The evil B-word (and it's not bitch)

Okay, I'm sick of it! Just sick of it! You upper classmen...you've been acting as mature as the under classmen. I have come with a divine revelation.....THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN BANQUET!

It's been going on since early February. It started with among the show-off couples. Then it infected through the popular kids. When Arts Day finished, and the Preppy/Smart and Artistic clique kids had nothing to do, they then became occupied - oh, excuse me, better word - OBSESSED with banquet, as well! Before you know it, the whole social sphere of our school is Banquet. Banquet banquet banquet! It's like there is nothing else. Who's going with who, how you are arriving, what you're are wearing, what after party you're going to. This is all the talk I hear about. Can you guys ever look beyond it?

Let me tell you something, your craze over banquet is destructive! It is destroying the fellowship among Christians. Once again, you have ruined this school once again. As a Mennonite school, we have the oppurtunity to be a witness to the dark world of secularism by being set apart as different for the Lord. But no! We must conform just like all the other schools. Even though banquet is still the dumb-down Mennonite version of the prom, you guys, with your after dance and party, make us just like the rest. Romans 12:2- "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will"

All of you put way too much effort into this banquet. You all want it to be perfect, and spend all your time worrying about if everything will go right. Why? You want to look good among your peers. You want to stand out. Heck, this is a big social gathering, you got to be at your best looking, or who knows what will happen? Once again, Banquet has caused you to error in the eyes of your Lord! Read Luke 12:22-28-

"22Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? 27"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!

Yes, there is no mention about Banquet, but it does mention what you are wearing, which seems to be like a big factor in banquet. Still not convinced? I'm pretty sure if there was banquet/prom in the time of Jesus he would have said something like this:

"And do not worry about your social life. Who your friends are or who is going out with who, it is not worth worrying about. Just look at the fish in the sea. They neither hold nor go to parties. They do not undergo a dating process. Neither do they have a prom or a banquet. Yet the Lord gives them the socializing they need. The fish swim in schools, and every year they manage to reproduce and have kids. So if God has given this all to fish, whose lives are only a fraction of what you humans live, will he not also give it to you?"

After that is when the scripture you know will continue, Luke 12:29 & 30- "29And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink (or on banquet); do not worry about it. 30For the pagan world runs after all such things"

We are called to be God's children, not pagans. If we take time on worrying about frivilous things, we lose faith that God will provide, and that is a sin. And there is so much more wrong about banquet than that. Like I said, it destroys fellowship among Christians. It lowers those who are not going to banquet by leaving them out and excluding them. Further, those couples, the ones who have the first among the planners, will lower those at banquet without a date. How can you all this, when the Lord looks at all his children equally?!

Personally, I will not be going to banquet. First of all, to make it clear, it has nothing to do with or without having a date! Even if I had a girlfriend, I would not go! A relationship should be personally between a couple, not a show-off tool to your peers! I would not want my friends, my classmates or anyone else in the school to feel lowly beecause they not going to banquet. Do to others have you would want done to you! Remember that part of the verse I bolded above? It says, "And how much more valuable are you than birds!" In a song about this, the ApologetiX sing, "I am worth more than I think" which means the same thing as that verse. Who cares what the human thinks about you? God loves you. And that means you are a great worth, greater than any worldly possession!

As for me, that Saturday night I will be going to a Reading Phillies ball game, with a friend or two. Whoever it is, it will be someone who like me for who I am, with or without girlfriend. And all my friends will are like that. But before that, that Saturday afternoon, I will cry for my generation. I will cry unto the Lord for mercy for the transgressions of our generation. I am embarrassed for the wrong of our generations. I beg you all not to do any wrongs after the banquet. Remember that the Lord calls you to be pure and holy. Hear my words, and heed my warning. Last verse of the post:

"29As the crowds increased, Jesus said, "This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. 30For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here. 32The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here." Luke 11:29-32