here is my new series of old bulletin articles. this series deals with 4 big fat lies told about teens. i wrote this back in 1997 also but earlier than the 3 love series. i am posting the intro and first article today

BIG FAT LIES

Rick Lawerence in his article "Four Big Fat Lies About Kids" (Group, May/June 1997) exposes four lies about kids and teens these days. Replacing them with the truth. Over the next four Sundays we will be examining these lies. Yes, young people in our society deal with issues that past generations may not have. Yes, there is a lot of pressure on teenagers these days. Yes, they are not perfect but they are not all bad. The news media and even Christian authors would have us believe that kids these days are more messed up than any generation before. So they tell us the following lies not out of malice but misunderstanding.

Lie #1 Kids Don't Know Right from Wrong.
Lie #2 Kids have Frustratingly Short Attention Spans.
Lie #3 Kids are Less Committed to the Church.
Lie #4 Kids are Selfish Me-First Slackers.

Lie #1: Teens Don't Know Right from Wrong

Teens these days do struggle with what is right and what is wrong but this generation is not facing a new struggle. Jesus calls the generation He was preaching to a "wicked generation" (Matt 12:39,16:4 and Luke 11:29) At times, both young and old seem to have difficulty knowing the difference between right and wrong. The best example of this cross generational ignorance of right and wrong is the speed limit. On the Beltway and I﷓66 the speed limit is 55. (I actually think this number refers to the amount of people who actually drive the speed limit.) Young and older drivers speed down these highways at 65 plus mile per hour. So it is not only teens who struggle with knowing right from wrong, but adults as well.
In spite of this struggle young people across this country do know the difference between right and wrong. Organizations such as S.A.D.D. show that teens realize drinking and driving is wrong. Teens are looking for ways to use their talents and gifts to do right. Their are thousands of mission trips and service projects under taken by teens each year. Why? because they want to do what is right
The difference between this generations struggles and the struggle of past generations is "mass media". Everyone now sees and hears how teens struggle to figure out what is right and what is wrong. What was once covered is now revealed.(Matt 10:36) This internal struggle is splashed across movie and T.V. screens nation wide, making the problem seem larger that it is.