By Lewis Willis
Educators have subjected the youth of America to a ghastly experiment. About 1960, 5.3 percent of the births in this country were illegitimate. Armed with this statistic, sociologists, doctors and educators sought to address the problem. The “door of opportunity” which opened to them was the introduction into the curriculum of the public schools of courses in “Sex Education.” This development was fought courageously by parents and religious leaders, but their opposition was ignored. Off the schools went to solve this great problem of illegitimacy.
The rationale used to defend the practice of teaching “Sex Education” was that parents are not teaching their children “the facts of life.” Chrissy France, of Planned Parenthood of Akron, recently said, “Parents often hesitate to talk to their kids because they feel that will encourage them to have sex” (Akron Beacon Journal, 10-15-87). Surveys show that only 10 to 20 percent of parents talk with their children about sex. “The facts of life” are picked up, they reasoned, from friends in the street, television, books and magazines, rather than from parents. Their solution was to begin sex training in the schools. According to the article referred to, in Akron, all students get their first dose of sex education in the fifth grade. And, guess what, the parents were right after all. More exposure to sex has encouraged children to have sex. In fact, the article states that “national studies have shown that about 50 percent of high school students are sexually active. I jus is true in spite of the scare of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
We now have had about 25 years in which to gather data on this experiment. It is evident that it has failed miserably! The figures which are now available should send shock waves through every American’s mind. An Associated Press article out of New York, written by George W. Cornell, reports the latest figures on what sex education has done for us (Akron Beacon Journal, 10-10-87). In 1940, 3.5 percent of births were to unwed women. In 1960, the proportion of such births was only 5.3 percent. We then began to see the influence of sex education and the attendant moral decline in our nation. By 1980, unwed births had climbed to 18.4 percent of the total. By 1985, which is the latest count available, 22 percent of the total births in the U.S. were to unwed mothers. “The unwed births, coupled with the current 1.5 million abortions annually, mostly for the unmarried, raises the porportion of unwed pregnancies to about half of the total” of births in the U.S. Jesus said, ” . . . by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matt. 7:20). Nationally, we are drowning in the ungodly fruits of our educators’ experiment! One wonders if it is possible to raise a loud enough opposition to the practice to enable us to go back to “the good ole days” of the 40s and 50s.
In case you are wondering what the response of “organized religion” has been to this tragedy, I am afraid I have bad news to share with you. Generally speaking, the response of religion, according to Mr. Cornell, is to attempt to take the “stigma” out of this sad situation. The reasoning given is that “there are now so many such children” that we need to use a form of reference to the situation that removes the embarrassment that formerly was associated with this sin. In the Scriptures, and in early literature, “bastards” was the term used to refer to children born out of wedlock (Heb. 12:8). However, “itching ears” sought teachers who would tone down their “rehetoric,” even if it resulted in being “turned bad as it used to unto fables” (2 Tim. 4:3-4). These children began to be referred to as “illegitimate.” This still was not good enough. The Associated Press informs us that the “church community” now refers to the child a “child of a single parent.” Mother and child are known as a “singleparent family.” As the statistics indicate, man’s modified terminology has come as illegitimate births have soared. Man’s nice, sweet language has not only gotten better than the Lord’s, it has left the impression with many that fornication is not as be considered.
I was just thinkin, if we keep going the direction we are going as a nation, within a few generations we will convince ourselves that we have thought and taught sin out of existence. We, in the Lord’s church, must not get too smug about this situation. Across the nation there are few churches that have not had one or more young Christian boys and girls fall victim to the temptation to commit fornication. For the young mother and her child, there is no adequate solution to the problem. Brethren, we must continue and intensify our teaching and preaching on the sin of fornication, filling the hearts of our youth with the fear of God while warning that those who “do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:19-21). Forgiveness is possible, but it does not remove the scars and consequences that fornication brings. Parents have every right to expect the church to help them fight the battle against fornication! Let us not disappoint them.
Guardian of Truth XXXII: 4, p. 102
February 18, 1988