Lessons from the Juvenile Court

by Kelly Knowlden

The recently published Steubenville, Ohio rape case involving two high school football players will end up in front of a grand jury in mid-April because the Attorney General said that this incident must be investigated fully. Allegations of a possible cover-up will mean that charges could be brought against any who failed to speak up after the attack last summer including other teens, parents, coaches and school officials. Students who stood by recorded the attack and gossiped about it online. Hundreds of thousands of text messages, social media posts and online photos indicated that there were those present who saw nothing worth stopping.

Here is the interesting part: The judge urged parents and others “to have discussions about how you talk to your friends, how you record things on the social media, and how you conduct yourself when drinking is put upon you by your friends.”

In our society, who is responsible? We will probably see a case that will try to make the boys and all those who texted, videoed, or uploaded photos as being exempt from guilt. The coaches will not be blamed for having the best interests of their state championship team at heart. It was the fault of the people who hosted the party. It was because there was a testosterone imbalance. It was because it was due to lack of parental oversight. Interestingly, who is allowed to speak about moral issues with students?

For those parents who speak to children out of the eternal truth of God’s Word, who take their children regularly to church, who are helping children understand what it is like to live in a fallen world and how they must learn to respond to it, you have a helper in the process. It is Immanuel Christian School. We are challenging children and young people with their responsibility to work hard and honor God with their talents and abilities. They are also responsible for their actions, whether they be wrong or right. And in our interactions with those who transgress the law, we point them to a sufficient Savior who has worked into the world the consequences of ‘reaping what is sown’ and yet is willing to forgive.