https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Challenges-for-the-Year.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Romans 1:28-32<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nI. Toward the end of each year, people tend to review the year and record the trends that are\nevident\n A. I’ve been collecting several articles in the last few months dealing with moral\ntrends\n
B. We are not of the world, but we must live in it – John 17:15-16; I Corinthians 5:9-10<\/p>\n 1. What happens in the world ends up creeping into our lives and the lives of\nthose we know.\n C. I would like to spend a few moments discussing these trends and what God says\nabout such matters.\n
II. Changes in marriage and divorce rates<\/p>\n
A. It might seem odd at first, but divorce rates have been declining of late.<\/p>\n
1. The overall divorce rate in the United States dropped<\/p>\n
a. 1990: 18.95 divorces per 1,000 marriages<\/p>\n
b. 2009: 17.92 divorces per 1,000 marriages<\/p>\n
c. 2019: 15.50 divorces per 1,000 marriages<\/p>\n
d. 2021: 14.00 divorces per 1,000 marriages<\/p>\n 2. “The U.S. divorce rate fell from 9.7 new divorces per 1,000 women age 15\nand over in 2009 to 7.6 in 2019″ [Lydia Anderson, “See How Marriage\nand Divorce Rates in Your State Stack Up”, United States Census Bureau,\n7 December 2020].\n
3. It isn’t that people are getting better at being married<\/p>\n
4. People are increasingly not bothering to get married<\/p>\n a. “There were 16.3 new marriages for every 1,000 women age 15\nand over in the United States, down from 17.6 in 2009″ [Lydia\nAnderson, “See How Marriage and Divorce Rates in Your State\nStack Up”, United States Census Bureau, 7 December 2020].\n b. “The number of American parents who live together without\nmarrying has increased twelve-fold since 1970.” [“Parents cohabit\nrather than wed, Omaha World-Herald, 2011]\n c. Only 51% of adult Americans are married in 2010. That is\ncompared to 72% in 1960. [“Wedding bell blues: Only 51% are\nmarried,” Omaha World-Herald, 12\/15\/2011]. It was down to\n47.3% in 2021. \n d. Worse, “Just 20% of adults 18 to 29 are married, compared with 59\npercent in 1960.” [“Wedding bell blues: Only 51% are married,”\nOmaha World-Herald, 12\/15\/2011]\n B. But at the same time, divorce among people 50 to 64 has increased from 6.9\ndivorces per 1,000 marriages in 1990 to 12.6 divorces per 1,000 marriages in\n2009. [Jeff Kunerth, “Boomers boost divorce rate among older adults,” Omaha\nWorld-Herald, December 2011]\n 1. “Now one in four people getting divorced is over the age of 50. In 1990 it\nwas less than one in 10.” [Jeff Kunerth, “Boomers boost divorce rate\namong older adults,” Omaha World-Herald, December 2011]\n 2. What is happening is that the older generation that viewed marriage as\npermanent is dying off.\n a. A young generation that still emphasized marriage is growing up,\nbut they are more willing to divorce.\n b. A telling statement: “The divorce rate for aging boomers is twice\nas high for those who were previously divorced than those who\nwere on their first marriage.” [Jeff Kunerth, “Boomers boost\ndivorce rate among older adults,” Omaha World-Herald, December\n2011]\n
c. I Corinthians 7:10-11<\/p>\n d. They are being followed by a generation that isn’t even bothering\nto get married. “Families that would be unstable anyway are just\nskipping marriage.” [Sheela Kennedy, Minnesota Population\nCenter]\n
e. The few that do are among those who see marriage as permanent.<\/p>\n
C. Hebrews 13:4<\/p>\n
D. The shift is affecting children and future generations<\/p>\n 1. “42% of children have lived with cohabiting parents by age 12, far more\nthan the 24% whose parents have divorced” [“Parents cohabit rather than\nwed, Omaha World-Herald, 2011]\n
III. Sexual behavior<\/p>\n
A. Unwed sex<\/p>\n 1. One statistic is that percent of unmarried births by teenagers versus all\nbirths has declined from 52% in 1975 to 21% in 2009 to 15.% in 2020.\n 2. Sexual intercourse in high school has decreased [Youth Risk Behavior\nReport]\n
a. 1991: 54.1%<\/p>\n
b. 2007: 47.8%<\/p>\n
c. 2017: 39.5%<\/p>\n
d. 2019: 38.4% <\/p>\n
3. Sounds good until you learn that the percent of unmarried births is rising<\/p>\n
a. 1980: 18.4% <\/p>\n
b. 1995: 32.2%<\/p>\n
c. 2009: 41%<\/p>\n
d. 2020: 40.5%<\/p>\n 4. What that means is unmarried teen births are decreasing, but unmarried\nbirths to non-teens are rising, Thus, premarital sex after high school has\nbeen increasing.\n
5. I Corinthians 6:9-10<\/p>\n
B. Sexual disease<\/p>\n
1. 17% of all new HIV\/AIDS cases involve people under the age of 24.<\/p>\n a. “During 1997–2006, the rate of AIDS diagnoses reported among\nmales aged 15–19 years nearly doubled, from 1.3 cases per\n100,000 population in 1997 to 2.5 cases per 100,000 population in\n2006″ \n[http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/mmwr\/preview\/mmwrhtml\/ss5806a1.htm]\n
2. 53% of all STD reported involve people ages 15-24. [CDC]<\/p>\n
3. While intercourse is decreasing, other forms of sex are increasing<\/p>\n
a. Oral sex in 2005<\/p>\n
(1) 71% of 18-19 year olds<\/p>\n
(2) 43% of 15-17 year olds<\/p>\n b. “A nearly 30% increase in these reportable STDs between 2015\nand 2019.” The highest contributing populations are homosexuals\nand young people between ages 15 and 24.\n[https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/media\/releases\/2021\/p0413-stds.html]\n 4. There is a reason why God warned about disease (wounds) – Proverbs\n6:32-33\n
IV. Drugs<\/p>\n
