The Journey 163
Tuesday, June 12
Read: John 8:1-11
               Recently a friend of mine asked me to read a book that has been recently published, which has some trending news about the young men. The name of the book is “The Demise of Guys: Why Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It” by Dr. Philip Zimbardo and Nikita Duncan. I saw that the book on Amazon Kindle store, and soon downloaded it on to my kindle. The research findings that  the authors are bringing out in the book, may redefine the ministry of the church, especially in the work among the youths. It deals with the topic of how the men and young boys are loosing certain aspects of their personality which can be very fatal in the long run both in the personal life and also in the well being of the society. What the author is communicating is that with the advent of gaming consoles like Wi , PSPO and Play Station, we are creating a generation of  young men who wants to live in a world of fantasy and want instant gratification  of their desires, rather than comprehending what is reality and how we need to have certain long term goals also in our life. According to the authors these addictions unlike other addictions like drug and alcohol force the men to go on higher lever of thrill and experience. When the kids or young men win the first round of the online gaming, they want to go to the next round and then it is a vicious cycle. I still remember a married lady seeking help from me to dissuade her husband who would spend long time at home, playing games on computer and thus forgetting his duties at home and also at work. What guys want today is instant thrill and excitement, even though it may cost them a price that will affect their entire life, they seem to be unperturbed.  Thus because of this the authors argue that these boys and young men don't live in a real world, they don't want to enjoy life that is real and they are not ready to take responsibility on a long term basis, as there is no thrill in that. Thus this change in behavior and life style of boys and young men can have an adverse effect on institution of family. What is the relationship between the findings of the research and our journey towards transformed living.
          This week we are meditating on the theme “Transformation in my personal life”. The portion that we shall use for our meditation is from John 8:1-11. This is a portion where Jesus is put to test by the Pharisees. They bring to him a woman who was caught in adultery and want to mete out the punishment to her as according to the law of Moses, where  by she is supposed to be stoned to death. But Jesus instead of condemning the woman asked the Pharisees to stone her– but with a condition that only that person could stone her, the one who has never sinned. Here is Jesus condemning the attitude of the Pharisees. Here is a lady who is a victim of the people who want “Instant gratification” in their life. They use  the lady for that gratification, but the pain has to be borne not by oppressed but by the oppressor. It is here that Jesus Christ teaches us a valuable lesson. If we need to transform our life, I think we need to make a conscious effort to see that our life is not dictated by the principles of thrill and instant gratification, on the contrary on the  principle of responsibility, mutual respect to each other and life built on both short term and long term goals. Life is not just travelling on highway but also on pot hole road too.