The children of this generation.

[B-A-C]

Matt 11:16; "But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children,
Matt 11:17; and say, 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.'
Matt 11:18; "For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon!'
Matt 11:19; "The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds."

Luke 7:31; "To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like?
Luke 7:32; "They are like children who sit in the market place and call to one another, and they say, 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.'
Luke 7:33; "For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, 'He has a demon!'
Luke 7:34; "The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'
Luke 7:35; "Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children."

I have read this passage in both Luke and Matthew a number of times before. To be honest I didn't really understand what it was about. But I think it's about "this generation".
Yes Jesus was alive 2,000 years ago and He meant that generation. But I think He also meant this generation as well.

I think this passage is about peer-pressure. The children in the market-square. They want to tell what to do, how to act, and even what to believe.
We played the flute but you didn't dance. The rest of us were dancing, why didn't you? We played a sad song for the dead things, and you weren't sad. Everyone else was sad, but you weren't. Why not?
The men of this generation, they want to believe in evolution, not creationism. They want us to accept homosexuality and Universalism, not the reality of hell and the Lake of Fire.
They want us to go along with the idea that God accepts everyone and all people all His children. A popular ad campaign on television these days say.. "He gets us.. all of us".
They want us to change in order to prevent climate change, in some cases even to the point of killing off humans in order that the plants and animals might survive. They want us to support abortion,
and go along with the idea that all religions lead to God.

What? You don't believe these things? Then you're a Christian racist bigot. Why can't you be like us? Why don't you believe like we do? You need to chill out, forget about the Bible and just go along with the crowd.
The thing is... many "Christians" are doing just that. They are giving up Biblical standards and morals, and accepting worldly standards... they are going along "with the crowd".
Wide is the path that leads to destruction.. and many will find it.

Nothing makes these people happy. Whatever you do, it's wrong and the rules change from time to time.
John the Baptist didn't drink wine or eat bread, and you said he had a demon.
Jesus came eating bread and sharing the wine and you said He is a gluttonous drunkard.
If we eat bread you're not happy. If we don't eat bread you're still not happy.

That may have been the message of the current generation of Jesus's time of Earth, but tell me... is it not the same message of the current generation?

 

[B-A-C]

Jdg 2:10; All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.

When I was a teenager in church, we had to memorize Bible verses. I didn't really like it at the time, but it has certainly come in handy in my later years.
I have a grandson, he recently became a teenager. My son is divorced from his mother, so I don't get to see him as often as I would like to. In fact, I really don't have much influence in his life at all.

I asked him recently what his favorite Bible verse was. Disappointingly, he didn't really know any. It turns out they don't go to church much anymore.
But he knows every character from star wars and Harry Potter. He knows every line form every movie. Perhaps those things in themselves aren't that bad. But not knowing the Bible?

Hos 4:6; My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

 

[Brad Huber]

Strong (of character and will) men create good times, good times create weak men, weak men create bad times, and bad times create strong men. Its a cycle as old as human habitation. I think its why in the millennial kingdom, that Christ will rule with an "iron sceptre". As that seems to produce the most strong men of good character.