The Hippie Generation

Unrestrained rebellion against the authority of Jesus and the Bible, the love for loud blaring music, the self-will, the self-centeredness – yes, it was "The Hippie Generation".  Some wore beads.  Some had long hair.  Some wore tie-dyed tee-shirts and others wore turtle-neck sweaters.  Some lived in upstate New York, some lived in Northern California, and some moved up to Canada.  The Hippie generation was sure a wild bunch, to say the least.

You rarely see classical hippies today, (hippies such as in the photo above), unless you are driving up in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, or perhaps in the back country of Colorado.  A lot of these old hippies now wear black or colored business suits instead of their previous wild attire.  These hippies-in-suits are sometimes called “Yuppies” today.  I hardly remember the hippies first-hand myself because I was just a small child when they had their heyday back in the 1960’s.  It is hard for me to even relate to them, since I was born in the 1960’s myself, a whole generation later.  (The hippie generation refers to those born during the 1940’s and 1950’s.)

Why did the hippie generation come into existence in the first place?  I believe that there are three main causes for why the hippies came into being.  The first cause was the prosperity that came about in the U.S. and other western countries after the end of World War II.  Parents that had long suffered deprivation during the Great Depression and World War II did not want their children to have to go through the same suffering.  Instead, they gave them money and tended to let them "do their own thing", or else they set them down in front of that "idiot box", the television.

A second reason for the hippies was the state of angst that came about after the assassination of President John Kennedy in the early 1960's.  This hit students hard at the universities.  Many of these college students turned to drugs, sex, rock-and-roll, or rebellion against the Vietnam War during the following months and years.

I think nevertheless that the main reason for the hippie movement was the effects of Dr. Benjamin Spock and his book, "Baby and Child Care".  Dr. Spock told parents in this book that spanking their children was wrong and should be avoided at all costs.  A large percentage of American and Western parents heeded this bad advice by Dr. Spock to stop disciplining their children.  As would be expected, a whole generation of "spoiled brats" came about as a direct result - the "hippie generation" born during the 1940's and 1950's.

What were some of the characteristics of this hippie generation?  One characteristic was the hippie's assumption that they were always right and that everyone else was always wrong.  "Never trust anyone over 30" was not just a slogan, it was a mindset of thinking by these hippies, a mindset that they were better than those "squares" (i.e. everyone else) around them.  No, these hippies really "had it together" in their own minds and everyone else was just an "airhead".  Therefore, anyone who dared to disagree with them was very, very wrong.  No, no, no! They themselves were always right and everyone else was always , (and in every case), wrong.

Another characteristic of such hippies was their frequent temper tantrums.  (Such is generally the case with such spoiled brats.)  Since they were not spanked as children, they often had little self-control ,and so frequently yelled and screamed at other people as a direct result of such a basic lack of self-control.

Related to this problem of a lack of self-control was the idea by such hippies that they were "at the center of the universe".  It was "all about them", because, (as is often the case with such spoiled brats), it was always "I ...I....I".  (If you want to tell a hippie from a non-hippie, you can usually tell a hippie by listening to him or her talk or by reading his or her letters or books and noticing how many times that he or she mentions "I...I...I".)

Although many hippies now wear suits, they are still nevertheless hippies inside.  Wearing a suit does not change one's character.  One day the Antichrist will come on the scene.  This "Man of Sin" will share many of these very same characteristics of the Hippies.  With this Antichrist, it will all be about him.  He will therefore not tolerate anyone disagreeing with him.  Those that follow the Antichrist and then take his "Mark" will all one day all be cast into the Lake of Fire to burn forever.

Perhaps you too are generally filled with thoughts of yourself.  Such selfishness is a sin.  You have committed many other sins as well.  You must have your sins forgiven, so that you too do not end up burning forever in the Lake of Fire.  Jesus came to Earth to die and pay for your sins with his own blood.  He rose again from the dead and is up in Heaven right now.  You can trust Jesus to save you.  Jesus will save you if you trust him to.  Do it today.

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