I'm not talking about a decline in college graduates or a shortage in doctors, lawyers or specialized workers. America has all of those, en masse. I'm talking about the sexual education, that threatening topic that causes most evangelicals to run for the hills. It is emerging that young people in America today, predominantly those raised in Christian homes, have a less than basic understanding of sex and sexuality.
Even with all of our advanced degrees and affordable learning schemes to make college accessible to everyone, America is in danger of perpetuating a culture of adults lacking education.
I'm not talking about a decline in college graduates or a shortage in doctors, lawyers or specialized workers. America has all of those, en masse. I'm talking about the sexual education, that threatening topic that causes most evangelicals to run for the hills. It is emerging that young people in America today, predominantly those raised in Christian homes, have a less than basic understanding of sex and sexuality.
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When an American mom took her 17 year old daughter to the doctor's for an appointment, she learned that a nurse may meet with her daughter to have a private discussion. This response is an open letter to that mom's unrealistic, scary and sheltering opinion on the situation.
Go your way. Eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart. For God has accepted your works. Ecc 9:7
Wisdom can come from the strangest places, in the oddest of circumstances. I recently received a little nugget of wisdom from the bag of haircare products I received after a haircut.
It doesn't really matter where the wisdom comes from, though, as long as it's sound, right? That's what I think, anyway. If it's good; apply it. Here's what the back of the bag said: I'm a hummingbird. I can't keep still. Even when it looks like I'm being still, I'm still flapping about. I can't do one thing for doing seven things simultaneously.
It's a blessing. But it's a curse also. It means God and I are constantly having this debate where He's shouting at me to keep still and I'm being a stroppy toddler, stamping my feet because all I want to do is keep moving. Are you like that? Are those words "Be still & know that I am a God" a challenge for you? They are for me. It's prom season.
That means it's time for the religious right to descend upon girls like vultures, condemning them to swimming laps in the Lake of Fire for their unsightly and immodest prom dresses. Modest mongerers and their teenage daughters will spend the next few weeks shouting over the mashed potatoes about what is and isn't acceptable dress for a teenage girl. Voices will be raised, names will be called, frustrations will be vented. And in the midst of all this, teenage boys will be left out of these important debates, never once being reprimanded for their clothing choices nor being subject to lectures on modesty. Over the last 72 hours or so, bad things have been happening.
There's been rapes and unexpected deaths. Miscarriages and illness. Of course when bad things happen to believers, non-believers seem to always come out with the same tired quip: "If God loves you so much; why is this happening?" They stand there, judging, badgering, probing for a response. Well, I've got one. Growing up, the number of children who were completely sheltered by their parents was astonishing. Kids who didn't know how to function outside of the forced bubble of perfection their parents created, were more damaged than those exposed to the harsh realities of the world.
I'm not stupid. I'm not insisting that young children should be sat in front of the TV and given room to roam and peruse channels of pure filth. Nor am I insisting that we should fill their heads with all manner of evil just to give them a taste of the world. I'm talking about a delicate, controlled balance. I'm talking about sheltering, not smothering. Proverbs 13: 24
He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. (KJV) He that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth him in good season. (KJ21) He who fails to use a stick hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him. (CEB) If you love your children, you will correct them; if you don’t love them, you won’t correct them. (CEV) Whoever refuses to spank his son hates him, but whoever loves his son disciplines him from early on. (GW) All translations from Bible Gateway. I was spanked as a child. I have made the decision not to spank my child. |