High School Scraps Abstinence Only Plans

[Magnetic Poles]

Over a year ago Mitch and I exchanged messages on this topic and what kids do and do not know. At that time he refused to admit that his children knew anything about sex. I figured they were young ... six or below. Turns out he has some teenagers. Trust me, they know. Good grief, even back in the stone age when I was a kid we knew. That did not mean we acted on what we knew, but we knew and knew before we were teenagers.

Far too many parents want to bury their heads in the sand and refuse to face this problem. A few talk honestly and openly with their kids. Most do not.

And, if we adults do not set a moral standard, such as refusing to watch semi-porn programs on TV and going to soft or hard porn movies and do not set firm dating standards there is little or no hope. Even if we do set good examples and do set firm guidelines there are no guarantees.

Love you kids and do not so alienate so that you have no relationship with them. In other words, if they go out on a limb, don't cut the limb off.

I truly do not understand at all why anyone would even want to keep their kids ignorant of understanding how their own bodies function. But as you say, they learn anyway.

 

[Baptist Believer]

I'm not sure we're keeping something is perspective here...

Even though Christians know the difference between what is sinful and what is righteous, we often choose what is sinful - even though we have all the resources of Christ's righteousness and the full power of God willing and available to support us in our rejection of sin and embrace of righteousness.

The simple fact is that we enjoy sin (for the moment), we are comfortable with sin, and we are in the habit of sin. And, simply put, many of us who claim the name of Jesus are not actually following Him in transformational discipleship to change our attitudes and lifestyles from something characterized by sin, into a lifestyle characterized by love and righteousness, energized by the power of the Spirit.

If we, as Christians, are heavily involved in sin, why do we have any illusions that people to whom Jesus is a stranger have much hope of rejecting the current cultural values and living a life characterized by righteousness?

Certainly there are secular character-building institutions in our culture like the military, scouting programs, and a few schools, colleges and universities, but most of them have given themselves over to moral relativism and denial that moral knowledge exists.

In the face of this dire situation in Western culture, a pragmatic public policy combined with discipleship-oriented churches is about the only solution we have. Those who claim the name of Jesus need to stop playing cultural Christianity games and begin engaging in personal, transformational discipleship to Christ.