It sounds to me like some people are getting all upset and pannicking in this post. Oh- and as a side note- I would caution you all to be careful in lumping young people together. I'm 16, and i don't regularly kill things for fun. :p
Everyone seems to be looking to social factors for causing this, but I have to wonder, what would God have to say about it? He warned us that Satan prowls through the earth seekign to devour, that he is the thief out to
steal, kill, and destroy, and that
"we struggle not against flesh and blood, but against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." (Eph 6:12).
Granted, there are probably many social factors bringing the deterioration of my generation. I admit, this generation is a mess. But I would urge you to look deeper than just the surface. There is one who corrupts, and I think that his hold on our society gets deeper all the time. The media is a mess, but who is the prince of the Air? I know that isn't the literal meaning of that verse, but it seems to fit.
I think that the solution is prayer. The kids who kicked the people to death- does that sound like something that rational people would do? Or people abandoned to madness and goaded by darkness? I don't know the details, but the point is that this is not simply a social problem.
As far as Eve and the fruit- that was not an isolated circumstance. It set the tone and gave over ownership of this earth to satan. We are literally living in enemy territory as fallen man. What would you expect it to be like? Lewis referred to God's salvation and incarnation in Jesus as a daring rescue operation/invasion into enemy held territory, just like D-Day. This is a time for prayer, not fear. Because guess what? When you are afraid, satan wins. The bible reminds us that the spirit of fear is not of God (I don't remember the exact passage, but I'm sure you could look it up easily). I've been going through the book of Joshua lately, and about several times a chapter, God reminds Joshua (and us) "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid."
And so when you hear of terrible things, of wars and rumors of wars, answer in prayer and praise, for our God is bigger than that. Don't think that we can solve this by restructuring families. The solution is faith. The bad news: it will get worse before it gets better. We're in a fallen world, and it will remain fallen till Jesus gets back. The good news: Satan can't touch us as believers, and we can pull people out with us. But we've gotta pray.
For all those interested in this, I'd reccomend Frank Perettie's This Present Darkness or Lewis's Screwtape Letters. God has used both of those for me lately.
