“My son, if sinners entice you, DO NOT CONSENT.”
Peer pressure is as old as the human race. In every culture, in every time, in every place… people have wanted to influence, and be influenced by, one another. This is the “herd instinct” of humanity. It’s plainly evident in creatures of nature: cows walk like other cows, snakes glide like other snakes, bees fly like other bees. And humans act like other humans, and are wired in such a way that there is an almost irresistible desire to be like our own.
Peer pressure is an obvious feature of American adolescence. The stereotypical scene of a group of young people enflaming each other to engage in dangerous, restricted, or even illegal activity has spawned movies and TV shows and books and commercials. Therapists and psychologists make their living in large part attempting to mitigate the damaging effects of peer pressure. Peer pressure breaks up families. It leads to deaths. It boasts a price tag in the billions. It has become, in a sense, a cultural curse.
The timeless book of Proverbs speak to the issue of peer pressure. The author Solomon famously once said “There is nothing new under the sun.” As we peruse our culture and our world about us, how true do his words ring. There is nothing new in the most basic components of life. The problems of today were the problems of yesterday, and every day before then. People do not change, and because the nature of mankind never changes, his problems do not change. Peer pressure applied it’s vice grip in antiquity no less than it does today.
Peer pressure is equated with trouble so often because people, especially young people, are given to trouble. They seek it out. Put a group of 17-year old guys on a road trip and you will see this played out to the letter. It’s the nature of humans. But it doesn’t stop with teens. Peer pressure is alive and well among groups of older people. The only difference is the kind of trouble; it is more sophisticated trouble, called other names such as corporate fraud and divorce.
Solomon understood that people love to transgress. It there is a rule, we will bend it. If there is a law, we will break it. And when there is more than one transgressor together, the impetus to transgress magnifies significantly.
And so he continues, here in Proverbs 1:
“If they say, ‘Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause, let us swallow them alive like Sheol, even whole, as those who go down to the pit. We will find all kinds of precious wealth, we will fill our houses with spoil. Throw in your lot with us, we shall all have one purse.’
My son, do not walk in the way with them, keep your feet from their path. For their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed blood. Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net in the sight of any bird. But they lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own lives.
So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; it takes away the life of its possessors.”
Here, Solomon touches on some keen aspects of peer pressure. First, he speaks ofviolence. Sounds ominous, sure. But is it not like reality? When disruptive friends run together, what do they like to do? Fight, vandalize, and carouse. And if one of them won’t join in, well he’s a wousse. A pansy.
Violence is strongly connected to peer pressure. Gang activity, a modern curse on urban America, is a playground for peer pressure. Not only must inductees be violently hazed, but once in, they are practically compelled to engage in violent sex, theft, fighting, and all sorts of damaging behavior. Violence is a natural outflow of youthful peer pressure.
Sharing the rewards of violent or unlawful behavior is also a noted aspect of peer pressure. The phrases “all kinds of precious wealth” and “fill our houses with spoil” and “all have one purse” refer to the monetary payoff of the compelled behavior. This is especially true in peer pressure of older, more sophisticated groups. While younger people may succumb to peer pressure merely to have fun or look cool, the older forms of peer pressure often have money as the object. The obvious extreme might be something like the mafia – which stereotypically connects violence with money – organized crime is the ultimate form of peer pressure. But many other forms exist. When a circle of professionals engage in a business activity to hurt a competitor and make a huge profit from it, and anyone not “in” on it is considered weak or pious or idealistic… peer pressure is rearing its ugly head. The negative pressures of the business world to acquiesce to illicit behavior can be overwhelming.
In biting sarcasm, the author tells us: “Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net in the sight of any bird.” He uses hyperbole to stress the point that even a bird can see a net being spread for her… and she will not run into it. How much more should a person see the net being spread, and get away before it is too late!
People should know negative peer pressure when they see it. And they should know when it is time to leave. Just as a bird with a pea sized brain will avoid an obvious trap, an intelligent human has no excuse who refuses to avoid a trap being set by others. And peer pressure is exactly that: a trap.
“They lie in wait for their own blood… violence… takes away the life of its possessors.”
The conclusion is definite: giving in to peer pressure ruins those who give in. Violence breeds violence. Lies breed lies. Theft breeds theft. And those who encourage others in ruinous activity, and those who consent to it, will reap the promised results of such activity.
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