September-October 1998

 Children of Violence

What happened to childhood innocence?

by Greg Albrecht

11-year-old Andrew and 13-year-old friend Mitchell skipped school, broke into Drew's grandfather's home and left with four handguns and three rifles. Drew and Mitch drove a van loaded with those firearms to Westside Middle School, parked and then staked out a spot overlooking the playground.

Apparently, Drew went inside, pulled a fire alarm, and then ran back to join Mitch. Students and teachers filed out of the school on cue, almost like electronic figures in a video game, and the two boys opened fire on their schoolmates and teachers.

But this was no video game, nor was it a random shooting. ABC's Primetime Live reported that victims were "selected because of their sex or who they were." Of the 15 wounded, only one was male.

The aftermath. Five deaths, with an additional ten wounded.

The question. "What's wrong?"

Something is seriously wrong. Young people are growing up faster and dying younger. These past few years our schools have become war zones, killing fields where children kill children. What happened to childhood innocence?

Santa brought Drew a shotgun when he was six. Pictures of Drew as a first grader, dressed in military clothing, holding a weapon that kills, are stark reminders that our children are at risk.

"Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many.

I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths.

When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble.

Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life.

Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evil men.

Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way.

For they cannot sleep till they do evil; they are robbed of slumber till they make someone fall.

They eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence" (Proverbs 4:10-17).

Schoolyard Shootings: The Report Card

May 21, 1998. Springfield, Oregon. Fifteen- year-old Kipland Kinkel allegedly kills his parents and then later goes to school. Kinkel, who had been arrested the day before for possession of a stolen firearm and then turned over to his parents, fired 50 rounds into his crowded high school cafeteria, killing two teenage boys, wounding 23 others.

April 25, 1998. Edinboro, Pennsylvania. 14-year-old Andrew Wurst kills a science teacher, wounds another teacher and two fellow students at an eighth-grade graduation dance.

March 24, 1998. Jonesboro, Arkansas. Five dead, 15 wounded. Details above.

December 1, 1997. West Paducah, Kentucky. 14-year-old Michael Carneal kills three girls when he opens fire on a prayer meeting being held just before the beginning of the school day.

October 1, 1997. Pearl, Mississippi. 16-year-old Luke Woodham is charged with the murder of his mother and two classmates at the end of a rampage through his town and school. "The world has wronged me, and I couldn't take it anymore," he said.

February 19, 1997. Bethel, Alaska. Two dead, two wounded. 16-year-old suspect.

February 2, 1996. Moses Lake, Washington. Three dead, one wounded. 14-year-old suspect.

November 15, 1995. Lynnville, Tennessee. Two dead, one wounded. 17-year-old suspect.

October 25, 1995. Redlands, California. One dead, one wounded. 13-year-old suspect.

October 12, 1995. Blackville, South Carolina. Two dead, one wounded. 16-year-old suspect.

Where Have All the Fathers Gone?

More than 15 million American children are being raised by single women. The number of children being born to unmarried women has tripled since 1970, accounting for 30 percent of all births in the United States. Hundreds of thousands of these babies are beginning life as children of cocaine addicts. Child protection agencies report a shocking increase in child abuse. Some believe that the war being waged both by and on our kids is directly related to another endangered species-fatherhood.

"In There Are No Children Here, Alex Kotlowitz meticulously describes the world of Lafayette and Pharaoh Rivers, two boys living in a Chicago public housing project in the late 1980s. It is a world of relentless, pitiless violence. It is a world in which children witness far more murders than they do weddings-and in which welfare mothers commonly purchase funeral insurance for their small children. It is also a world largely without responsible adult males. It is also a world in which Kotlowitz observes a twelve-year-old boy trying to be a man without knowing how, worrying about the safety of his younger siblings 'like a father worrying about his children.' So closely are these two themes intertwined-growing violence rooted in growing fatherlessness-that Kotlowitz might just as appropriately have named his study "There Are No Fathers Here" (Fatherless America, David Blankenhorn, p. 29).

"Dead beat" moms and dads who neglect parental duties are new additions to our vocabularies, a pathetic benchmark of a growing trend of parents who give up on their roles.

Ken Magid and Carole McKelvey, authors of High Risk Children Without A Conscience note, "Who are these children without a conscience? They are children who cannot trust, children who cannot love, children who will not be loved. They grow up to be con-artists, amoral entrepreneurs, thieves, drug users, pathological liars, and worst of all: psychotic killersand they are often the product of even the best intentioned families."

Magid and McKelvey are alarmed about future prospects for the family in North America. "A demographic revolution is occurring which may result in future generations that have huge numbers of detached children. Factors responsible include: the increasing number of mothers working outside the home, the child-care crisis, the teen-pregnancy epidemic, a high divorce rate, increasing child abuse and neglect, the shambles of the foster-care system, and too-late adoptions."

The stark reality is that millions of our children do not know their biological father, and they do not know God, their heavenly Father.

As you read this, all across North America school bells are ringing, calling children back to schools that are not permitted to write "Thou Shalt Not Kill" on blackboards. What's wrong with this picture?

And at the same time as our children go back to school, alarm bells are sounding in courthouses, police stations and churches-our families are in crisis. We are facing a gathering storm that threatens not only our families, but the entire fabric of our society.

Role Models Needed: It's a Jungle Out There

Steve Farrar, in Point Man: How a Man Can Lead a Family, compares leading a family through our culture to the soldier who must lead a patrol through enemy territory. Our landscape is littered with landmines, snipers, booby traps and ambushes that threaten the spiritual, emotional and physical safety of the family. Fathers fill the role of the point man.

Fathers and mothers are irreplaceable spiritual and emotional role models for the family making its way through the false values and alluring snares of our culture. Both parents supply critical spiritual nourishment to the growing child that safeguards the child from living in spiritual and emotional poverty.

We remember the guiding principle Paul shares, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows" (Galatians 6:7). We are reaping the whirlwind of a permissive and self-centered generation of parents. It will take each one of us to help turn the tide. Fathers and mothers need to do their jobs, but many parents need basic instructions and help in the high calling of parenthood. Parents need mentors -- their own parents, older friends and neighbors, pastors and wives, grandparents and senior citizens.

There is no substitute for the emotional intimacy that a dedicated father and mother can provide. If you are a parent, get help. If you can help parents learn to be godly parents, let them know that you care and are available.

If a parent is missing in a home, then children need God-fearing adults to replace that moral vacuum in their lives. A relationship with a caring adult -- a teacher, coach, mentor -- is critical and invaluable. Help if you can. Our children are dying because they do not have moral, responsible, Christian role models and mentors. That's our job as adults. Determine to be a part of the solution. As James Dobson and Gary Bauer said in a full-page ad in the April 7, USA Today, "Let's begin by giving priority to our children. In days gone by, the culture acted to shield them from harmful images and exploitation. Now it's open season for even the youngest among us. Let's put the welfare of our boys and girls ahead of our own convenience and teach them the difference between right and wrong. They need to hear that God is the author of their rights and liberties. Let's teach them that He loves them and holds them to a high level of moral accountability." 

Plain Truth Ministries is pleased to make available an excellent resource for parents and grandparents, What Your Child Needs to Know About God, by Ron Rhodes. This handbook is filled with ideas, insights and applications to help you direct, teach and guide your children. Available for a gift of $7. To place an order or if you have any questions, please give us a call at 1-800-309-4466 ext. 100.

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