LETTERS: THE FUTURE DEPENDS ON GOD'S WILL

To the editor:

To see the hope for the future through the eyes of a high school or college student, in my humble opinion, would be either a foolish wish made in vain or a great illusion of deceit, unless that hope was placed in God's word. Consider, if you will, what the world has to offer a young person with a dream and what message it has portrayed in recent years.

A young person hears every day the message of materialism and that the substance is the measure of a successful life. Every advertisement confirms this blatant false conception. To acquire this substance, immediate credit is made available with a plastic card which bears the name of a person who is soon to become the slave to the one who issued the card. The concept of paying for needs by hard, honest work as one has the ability to do so and being willing to patiently wait for things until they can be paid for has been replaced with "Enjoy your heart's desires now" and pay for the rest of your life the penalty for that immediate self-gratification. One enslaved to credit-card debt has no hope.

A young person hears every day that a good self-esteem is available to one who esteems oneself above anything that says he is anything but perfect. He is told that he has complete control over his destiny. He is told that every choice he makes can be the right choice, because right and wrong values are only worthy of the one who makes the decision. This road of thinking leads to a multitude of detour signs which go unheeded and ends on a dead-end street of disaster. Hope is not found there.

As adults and parents who have come through the trials and tribulations of the world's deceit, we face a great responsibility in sharing the truth of where hope can be found for future generations. We must plead for our children to seek the return of biblical principles to govern our country.

I conclude with the words of Alexis de Tocqueville, French statesman, historian and social philosopher who traveled to America in the 1830s to discover the reason for the incredible success of this new nation, from his classic "Democracy in America":

"I sought for the key to the greatness and genius of America in her harbors, in her fertile fields and boundless forests, in her rich mines and vast world commerce, in her public school system and institutions of learning. I sought for it in her democratic Congress and in her matchless Constitution.

"Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.

"America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."

RON FARROW

Cape Girardeau