The other night as Jessica and I were doing some bedtime reading she began to read the following excerpt from Francine Rivers, A Voice in the Wind. The setting is Roman Empire 117 AD...or in manly words Gladiator times. The truth is echoing today in hearts and minds of families all across the world.
"How is it possible that you and I have two children who are opposed to everything we believe? What has happened to virtue and honor and ideals? One believes that nothing is true and anything is permitted. The other thinks that the only thing that matters is her pleasure. I've worked my entire life in order to give my children everything I never had at their age---wealth, education, position. And now I look at them and wonder if my life is simple vanity. They are selfish, without the least restrain upon their appetites. They haven't the smallest fiber of moral character."
His wife interjects and states..."Don't judge them so harshly. It's neither your fault, nor mine, nor theirs. It's the world they live in." "A world of whose making?" They want to be free of the old standards. Whatever feels good is right. Whoever stands in the way of their pleasures, they want destroyed. They demand the moral chains be removed and never understanding that it is moral restraint that keeps man civilized."
"What happens when all restraints are removed? I see our children consumed with watching blood be spilled in the arena. I see them seeking an unending diet of sensual pleasure. Where does it all lead? How can intemperate minds be free when they're slaves to their own passions."
(Photo courtesy of our Europe trip this past summer.)
His wife interjects and states..."Don't judge them so harshly. It's neither your fault, nor mine, nor theirs. It's the world they live in." "A world of whose making?" They want to be free of the old standards. Whatever feels good is right. Whoever stands in the way of their pleasures, they want destroyed. They demand the moral chains be removed and never understanding that it is moral restraint that keeps man civilized."
"What happens when all restraints are removed? I see our children consumed with watching blood be spilled in the arena. I see them seeking an unending diet of sensual pleasure. Where does it all lead? How can intemperate minds be free when they're slaves to their own passions."
(Photo courtesy of our Europe trip this past summer.)
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