Standing On the Promises of My Ancestors

Never has the gap in mutual acceptance and understanding between generations been as large as it is now. Massive societal and cultural shifts, fueled by changing technology, increasing differences in the age of young parents, globalization, and disconnectedness of society toward moral laws, have caused a deep divide between those born in the first two-thirds of the twentieth century and those born in the latter decades. This book aims to identify the causes of this gap, quantify the effects, and suggest solutions. Although applicable to many different aspects of society, it is the parents’ responsibilities to pass knowledge on to the next future generation. Many methodologies that have been tried to remove the division have failed. Society has decided not to bother or continue to discover working solutions, as evidenced in the high rates of teen pregnancy and incarceration.

The youth culture is always changing, yet the need for confirmation and transformation remains the same. Young people are currently part of the family, church, and the community. The influences of society and culture have affected the family, church, schools, and the community in ways that are difficult to escape. The media contributes to young people’s attitudes and behavior in a manner that influences their lives radically. Family, church, school, and community cannot deny the changes; they need to find ways to keep young people in a living relationship with themselves and the Lord. The current attempts to train the young people in the way they should go is failing because parents, teachers, the Church, and the community have lost their respectability. A lack of moral values and a breakdown in the family structure has caused a decline in the training of our youth. The training of young people in their early years is essential for a real future. At the heart of the trouble are a series of misunderstandings between young and old, school and the community, religion and the state, since the world in which young adolescents are growing up is fundamentally different from that in which their elders grew up, specifically post-9/11. So much has changed over the last twenty years it could be perceived as almost insurmountable. The theme of this book, “Standing on the Promises,” will focus on our youth.

Dr. Anderson H. Ruffin is a son of the house of Evergreen Baptist Church in Shreveport, Louisiana. He shares more than forty-four years of teaching experiences of youth in public schools and as a Sunday school teacher. Dr. Ruffin has earned degrees from Alabama State University and Virginia University of Lynchburg.