Social Distortion: "Mommy's Little Monster"

This punk rock band made a lot of sense with this song. Some children do grow up wild and flout authority. If you're not afraid, listen to this live performance here.

These rebellious children are aptly described in Romans 1:28-32 (Bible in Basic English). "And because they had not the mind to keep God in their knowledge, God gave them up to an evil mind, to do those things which are not right; Being full of all wrongdoing, evil, desire for the goods of others, hate, envy, putting to death, fighting, deceit, cruel ways, evil talk, and false statements about others; Hated by God, full of pride, without respect, full of loud talk, given to evil inventions, not honouring father or mother, Without knowledge, not true to their undertakings, unkind, having no mercy: Who, though they have knowledge of the law of God, that the fate of those who do these things is death, not only go on doing these things themselves, but give approval to those who do them."

This might sound harsh to our modern ears but the type of kids mentioned in the song would have been put to death in Moses' time. Deuteronomy 21:18 (BBE) explains how seriously the Lord took rebellion. "If a man has a son who is hard-hearted and uncontrolled, who gives no attention to the voice of his father and mother, and will not be ruled by them, though they give him punishment: Then let his father and mother take him to the responsible men of the town, to the public place; And say to them, 'This son of ours is hard-hearted and uncontrolled, he will not give attention to us; he gives himself up to pleasure and strong drink.' Then he is to be stoned to death by all the men of the town: so you are to put away the evil from among you; and all Israel, hearing of it, will be full of fear."

I know that not all children grow up to be responsible adults. Even so, what Solomon said in Proverbs 22:6 (BBE) is generally true. "If a child is trained up in the right way, even when he is old he will not be turned away from it."

Often times, these wild children need to suffer their consequences. In what people call the story of the prodigal son, Luke 15:17-19 (BBE) reads, "But when he came to his senses, he said, 'What numbers of my father's servants have bread enough, and more, while I am near to death here through need of food! I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have done wrong, against heaven and in your eyes: I am no longer good enough to be named your son: make me like one of your servants."'"

If Christ hasn't returned for his sometimes-prodigal children by Thursday, I hope to publish about a rock 'n' roll revivalist and our temporary bodies.