Heads up, this is an essay for Band of Brothers, a Bible study.

A young man, whom I shall call Bob, walks into a house, startlingly similar to your own- and contrary to popular opinion, his first thought was not whether or not he should stay in the same area as the rest of his family, but instead he thought of how he could rid himself of the nuisance the world called his relatives. In such a time, somewhat violent thoughts might course through his mind- and Bob could name a convincing reason for anyone to scorn some, or most, of his relatives; especially ones with a level of authority that changed even the smallest event in his world. He could convincingly accuse a sibling of being the parent's favorite, and therefore the parent- the authority- of being corrupt. But no matter whom he was accusing, he always seamed to glorify himself, and rule his own opinion over that of authority.

In this simple story of the instant a rebellious man enters the home of his family; we see a major cause of rebellion- contempt for authority. The young man, Bob, is a typical American teenager; known for having a rebellious attitude and complete disrespect for authority, while justifying his own rebellious actions. I know of no man, other than Christ, who has never been in Bob's place at some point in life.

But that isn't the end of the story: Bob hasn't said a word in his all-too-familiar defense yet.

Deciding to appease his parents for the time being, he finds them talking privately in the kitchen. Not wanting to deter from his plan of action, Bob righteously walks up to the whispering adults and asks if there is anything they need him to do before he "lives his own life."

Interesting point of view, if you ask me. It's as if the thought of having to do anything he doesn't make plans and set aside time for is threatening. It could be an oddly strong fear of change, or the contempt of authority we saw earlier. But either way, we are about to see a whole other level of rebellion. Contempt is a feeling of hate, often caused by selfishness; while fear, in this context, is an emotion caused by the presence of an entity which you find horrifying, possibly due to the entity harming you, or feeling contempt for you.
And anyway, that's not a wise way to ask your parents if they need anything.

Upon seeing the look of displeasure on his parents faces, he instantly decides that he has to defend himself from their authority. Before they even point out to him that he knew they were trying to talk about something important, he is angry and wants nothing to do with them. He knows that if one of his siblings, younger or older, had done the same thing, they wouldn't have had a problem with it. So when his parents do try to explain, his reaction is, in his parents opinion, disturbingly violent. Seeing the look of shock, anger or disappointment on their faces, he gives up trying to convince them of his righteousness, and storms away, leaving a foul comment to hang in the air.

Oh happy days, weren't they? He started off thinking that he should get his way- a "gimme" attitude- and now he can"t seem to find his way out of his own mess and into the love and care of his family and, most importantly, Christ. Bob has successfully trapped himself in his own greed, cutting off all paths to anything other than destruction. He walked into the house with contempt and disrespected authority, and is now hiding his fear of authority. Had he simply thought of ways to improve the situation rather than get his own way, he could have ended up with a fairly decent evening.

But what sort of solution is that? His peers would never think highly of him if he were to accommodate others. You never hear songs of helping each other, or loving each other, or even just tolerating each other on any of the popular channels. In fact, what you usually listen to or watch is someone with an overgrown ego trying to outdo authority.
So now it's peer pressure- another fear; the fear of rejection. This particular fear has rooted itself into the place we learn of modern society. No wonder we rebel! Instead of showing Christ like virtues of acceptance, tolerance and patience, we deliberately and consciously decide to push others away and brand them as inferior losers.

What we must learn from Bob's story is simple: You are not a loser and have no reason to fear. Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. If you set Christ as your stronghold, your anchor, what can move you to do anything as childish as we see Bob doing? Sure we like to think that Christ is already our undisputed anchor and that you have given it all to God, but that simply doesn't make sense when you make a wreck of yourself. In order to screw up so royally, you have to be in control; God won't do it for you!

So really it's as simple as this: with God, away from rebellion. Away from God to look at the shiny object to the side of the road, living in rebellion. We won't see Bob come to the point at which he repents in this paper simply because I'm running low on time, but that is the pivotal point. If you learn to see that you are wrong and repent, you can reconcile yourself to the path of God and be done with the ruin of rebellion.

This is actually an essay I wrote for a program called Band of Brothers, or BOB. I had to cut it short, because I didn't have enough time to finish it, but what I got to is all there in it's completed form. The character, Bob, and his situations doesn't only have to apply to men, either. I'll ask you; have you ever been in a situation similar to Bob's?