BECOME A CHAPERONE
Sex Education For Christians
Kids
in Public Schools
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After all, there were real problems on "the other side of the
tracks." Well, the tracks have moved into the suburbs, and now
what was a back street problem has become Main Street. What used
to be a problem for the very poor and very rich is now an issue in every
home in America. Hollywood and New York based Media has reached
into the most remote villages, so now even the smallest towns have Big
Town problems. If you think it's impossible to implement an alternative Christian Sex Education course in your local public school, go to http://www.ed.gov/Speeches/04-1995/prayer.html and learn your rights. Schools have the discretion to dismiss students to off-premises religious instruction, provided those schools don't encourage or discourage participation or penalize those who do not attend. Schools may not allow religious instruction by outsiders on premises during the school day. This means pastors from local churches should provide an off-campus location near the school where alternative Christian sex education can be taught. It's also legal for Christian parents to have their kids opt-out of conventional sex education. This one-two punch is the starting point
for reversing the peer pressure in our public schools. There's an old saying, " You can't legislate morality." This cliché is considered by many to be a fundamental truth. It's another way of saying, "you can't make someone want to obey the law." So what? What difference does that make? Only God knows the workings of man's heart…that's His business. Public morality is what we are concerned with. Our public morality is the culmination of 6,000 years of historic and cultural standards. If our society punishes murderers, for example, it's because of public morality. What difference does it make if the murderer enjoyed the crime? Leave that to God. But people who say, "You can't legislate morality" are really saying, "don't stand in the way of change."
Congressman Charles Rangel, in his address to the Democratic National
Convention in 2004 said, "The promise of America is that government
does not seek to regulate your behavior in the bedroom, but to guarantee
your right to provide food in the kitchen. The issue of government is
not to determine who may sleep together in the bedroom, it's to help
those that might not be eating in the kitchen." Daniel Patrick Moynihan and
Black "Love Children"
Bill Bennett, Secretary of Education during the Reagan presidency, warned that children raised without a moral compass would become predators with no conscience. Tony Brown, a respected commentator and author, made the statement that the black community is like a parakeet in a coal mine. If the parakeet dies, (the weakest link in a chain) it means the coal miners should get out fast. He said what happens to the black community is a harbinger of what is to come to the rest of America. Daniel Moynihan pointed out in 1965 that 50% of black families
were receiving welfare specifically because of absent fathers. He recommended the government reverse the trend by providing black
fathers with U.S. Post Office jobs on the condition they care for their
families. But at the time, Congress thought a mechanical answer to the
problem (education in the use of prophylactics and contraceptives) more
practical. The U.S. government decided to ignore the moral component
and tried to reverse the trend with "sex education." What Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Tony Brown and Bill Bennett warned about has happened.
A recent government ad campaign used celebrities to discourage kids from getting intoxicated and having sex. The commercials seem to have the opposite effect for which they were intended. Even though the celebrities were honest in relating their past indiscretions as foolish behavior, the message that came through to the kids was, "my favorite actress did it, so it's OK for me to do it." When the government imparts knowledge without morality, it is an abuse of power. How America Deals With Moral Problems Daniel Patrick Moynihan's fear has become reality. But instead of learning the moral lessons of the past, we now make the same mistake with the AIDS epidemic. Many developed countries have a 1% infection rate. Experts believe because of the logarithmic spread of the disease in African countries, 25% of their populations will soon be infected. But almost no one has called for the outlawing of fornication and adultery. Morality isn't even discussed. We have reached the point where sexual sin is killing populations and infecting innocent babies. But the very people who are dying will fight for the right to spread the disease till their last breath.
How Hugh Heffner won the debate I believe there is a life and death struggle going on today that is every bit as important as the Civil War Between the States of 1860. Houses are divided, father against son, mother against daughter, brother against brother, sister against sister. The war of which I speak is the Culture War... or as I see it, the Morality War. The two sides both think they are right and claim they represent the true America. One of the promises 2004 presidential candidate John Dean was to "take back control" of America from the "Christian Right." The America John Dean spoke of sees the Bill of Rights as the license to engage in any lifestyle one sees fit "as long as it doesn't hurt anybody." This is a reincarnation of the Playboy philosophy. The United States Supreme Court codified this amoral perspective when they ruled that the State of Texas had "no interest" in what consenting adults did in private, thus undermining the ability of local governments to curtail sexual activity determined to be harmful by local communities. This was, in my view, our Gettysburg... in other words, I believe Hugh Heffner has won the war… all that remains now is the slow attrition of morality…unless a few good pastors stand up and start a Christian Sex Education movement that catches fire all over the U.S.A. Sex is the hub around which a teenager's morality revolves.
