Stone those rebelious teens essays

Stone those rebelious teens essays Ever wonder what to do with a rebellious teenager? Want some advice right out of the Bible? Try Deuteronomy 21.18-21: If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or his mother, and when they chastise him he will not even listen to them, then his father and mother shall seize him and bring him out to the elders at the gateway of his hometown. They shall say to the elders: This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard. Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death. So you shall remove the evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear of it and fear." Shocking, isn't it? Maybe not, if you've got a rebellious son. I bet my parents considered it! What do you make of the fact that the Bible recommends death by stoning as punishment for something minor like rebellion against parents? Don't all young people rebel against their parents? Isn't this a good example of how ancient and uninformed Bible culture fails to measure up to a more enlightened age like our own? Fact is, this is just one example of many Bible passages that are scandalous to people today. Many of us recoil in horror at the way the Hebrews slaughtered the Canaanites young and old, women and children during the conquest of the "Promised Land." Even many fundamentalists blush when Paul says women "will be preserved through child bearing." Many new Christians stumble over passages like these. Some Christians use them as an excuse to ignore other, very plain parts of the Scripture that require us to live worthy lives in humility before our Creator. Even Christians who believe the Bible is literally true are anxious to find some way to explain why they haven't stoned any rebellious teenagers to death lately or why they don't require women to cover their heads when they worship. How do we make sense of Bible passages that shock our sensibilities and stil...