Number 66: August 30, 2006



The president of the United States, George W. Bush, recently turned 60 years of age. This year former president William Jefferson Clinton turned 60 years of age also. Being born in 1946, these men represent the first wave of the postwar generation to reach their seventh decade. Others turning 60 this year include Cher, Reggie Jackson, Diane Keaton, Liza Minnelli, Dolly Parton, Suzanne Somers, Steven Spielberg, Kenneth W. Starr, and Donald Trump.



“Baby Boomers” are generally defined as those born between 1946-1964. They dominate the halls of power controlling 41 of 50 governorships, half the 100 Senate seats, 275 of 435 House seats, and even 3 of the 9 Supreme Court seats. We, have become them: “The establishment!”



Being born during the term of IKE [born again during Carter], and growing up in the middle of the “Baby Boomer” era, there are questions worth pondering: “What does it mean that the generation of revolution has become the establishment? What does it mean that the generation of idealism has been tempered by reality? What does it mean that the generation of vigor and optimism now begins to peer over the hill at mortality? Did God really die in the 60’s?”



Bill Clinton capitalized on his youth by playing the saxophone, picking another relative young man as his running mate, while fending off the hangovers of his generation like marijuana experimentation, avoidance of the draft, and participation in the sexual revolution.



When this President Bush arrived on the scene, he tried to position himself on the opposite side of the same generational coin, against the backlash of the excesses of the 1960’s. Bush told the Republican convention in 2000 that “Clinton embodied the potential of a generation with so many talents, so much charm, such great skill, but in the end, to what end? So much promise to no great purpose.” His input was that this generation did have a more sober and responsible side.



The “Baby Boomer” generation, like all generations in the past, thought they were fighting for freedom, for peace, for love, for a better world. Honestly though, God through Christ is what they were after. It is what all generations of all time are searching for. When the Apostle Paul was in Athens having a dialogue with the world thinkers, he gave them that answer.



Acts 17:18:

Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.



There were many strange gods rediscovered as this generation searched for something that would make sense. The answers to all of life’s strivings has already been accomplished by Christ with his resurrection. When some hear of the resurrection of the dead, they will mock. Some, will want to hear more. Yet, there will be others who will believe regarding Christ. Those who do believe, will finally receive the inner peace, the love, and the sense that they were after, since through Christ is the only way that God can give them the true reality of life.