Mike King

The Demise of Guys?

The topic of the demise of guys is being increasingly being discussed.  If a prominant Christian leader, psychologist or sociologist was behind this data it would be dismissed by many as moralizing.  However, the article on CNN's website entitled, "The Demise of Guys: How Video Games and Porn are Ruining a Generation," is from world-renowned Psychologist Dr. Philip Zimbardo is a professor emeritus at Stanford University.

Zimbardo believes the consequences of pornography and excessive gaming "is creating a generation of risk-averse guys who are unable (and unwilling) to navigate the complexities and risks inherent to real-life relationships, school and employment."

Read the full article here.

Zimbardo has also released a book with artist and psychologist Nikita Duncan entitled, "The Demise of Guys: Why Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It."

Zimbardo has also been featured in the following mini-TED talk discussing this same subject.

Bullying! How We Should Respond?

 “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.” Jesus Christ

One of the most difficult things I’ve ever experienced in my four decades of youth ministry was to serve as a Pallbearer for the funeral of one of a 13-year-old boy in my youth group.  Paul was the victim of repeated bullying by a large group of peers that tragically left Paul with the mistaken conclusion that his reality was too unbearable and he chose to end his own life.  This happened nearly 30 years ago.  Unfortunately, bullying has gotten much worse in the last ten years.

Right now the movie documentary Bully, along with several highly publicized  cases involving tragic results because of bullying among teenagers, has created a heightened awareness of the frightening dynamic of this issue in our culture.

Working with adolescents, we regularly hear stories of young people who everyday have to deal with being bullied.  Everyday, hundreds of thousands of young people have to deal with the fear of attending school where they know they will be bullied.  It’s estimated that an average of more than 150,000 young people stay home from school everyday to avoid being bullied.  Most of the time this occurs without parents being aware that it’s happening to their child. 

Bullying involves acts of repetitive negative behavior of a person or persons toward another person or persons that is aggressive and intimidating in nature.  Bullying can take the forms of emotional, verbal, and/or physical abuse.  Bullying can be a one-on-one issue but most often it involves a collaborative group engaged in peer abuse directed at one or more individuals.

Research reveals that young people who are regularly bullied face an increased risk of mental health issues.  Depression, anxiety, lack of motivation, despair, helplessness, and suicidal thoughts prevail among those who are dealing with being perpetually bullied. In addition to thinking about harming themselves, some begin to fanaticize about hurting their tormenters.  According to a report by the Secret Service, two-thirds of students who participated in school shootings were victims of bullying at school that had reached the level of self-described “torment.”

Mona O’Moore of the Anti-Bullying Centre at Trinity College in Dublin, has written, "There is a growing body of research which indicates that individuals, whether child or adult, who are persistently subjected to abusive behavior are at risk of stress related illness which can sometimes lead to suicide."

In addition to aggressive and physical actions that intimidate and harm the victims of bullying there are new forms of bullying that have emerged through social media.  This type of Cyber-bullying attempts to socially isolate the victim by spreading rumors, name calling, threatening, criticizing, manipulating, ostracizing, etc. through a variety of social medias, including Facebook, Twitter, and whatever new social media tools emerged last week, along with those that will surface this week.

According to the Cyberbullying Research Center, One in five teenagers are harassed regularly online. Almost one-half of all teenagers have experienced some form of online harassment. More than one-third (37%) of teens admit to using social networking sites to victimize and harass their peers.

Before we, as adults, rest in the idea that we have moved beyond the ability to bully, let me suggest that we may not engage in the overt bullying actions of adolescents but we must ask ourselves if we have not just adopted more sophisticated forms of bullying – gossip, character assassination, ostracizing, sabotaging, and exclusionary behavior toward others.

When Jesus was asked what it means to truly be his follower he says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself” Luke 10:27.  He then tells one of the best-known stories called the parable of the Good Samaritan in order to explain and explore the heart of what it means to be a genuine follower of Christ.  In this parable Jesus commends the man who comes to the rescue and takes care of a victim of extreme bullying.  We must stand up for those who are being bullied. Christians must speak up.  We have to take action concerning this issue

What is Youthfront doing about this issue?

