Perhaps you saw it in the news. I saw it and bookmarked it. It's a good thing I did, because after that, it was gone from the front pages, and you would have to be looking for it to find it.
"It" is an article I read entitled, "Study Finds 1 in 4 US Teens Has a STD". This is a shocking statistic. What is even more shocking is the general reaction to these findings.
Some doctors [no names given] said the numbers might be a reflection of both abstinence-only s-x education and teens' own sense of invulnerabilty.
WHAT??The overall STD rate among the 838 girls in the study was 26 percent, which translates to more than 3 million girls nationwide, researchers with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. They released the results Tuesday at an STD prevention conference in Chicago.
"Those numbers are certainly alarming," said s-x education expert Nora Gelperin, who works with a teen-written Web site called ******. She said they reflect "the sad state of s-x education in our country."
"S-xuality is still a very taboo subject in our society [oh, REALLY?]," she said. "Teens tell us that they can't make decisions in the dark and that adults aren't properly preparing them to make responsible decisions."
That last phrase is what made the most sense, but not in the way she meant it. Adults
aren't properly preparing their teens to make responsible decisions. Children who are not taught Biblical principles are destined to fail in the area of purity.
O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments....Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. (From Psalm 119)
This article goes on:
"This is pretty shocking," said Dr. Elizabeth Alderman, an adolescent medicine specialist at Montefiore Medical Center's Children's Hospital in New York.
"To talk about abstinence is not a bad thing," but teen girls -- and boys too -- need to be informed about how to protect themselves if they do have s-x, Alderman said.
That kind of reasoning is like telling your child not to smoke, "but just in case you do, here, take this filter. It might protect you from the consequences." Does that not weaken the strength of your wise counsel?
I see two more major problems with the reasoning of the general s-x ed crowd. One, they assume children are not going to resist the tempation to engage in premarital s-x. Two, they only focus on the health-related consequences of premarital s-x, and ignore the moral, emotional, and spiritual consequences. Premarital s-x is still a sin, and God forbids it. And as with any sin, it carries with it certain consequences. Deny yourself the momentary pleasure of the sin, and you also avoid the life-long consequences. Teach your children this, and you will indeed be "preparing them to make responsible decisions."
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