects of sin in the world. We understand it’s not about a troubled childhood; it’s about a troubled humanity. We experience tribulation because we have a sin-wrecked world. And our mourning should lead us to pray for the only answer, and it’s not gun control (Good grief, again?!).

Believers should be driven to their knees in tears for those who are suffering, and we should be praying for revival. The only way to stop the violence in schools, on the streets, or on the international stage is to change hearts one at a time. Only God can do that. He has in the past; He can do it again. He can replace values clarification with a clear value system. Prayerfully examine your value system; then pray for those who need “clarification” so desperately. I know this is small comfort, but it is what the Beatitude promised.