By Lewis Willis
On Monday, June 24, 1991, the National Commission on Children issued its 500-page report, offering suggested solutions to problems of children in American life. The Commission was created by President Reagan and Congress, consisting of leading health, education and social welfare experts, children’s advocates, business representatives, Bush administration officials and elected office holders. On many TV news programs, the head of the Commission, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, of West Virginia, was interviewed.
Basically, the Commission recommended a $56 billion package. No one knows where this money is supposed to come from, but the big problem regarding children, according to the Commission, is money – we are not spending enough money on the well-being of our children. Commission member Marian Wright Edelman said, “It is very clear that millions of Americans out there understand that something has come loose and that we need to invest in children and families” (Akron Beacon Journal, 6-25-91).
Several reasons were given in explanation of the current status of many children. While most American children are “healthy, happy and secure,” many have serious problems. Those problems are caused by the disintegration of the family, poverty, the lack of health care, divorce, teen-age pregnancy and single-parent families, alcohol, drugs, lack of child support payments, working mothers and parents who have too little time to spend with their children. For all of these problems, the Commission suggests that $56 billion will give us the solutions. Will throwing money at these situations solve them?
Dr. Elizabeth Specht of Akron commented that the report gave little attention to “the No. 1 priority,” which she identified as the prevention of teen-age pregnancy. She said, “If a 14-year-old sexually active girl walks into the office, she needs help with birth control.” Is that really what she needs? Will we solve her problems with birth control pills? Mark Real, Director of Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio, said the proposal for a $1,000 tax credit for children will lead the way to provide a steady income supplement to help poor children. Does this man actually think that needy children will receive that $1,000? Everyone can feel confident that an alcohol or drug addicted parent will buy $1,000 worth of food and clothes for each of his children as soon as the check arrives. Right? We have been doling out millions of welfare dollars to those same parents for years and we still have the problem. Will $56 billion more solve the problem? Is it remotely possible that we are moving in the wrong direction in our search for a solution to this national dilemma?
I do not wish to make this a political statement, or, for that matter, a social welfare statement. However, there is one more thought I wish to emphasize. The national Center for Disease Control in Atlanta reported on June 13, 1991 that over I million babies, or 26 percent of U.S. newborns, were born to unmarried women in 1988. We are told that people fear the spread of AIDS, and that this is helping control immorality in our country. If this is so, one wonders what the percentage of births to unmarried women would otherwise be.
Friends, we have a major problem in America regarding these matters. However, $56 billion – or $56 trillion, for that matter -will not solve it. Too many people do not realize that God restricted sex to the marriage relationship (Heb. 13:4). Sex outside of marriage is condemned as a sin which will prevent entrance into heaven (Gal. 5:19-21). We can solve about 26 percent of this national problem if people would stop committing the sin of fornication! And that would not cost a dime!
God teaches parents that they have a responsibility to care for their children. He teaches mothers to love their children and keep the home (Tit. 2:4-5). He teaches fathers to provide for the needs of their families (I Tim. 5:8). If fathers do not do this, they are worse than infidels, according to the Scripture. Parents are taught to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:4). The Federal Government will not have to spend a dime on most of these problems if parents will only do what God told them to do!
The National Commission on Children is looking in the g place for a solution to this problem. They are looko money, and trusting in it, to solve this problem. Inthey should be looking to God and his Law as the solution (1 Tim. 6:17). This happens too often. Men go to the wrong well in search of thirst-quenching water. It seems we learn. No amount of money will rebuild shattered dreams. The solution is to instill the Law of God which will prevent their collapse occurring, with all of the attendant that such brings. Until parents accept their obligations discharge them, they sentence themselves and their children to the horrors that this Commission seeks to address. Again, it must be said, the Bible is simple, and it full of solutions that common people can understand, which will elevate us from the pitfalls of sin, and give meaning and to life. Unfortunately, the “wise” men of the world ignore the only workable solution to our problems. The Bible solution is unthinkable to such men of “wisdom” (1 Cor. 1:19-20).
I shall close with two passages: “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:25). “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Prov. 14:34).
Guardian of Truth XXXV: 18, pp. 558-559
September 19, 1991