Just before Israel was about to start conquering the Promised Land,
a heathen king sought the counsel of a prophet of God. "How do
I defeat them?" was the question. The answer was relevant to America
today. "Entice them to fornicate with your women." (Revelation
2:14) First, let's agree that we have negative peer pressure in our schools. The fornication rate has reached epidemic proportions. And even the most strident libertarian cannot deny that fornication is the cause of most STD's, shotgun weddings, abortions, and suicides. But above all, fornication is the abdication of personal responsibility to God and society.
Do our teens feel worthless? Tell a man he's made in the image of God to serve God's eternal purpose and that man's got something to live for. Tell a man that he's an accident of evolution, with no reason for living except to bite off a bigger piece of meat than the next guy and that man's a walking accident waiting to happen. (1 Corinthians 6:18) Sex Is God's Gift for True
Love and Faithfulness We've seen what happens when sex is accepted outside of marriage. America is responsible for the greatest genocide of innocents in human history. 35 million abortions in 25 years. Every day, more babies are killed than were murdered in the 9-11 disaster. Over half the kids in America are living in single parent homes...mostly because adults (who say they know what's best) can't keep their pants up. God invented sex for the purpose of keeping marriages exciting and fruitful. The Apostle Paul understood this when he told married couples to never deprive each other of sex, unless by mutual consent for prayer and fasting, and to come back together quickly lest they sin. (1 Corinthians 7:5) When I was 18, I worked with a 60 year old man, mowing lawns. On our lunch break, he talked about his wife. He said if she knew the power she possessed, she could get anything she wanted. Since I had grown up thinking sex was a recreational sport, I didn't understand what he meant. But after I became a Christian, and felt the presence of the Holy Spirit prompting me to stay pure, I knew the 60 year old man was referring to the fact that he never considered seeking sexual pleasure apart from his wife. If kids were hammered with this one concept, and if the churches hammered their congregations with this one concept, and if every teenager that claims to be Christian understood this to be God's way, we could start reversing the moral slide. Almost every social ill in America, (which taxpayers are paying for) can be tied in some way to fornication. God demanded that all the males of Israel be circumcised to emphasize this fact. A nation whose men are sexually pure is a nation able to serve God. The foreskin is removed as a sign of cleanliness from sexual sin, and thus, what man considers his most prized possession is dedicated to God. Procreation becomes, (as it was intended to be) an act or worship, furthering the purposes of God. How American Kids Think Most kids are adept at regurgitating moral answers while at the same time rationalizing their own immorality. It reminds me of my own experience as a teenager. I was raised in church (once a week) and had additional Bible lessons. But I wasn't converted until I was 18. Up until that time, I lived like the Devil, and rationalized my behavior by thinking that "everybody sins" That was back in the 60's and 70's before the divorce rate in the church was at 50%. It's almost reasonable for kids today to have the same "everybody's a hypocrite" attitude. So what's the answer? Let's individually start living to the standard that God has given us. Let's start individually demanding that our kids (at least on the outside) start living holy lives. And if our kids don't want to live holy lives, let's look at the possibility that they really didn't get "saved" at that altar call. Perhaps the Church is mistakenly expecting lost people to act like Saints. (2 Corinthians 13:5)
First we have to recognize there's a war. Second, we have to decide to fight the war. Third we need to start fighting. The best place for churches to start fighting is to sponsor Bible-based sex education for public school kids off-campus. I think we're past the irrelevant argument that sex should be taught only by the parents at home. The barn door has been open too long.... that cow is long gone.... Where do we start with alternative sex education for public school kids? Let's start with teaching kids that sex is not a personal matter. Immoral sex is responsible for destroying countless lives. Every kid has friends who are devastated by divorce. MOST American kids don't live with two biological parents. Immoral sex is the main reason.