• Teaching young people to treat all people with respect and the love, grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.
• Teaching young people the Golden Rule taught by Jesus, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.” Matthew 7:12
• Teaching and mentoring young people the importance of defending and standing up for the marginalized victims of bullying.

What can parents do?

• Talk to your kids about bullying.
• Go see the movie Bully with your age appropriate kids.
• Educate yourself on your kid’s world, their friends and the social environments they spend time in.
• Be appropriately curious of your kid’s social media world.

I believe that we have a window of opportunity created by this movie Bully and the media’s attention on this issue to double down our effort to radically alter the reality of bullying in our culture.  This, I believe is something that the followers of Jesus and God’s church must passionately engage in.  We must do this for our kids.

Resources                                                                                                                                          The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding, www.cpyu.org                                                          Wikipedia

The Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, and the Angels

Does anyone else find humor and a sense of justification, for the beauty of our national passtime, that the four teams with the highest salaries in baseball are on this fine day of May 22, 2012 all in last place? 

Something to Eat Arrives in Port Mombasa

We received confirmation last night that our container of food (approximately 280,000 meals) has arrived in Port Mombasa!  This Something to Eat initiative to provide food for people suffering from the effects of starvation in the famine zone of the Horn of Africa was a demonstration of compassion by young people from Wichita, Kansas; Kansas City, Missouri; Spokane, Washington; Tucson, Arizona and Palo Alto, California. 

A big Youthfront thank you for the collaborative effort by wonderful Something to Eat partners involving churches and organizations such as Future Profits, Northern California Urban Development, Generation Alive and The Jeremy Affeldt Foundation.

Prim in Dystopia... Hunger Games resource for your youth ministry from Immerse.

 

***Major Spoiler Alert***

This is an excellent piece and a resource for you to engage with young people about Hunger Games from your friends at Immerse.

Prim in Dystopia 

By: Clint Schnekloth

Prim dies. This is where Suzanne Collins finally and irrevocably tears to shreds whatever tattered rag of a covenant she has with readers-that at least somehow, somewhere, something truly good can survive in this twisted, dystopian world. By the time readers make their way to Mockingjay, the third volume in the series, hopes are long gone that anyone might thrive or find redemption. Cinna lives on only in clothing designs. Peeta is shattered and no longer pure. Gale is busy mimicking the murderous tactics of the Capitol. Whole districts are fire-bombed.

But, until the very last, Collins offers the (slim) possibility that Katniss' innocent and lovely sister (with the ever un-tucked shirts and braided hair) might at least survive. And then in a final moment-reminiscent as it sadly is of the Massacre of the Innocents commemorated in Christian tradition-Prim herself is blown to bits by exploding parachutes dropped in to slaughter hundreds of caged children that she as a medic attempts to assist. Her death is pointless, gross and wrong-and there is never even any clarity as to the guilty party. Everyone is at fault. Everyone kills Prim. Even her own sister.

There are many ways to discuss the books and the first movie, but if we cannot in horror and shame keep our hearts focused on this naked fact-Prim dies-then nothing else about the novels, in all of their nihilism, will make any kind of sense; if one can make sense of nihilism.

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Green River Killer and Forgiveness?

This is a guest post from my friend Jeremy Affeldt.

One of the most amazing things that I’ve ever seen was during the sentencing of the Green River Killer. Remember him? He killed dozens of women in Washington State, and they caught him using DNA evidence. As part of a plea bargain he provided details on a lot of his murders in exchange for life in prison instead of the death penalty.

We watched the sentencing phase on TV, when the families of the victims were given an opportunity to confront him. We sat there watching all these families go up to speak to him. One woman said, “You know, after you killed my daughter, you put a door over her face. You covered her body with a door. So they couldn’t find her. You know, when that prison door slams in your face, I hope you rot.”

And the killer just sat there, showing no emotion. He just looked at her. You know, it was like he was dead inside. He had nothing.

