Editorial October 27, 1973 Issue

When Do I Stop Being a Child?

Carl J. Welz

How often in our growing up years we feel certain we are ready to make our own decisions! Then the big problem is with our parents. They aren't so sure. Sometimes they're sure, but in the wrong way. What can we do to let our parents know that we have grown up? Maybe we have to really show them that we have "put away childish things." ("When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.")^{I Cor. 13:11;}

One great example of childishness is accepting information from people who don't really know. You have grown up if you can tell the difference between someone who pretends to know what he is talking about and one who really does. And how do you tell? You have to have within you a real feeling for the source of information. Where it comes from, what's back of it. And this you can't get just from somebody you like; you have to get it from the source of your being, from God.

Let's say you are trying to make up your mind about drugs. Are they really harmful? Some of your friends, perhaps, are saying no and urging you to try them. And some are saying they will cause you great harm. One really childish argument you hear is, "Don't knock it until you've tried it." How do you know whom to believe? The one thing you don't want is to be treated like a child; so it is most important at this point to act like an adult. And here's where you try, and either succeed or blow it.

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