"Imitation is Suicide"

Every Monday night, the High school teens get together for the Monday Night Devo. This devo is completely teen led. All I do is show up and give support. I love this event, because all I do is put a sign-up list in the foyer twice a year to host this event. Other than that, I show up.

Because this is totally done by teens, organization is at a minimum. We start when someone finally gets the guts to blare out a song over the talking, we sing one song... wait... sing another... wait... hope that someone else starts one... and the process repeats. The devotional itself is sometimes an adventure. Usually, they work it out a week in advance who has the next devo, but memories are not always that great. I don't know how many devos I have heard with a start something like this...

"So, I forgot I had the devo tonight, but..."

Now, don't get me wrong. I am not saying this is bad. We have had some wonderful times of talking and studying with no prep time. I am just glad that these teens do devotionals.

Last night was particularly interesting to me. The teen said a quote that he read in his 6th period English class. "Imitation is Suicide." He then begins to support the quote saying that we need to be ourselves, and not mold into other's thoughts for us. A good idea on some levels, but quickly broke down when he turned it to Jesus. As he stumbled over that idea, I tried to help by saying that imitating Jesus is suicide. We must die to our selves to follow Him.
Imitation is a natural human process. How do we learn what we do? Watching my 5 month girl stick her tongue out when I do is less a brand new thought of her own, and more an imitation of what daddy does. Solomon might have been hinting to this by saying "there is nothing new under the sun."

When the devo was done, I continued thinking about what these kids are learning in school. They are continually hearing the message of "you must be true to yourself, you must love yourself (before you can love someone else), etc..." Now I do not necessarily disagree with these messages, I just know that when you teach them without the background of Christianity, it leads to self-centeredness, elite individualism, and a skewed view of God's will for humanity.

No wonder Jean M. Twenge calls this generation "Generation Me" in her book of the same title. You learn what you are taught.