Family after family came up, sharing just how angry they were with this guy. And these people were devastated. They had aged. They told him things like, “You know what, you’ve ruined my family. I’ve gotten divorced over this. You’ve ruined my marriage. My kids are ruined.” And they were just blaming him, and blaming him, and blaming him, and blaming him, right? For everything. And there’s some truth to it!

And throughout the whole thing, the television cameras would show us this guy, and he had no emotion whatsoever. He’s a serial killer. He has no emotion.

Until this one guy gets up. He was probably fifty, maybe sixty years old. He was clean cut, with a neatly-trimmed white beard, dressed nicely, and just a good countenance about him. This man sat down, looked at the Green River Killer, and he said, “You killed my daughter. And I forgive you.”

He said that! “I forgive you.”

He went on to say, “And I think my God forgives you. And I wanted to tell you that before you go to jail – because you’re going to go to jail for what you did. I want you to know that I have forgiven you for what you have done. And I hope you understand that the reason I can forgive you is because of how big my God is. And I hope you meet my God.”

The cameras panned back to this serial killer. He started weeping. His whole body was just wracked with tears.

I was almost ready to tear up. I looked at my wife and I said, “That was the most amazing thing I have ever seen.”

Young People and the Occupy Movement

I subscribe to YPulse Reports.  YPulse is a group who "studies the opinions and behavior of tweens, teens, collegians and young adults in order to provide news, commentary, events, research and strategy for marketing, brand and media professionals."  I've found it to be a helpful tool to gain insight on trends in the teen culture.

The following appeared yesterday in Ypulse’s Week In Review VIP newsletter;

"The Occupy Wall Street movement is gaining traction, capturing the attention of both students and mass media. A steady stream of students have made the pilgrimage to lower Manhattan to learn firsthand what the protests are about and to participate. Although the movement is lacking a clear mission, it still resonates with students — so much so that an Occupy Colleges offshoot has sprouted to organize students across the country. Students are taking this opportunity to voice their concerns about the debt they’re racking up while in college, lack of employment opportunities, and other political concerns which will be on their minds during the 2012 elections. Last week during a trip to Zuccotti Square, we learned students appreciate what Occupy Wall Street stands for, but in true Millennial fashion, they have concerns about how protesters are attempting to bring about change. Millennials are collaborative, and unlike Boomers with their sit-ins, today’s students think protesters need to work with government officials to get results."

Thoughts?  Did you click on the link above?  Thoughts?

Policies and Practices of Greed

Micah 3:9-12 (NIV)
[9] Hear this, you leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and distort all that is right; [10] who build Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with wickedness. [11] Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they lean upon the Lord and say, “Is not the Lord among us? No disaster will come upon us.” [12] Therefore because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.  

Am I Frustrated at Wall Street Elites and US Politicians?

The Death of Osama bin Laden

While not always agreeing with Michael Horton on all theological issues, I have always admired him and his scholarship.  He has an article on the Christianity Today web site about the death of Osama bin Laden.

Here is an excerpt;

"'Commenting on Genesis 9:6, John Calvin reminded us that we cannot hate even our most perverse enemies, because of the image of God in them. In one sense, the creation of every person in God's image provokes the temporal sword against murderers. Yet in another sense, it also restrains our lust for revenge. "Should any one object, that this divine image has been obliterated, the solution is easy; first, there yet exists some remnant of it, so that man is possessed of no small dignity; and, secondly, the Celestial Creator himself, however corrupted man may be, still keeps in view the end of his original creation; and according to his example, we ought to consider for what end he created men, and what excellence he has bestowed upon them above the rest of living beings.

...as we take satisfaction in the honorable service of U.S. forces in bringing a terrorist to justice in the court of the temporal city, let us never dare to confuse this with "the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God" (Heb. 11:10). In our response, let us use this opportunity to display to our non-Christian neighbors the radical contrasts between the biblical view of God, humanity, redemption, and the last judgment, and the religious and secularist distortions—even those that profess to be Christian."

Read the entire article.