A. Alcohol<\/p>\n 1. From 1991 to 2011, “the proportion of eight-graders who said the used\nalcohol in the past 30 days has declined by half, to 13%.” 40% of high\nschool seniors used alcohol in the past 30 days. [“Teen alcohol, cig use\ndown; pot up,” Omaha World-Herald, December 2011].\n 2. Binge drinking by high school seniors dropped from 41% in 1981 to 22%\nin 2011. [“Teen alcohol, cig use down; pot up,” Omaha World-Herald,\nDecember 2011]\n 3. “By the 12th grade, more than 2\/3 of students have tried alcohol.”\n[https:\/\/americanaddictioncenters.org\/blog\/statistics-of-drug-use-in-high-school]\n
B. Cigarettes<\/p>\n 1. 12.8 % of high school students smoked in the last 30 days in 2010\ncompared to 11.7% in 2011. [“Teen alcohol, cig use down; pot up,”\nOmaha World-Herald, December 2011]\n 2. It is now down to 2% smoked in the last 30 days in 2022 but e-cigarettes\nare at 14.1%. 16.5% of high school students report using some form of\ntobacco product in the last 30 days.\n[https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/tobacco\/data_statistics\/fact_sheets\/youth_data\/tobacco_use\/index.htm]\n
C. Marijuana<\/p>\n 1. 22% of 12 to 17 year olds have smoked marijuana in the last month in\n2019 [https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/marijuana\/health-effects\/teens.html]\n 2. “Teens generally don’t think of marijuana as dangerous” [“Teen alcohol,\ncig use down; pot up,” Omaha World-Herald, December 2011]\n 3. As more state legalize medical marijuana, the rate of marijuana use has\nincreased. No surprise there. Disturbing is that I can’t find recent statistics.\n
D. Romans 13:13-14 – Behave properly – not like the world<\/p>\n
V. In describing the warnings given to declining Roman Empire – Revelation 9:1-11<\/p>\n
A. Satan, the angel of destruction, rose up. <\/p>\n 1. He released smoke to obscure the sun – he blocked people from seeing the\nlight of God’s wisdom\n 2. He waged spiritual warfare against his own followers, non-Christians who\ndid not have the mark of God, causing them pain and torment\n
3. Yet he could not affect those whom God marked.<\/p>\n B. We often think of Satan looking to bring Christians down, but he is a destroyer\nand he destroys his own followers\n
C. Misery is in their lives and they don’t even realize it comes from their own sins.<\/p>\n
D. But in God there is something that the world can never offer – Philippians 4:6-7<\/p>\n
E. There is an opportunity to gain peace this day.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Romans 1:28-32 I. Toward the end of each year, people tend to review the year and record the trends that are evident A. I’ve been collecting several articles in the last few months dealing with moral trends B. We are not of the world, but we must live in it – John…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[371,883,167,1572,540,64,38,901],"class_list":["post-57486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-alcohol","tag-cigarettes","tag-divorce","tag-fornication","tag-marijuana","tag-marriage","tag-morality","tag-sexually-transmitted-diseases"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":66891,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/legalizing-drugs-led-to-massive-increase-in-drug-related-deaths\/","url_meta":{"origin":57486,"position":0},"title":"Legalizing Drugs Led to Massive Increase in Drug-Related Deaths","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 4, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Source: \"Oregon 1st state to decriminalize possession of drugs,\" AP News, 1 February 2021. \"Police in Oregon can no longer arrest someone for possession of small amounts of heroin, methamphetamine, LSD, oxycodone and other drugs as a ballot measure that decriminalized them took effect on Monday.\u00a0Instead, those found in possession\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Issues"","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38158,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/more-children-are-born-out-of-wedlock\/","url_meta":{"origin":57486,"position":1},"title":"More Children are Born Out of Wedlock","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Source:\u00a0Young Children and Their Complex Families: Facing Some Uncomfortable\u00a0Facts, Child Trends, 25 March 2013. Source: Jason\u00a0DeParle and Sabrina Tavernise,\u00a0\"For Women Under 30, Most Births Occur Outside Marriage,\" New York Times, 17 February 2012. Source: \"Knot Yet: The Benefits and Costs of Delayed Marriage in America\", 2013 \"Today, more children than\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Issues"","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69657,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-going-to-church-still-matter\/","url_meta":{"origin":57486,"position":2},"title":"Does Going to Church Still Matter?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 5, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Clay Stauffer Adapted Pew Research has been tracking trends in America for many decades. Some of the most recent data is very eye-opening, if not alarming. 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Sir, I also really want a true\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62436,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/fashioned-not-according-to-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":57486,"position":4},"title":"Fashioned Not According to the World","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 6, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: II Corinthians 6:14-7:1 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At times it isn\u2019t easy to take a stand for the truth and it appears to be getting harder with the passing years. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0People are social creatures. We want to think that other people are like us. 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