Earlier this week the question was asked what would I say to parents who claim to be "Christians", yet are still deciding to let their children go to prom. So I decided to blog about it. Please feel free to comment, I would love to here your opinions on the subject.
The first thing that came to mind when asked this question was Romans 12:2(NIV), "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." I'm sorry to say, but the prom isn't a gathering where kids get together and pray all night until something shifts in the atmosphere, it isn't kids getting together to have a night of worship (well not to worship God anyways), it isn't a night of kids coming together to have a night of bible study. No, it is a night of materialism. Kids spending huge amounts of their parents money so that they can be glorified in the eyes of those around them. Kids go out lookin for the best dress/tux, the best accessories, the best hairstyles/haircuts, the best vehicle to pull up in, the best looking dates to make themselves look good, and if it's no more dates left then they go with they're friends so they won't walk in alone. It is a night of sexual immorality. Females go out looking for the tightest/little dresses so that they can rub their butt up against a penis all night, and males are looking for the females like that so they can get aroused and try to go and dance with them. Kids meet up to have sex before prom, during prom, and after prom. I've known kids who planned to have sex after prom a month before prom comes. They go ahead and get hotel reservations and everything. It's so sad, but yet very true. It's a night of drunkeness. Why do you think they had to enforce the breathalyzer before you can even get in the door..? It wasn't so they could waste time at the beginning of prom. No, it's because kids would come to prom already drunk out their minds. So, now instead of getting drunk before prom they wait until after prom to get drunk. This is how a lot of drunk driving deaths occur when prom time comes around. Last, but not least, the music they play at these proms have nothing to do with glorifying God and the advancement of His Kingdom. The music they play at proms promote sex, drinking, materialism, smoking, and sin in general. These secular artist that are being played do not serve the God you say that you serve, Jesus Christ; nor do they intend to. As long as that music is being played, the more your child becomes accustomed to it, the more they start singing it, and eventually they begin to walk out what they're saying. Whether it be smoking all the time, drinking until they throw up, having sex with as many people as they can, or striving to have the best materials. If life and death is in the power of the tongue, and you're child is singing the carnal lyrics of the next best rapper then they're speaking to life what they're saying. What do you think that is doing to them spiritually? It's pushing them farther and farther away from God, but hey they're just going to have fun... right??
Parents, the Word of God tells us that you are to, "train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." (Proverbs 22:6 NIV) So, what exactly are you training your child for when you send them out to prom looking and acting like the world? You're teaching them that it is okay to compromise their beliefs and values for certain occassions. Eventually, as they get older these certain occassions will turn into a lifestyle of compromise. It's all because you taught them, when they were young, that it was okay to compromise, and so when they get older they won't depart from it. You're also teaching them to be enemies of God(James 4:4 NIV). Now if this is what you want, as a so called believere and follower of Christ, for your child to become an enemy of God; then continue to give into their whining, selfishness, and that entitlement spirit. Giving them everything they WANT when they WANT it. Keep compromising with them. You're raising them to be profesional hypocrites. Now, if you truly want your kid to be on fire for God then no longer compromise with them so that you can liked by them. You're the parent; you're not always going to be liked for the decisions you make, but they will love you and thank you in the long run for teaching them to stand for what they believe in no matter how many people they know are doing the opposite. You're teaching them to walk this earth as the salt and light; bringing change to the standards of this world. Parents get bold and stop giving in to your child's every little desire.
1 Corinthians 6:12 NIV, "Everything is permissible for me-- but not everything is beneficial."
2 Corinthians 6:14 NIV, " Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness."
Romans 6:16 NIV, "... you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness."
danielSON