Dangers Facing Youth
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gratified, the more it is cultivated and the stronger it becomes. The
life experience is largely made up of self-gratification in amusement.
God bids us beware. “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest
he fall” (
1 Corinthians 10:12
).—
Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and
Students, 347
(1913).
Frivolity a Danger—One pattern only is given to the young, but
how do their lives compare with the life of Christ? I feel alarmed as
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I witness everywhere the frivolity of young men and young women
who profess to believe the truth. God does not seem to be in their
thoughts. Their minds are filled with nonsense. Their conversation
is only empty, vain talk. They have a keen ear for music, and Satan
knows what organs to excite to animate, engross, and charm the mind
so that Christ is not desired. The spiritual longings of the soul for
divine knowledge, for a growth in grace, are wanting.—
Testimonies
for the Church 1:496, 497
(1867).
Indulgence Robs Brain of Its Power—The same Witness that
recorded the profanity of Belshazzar is present with us wherever we
go. Young man, young woman, you may not realize that God is
looking upon you; you may feel that you are at liberty to act out the
impulses of the natural heart, that you may indulge in lightness and
trifling, but for all these things you must give an account. As you sow,
you will reap, and if you are taking the foundation from your house,
robbing your brain of its nutriment and your nerves of their power by
dissipation and indulgence of appetite and passion, you will have an
account to render to Him who says, “I know thy works.”—
The Review
and Herald, March 29, 1892
.
Indiscriminate Pleasure Dwarfs the Mind—As hurried eating
of temporal food is detrimental to physical health, so the greedy swal-
lowing of everything bearing the semblance of pleasure dwarfs the
mind, causing it to refuse the spiritual food which is presented. The
mind is educated to crave pleasure as the inebriate craves the glass of
liquor. It seems impossible to resist the temptation. Sober thinking is
distasteful because the presentation is not satisfying. There is nothing
pleasing in the idea of reading and studying the words of eternal life.—
Letter 117, 1901
.
Dangerous Amusements—Any amusement which disqualifies
them for secret prayer, for devotion at the altar of prayer, or for taking
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