Many cultures celebrate with song and dance and walk with the bride and groom to the house or teepee where they consummate their marriage. The young couple knew they were responsible to their god and their community to be responsible with this precious gift called sex. Sex used to be the glue that held our marriages together (1 Corinthians 7:5) A society is the sum total of it's citizens. So you could say, with authority, that Godly sex was once the glue that held our society together. It's no wonder our society is coming apart at the seams. Why would our kids WANT to keep clean?
2) Because if you rebel against God, He will allow you to become possessed by urges that will enslave you. (Romans 1:28-32) 3) Because if you allow your lower nature to rule, you will receive back, like a growing cancer, sickness and pain. (Galatians 6:7-8) 4) Because your future marriage, kids and grandkids will suffer needlessly. 5) Because you are made in the image of God - and as such, have power to stop the curse that possesses our dying nation. When you received the Holy Spirit at salvation, He gave you strength and wisdom to overcome the world and it's lusts. (1 John 4:4) 6) Because God put sexual power in you to help you fall in love, and stay in love with your future spouse, and create and mentor a healthy family. 7) Because Satan uses that same sexual power to enslave and destroy the lives of the foolish. How can our kids keep sexually clean? Church-sponsored alternative sex education for public school kids would teach the WAY to keep clean.
A recent study shows conclusively that kids that watch shows with sexual content are twice as likely to have sex of the kind depicted or insinuated on the TV shows. The study also concluded that TV "sends the message that everybody's having sex and nobody's thinking about responsibility and nothing bad ever happens...When they're watching it for 3 hours a day, it really does become their social world. Those characters are people they identify with and pay attention to." So the first lesson for Christian kids is to turn off television shows that glorify sexual sin. Kids are going to theaters and renting videos that also shape their minds. Christian kids need to know that just because "everybody watches it," that doesn't make it right. There's a small rodent, a lemming, which is known to follow the leader off of cliffs. The lemmings of Hollywood lead millions to jump. Lemmings suffer and die of STD's every day. Lemmings have unwanted babies every day. Lemmings get abortions every day. Lemmings get divorces and pass their hell on to their kids every day. Amazingly, Hollywood has reduced smoking in films for the public good while continuing to glorify destructive sex. A recent study of female students at Washington State University showed that 32% had cervical cancer contracted by sinful sex. Our kids need to know that Hollywood stars care more about money than the health of their fans. Our kids need to know it's their responsibility to turn off the TV and videos, to get up and walk out of movies that glorify sinful sex. Only if they "take every thought captive in obedience to Christ," ( 2 Corinthians 10:5) can Christian teens hope to stay clean. How can kids resist peer pressure to have sex? Church-sponsored alternative sex education for public school kids would teach how to resist sinful peer pressure. First, let's agree that peer pressure is the main reason teens engage in sex. If we lived in the 1700's, perhaps only 10% of teens would have sex before marriage. The very rich and the very poor have always engaged in immoral sex - why? Because the opportunity is there. Take away the opportunity, (by using chaperones and eliminating one-on-one dating) and sexual sin is difficult, if not impossible. I grew up around the very rich. Alcoholism and drug addiction were "normal" for that class in the early 60's. This was long before the hippies popularized the drug culture. Access and opportunity for the rich made drug addiction commonplace. Access and opportunity makes sinful sex commonplace among our youth. Teens have to decide for themselves to avoid situations where they will be tempted. Most parents are idiots when it comes to dating and sex. They assume a "don't ask, don't tell" policy and then act surprised when they find out their little baby has been having sex. It may sound old fashioned, but I didn't allow my kids to go on one-on-one dates until they turned 18. They could go in groups when I knew their friends, or with a chaperone, but never one-on-one. "What's the matter, don't you trust them?," I hear someone ask. No, I don't. Hormones and testosterone speak louder than conviction when a teen leads himself into temptation.
It's only now with the liberal agenda of making sex as commonplace as barnyard animals that the idiocy of "don't ask, don't tell" rules the day. Conclusion It's time individual Christians and churches stand up and become a united, positive force in the lives of millions of public school kids. We've stood idly by while social engineers made premarital sex acceptable, even commonplace in our society. Tragically, our society now has a 50% divorce rate. We can no longer afford to remain on the sidelines. We must act now to regain a culture that is lost. The best place to engage the enemy is by offering alternative, Christian sex education to public school kids off campus. The Challenge Will you, as an influential
member of the Church, stand up to the challenge? Will you do your part
to start an off-campus Christian Sex Education Class for public school
kids? |
