Wow!That illusory world floating around you is powerful, after all, eh?
When it comes to moral lessons in this world of ours, unfortunately, it's never (a) OR (b)...
It's usually A, B, C, D...
And even the Bible makes it clear that beyond the world's negative influences, we have other battlefronts (supernatural agents otherwise known as forces of darkness...demons)...and even the corruption of our very own hearts.
And, yes, fortunately there's such a thing MORE (significant) influence and LESS (either insignificant or less weighty) influence...
But, unless you've got a kid bundled up in the wilds of Alaska free from peers, free from TV, free from the Internet...and the overwhelming # of high school & even middleschool kids...even kids who don't watch TV...are hooked up to the internet via cell phones...
They wind up taking in "moral lessons" from multiple sources.
Certainly, I believe NONE of these OTHER sources ... even peers ... overwhelm any influential parent taking an active role in their kids' lives.
Yet I heard somebody say it one time...
How you could take the best kid (even in an active Christian home) ...
...in the best classroom (even in a Christian school)...
...being taught by the best Christian educator...
...in the best Christian influenced community...
...and that kid would still rather offend that teacher than the peer group.
IoW...the peer group is both more powerful than we think...and that the protective "cacoon" of our kids is oft only as good as that kids' immediate daily peer group he/she hangs out with...
Nothing illusory about it. Athletes aren’t paid to be role models, they’re paid to compete in their sports. And most of them tend to be pretty flawed people. I grew up in the North Dallas 40 era when we all knew athletes were mostly womanizing alcoholics and shouldn’t be role models. Role models come from the home, that’s the job of parents.