By Don R. Hastings
The above title was taken from the Bradenton Herald sometime ago. Under this headline were two editorials which greatly disturbed me. Like Jeremiah, I weep over the ungodliness found in our nation. We are being saturated with philosophies which produce moral decay. What does the future hold in store for our children? It is frightening to consider.
One editorial was entitled, “Teach values, not sexuality,” by James Kilpatrick. This editorial was taken from Universal Press Syndicate. I will copy part of it.
“What has become of the old values in American life today? In a mid-November report that deserves a wider reading than it has received, a White House study group looked at traditional values and found them in sorry shape.
“Somewhere along the way, in the ‘me first’ generation of the 1960’s and 1970’s, old concepts of virtue and right conduct took a beating. The study group’s primary concern was the value of family, the core unit of father and mother, caring for their children and guiding them toward constructive adulthood. . .
“Marriage bonds once were generally regarded as just that – as bonds that could not easily be broken. Then the idea of ‘no-fault divorce’ swept through the states, and ‘not surprisingly, the divorce rate skyrocketed.’ Recent years have seen one divorce for every two marriages.
“Until recently, a stigma attached to births out of wedlock. There was nothing fashionable, nothing chic, nothing to be lightly condoned in bastardy. In the past 20 years, illegitimate births, as a percentage of all births, have increased by more than 450 percent. In this period, the rate of illegitimacy has increased among whites from 1.7 to 10 percent, among non-whites from 16.8 to 48.5 percent.
“Teenage pregnancies have contributed heavily to this appalling social problem. Welfare rolls continue to expand with the progeny of children who give birth to children. These mothers, most of them dropouts from school, are ill prepared for the responsibilities of rearing a child.
“In the view of the study group, much of the ‘value-free’ sex education offered in public schools has proved useless. The distribution of contraceptives has been counterproductive.”
I tried to convince some teachers in elementary school that, if they taught explicitly the reproductive system to their students, they would be demoralizing their students. You do not get the same emotional response from a child when teaching how the digestive system works as you do in teaching how the reproductive system works.
These teachers were handed a syllabus entitled, “Planning Stages For Sex Education In The Elementary School.” In this syllabus there is this statement, “Children become de-sensitized quickly and become very comfortable discussing the subject matter in a few days.” Does this quotation frighten you? It terrifies me! I don’t want my children to become insensitive when talking about their reproductive system. I want them to have a sense of modesty. I want them to have a sense of shame deeply rooted within them, so that, they will not think, talk, act, or dress in a shameful manner!
One of the major things wrong with America is that we have become de-sensitized. We cannot blush. Jeremiah wrote, “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed, Nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; In the time of their punishment they shall be cast down, says the Lord” (8:12, NKJV). There is not any sexual subject that is too sensitive for discussion on television, movies, magazines, records, etc. The more sensitive the subject matter, the more people want to talk about it. When these subjects are discussed, perversion is glorified as good and godliness is condemned as evil (Isa. 5:20). Americans are so happy that sexual topics have been brought out of the closet and discussed openly. However, this candid dialogue does not warn against sinful conduct and promote righteousness. It produces the opposite effect.
The other editorial was written by Charles Krauthammer and taken from the Washington Post Syndicate. I will copy part of what he wrote.
“The latest outrage of American life: the pill goes to school. There are now 72 ‘comprehensive health clinics’ in or near the nation’s public high schools. Very comprehensive. More than a quarter dispense and more than half prescribe birth-control devices. When the New York City Board of Education found out that two of its clinics were in the dispensing business, it ordered them to cease and desist.
“Secretary of Education William Bennett has waxed eloquent on the subject. He is surely right that birth control in the schools only legitimates sexual activity and represents an ‘abdication of moral authority.’ Clinics are not only an admission by adults that they cannot control teenage sexuality, but also tacit consent, despite the ‘just say no’ rhetoric. . .
“Time to face facts. Yes, birth-control clinics are a kind of surrender. But at Little Big Hom, surrender is the only sound strategy. Sex oozes from every pore of the culture and there’s not a kid in the world who can avoid it. To shut down school birth-control clinics in order to imply the contrary is a high-minded but very costly exercise in message sending. Costly because the message from the general culture will prevail anyway, and sex without contraception means babies.
“The sex battle is lost. The front-line issue is pregnancy. Some situations are too far gone to be reversed. They can only be contained. Containment here means trying at least to prevent some of the personal agony and social pathology that invariably issue from teen-age pregnancy. . . .
“I am no more pleased than that next parent to think that in ten years’ time my child’s path to math class will be adorn ed with a tasteful display of condoms in the school’s clinic window. But by then it will be old hat.”
Has the sex battle been lost? Should we agree to tell our children that it’s fine to engage in a sexual relationship, but just don’t get pregnant? I am not throwing in the towel! Christians, who surrender, have surrendered to the devil. Lift up your voice and cry out against moral pollution. I ‘Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong” (1 Cor. 16:14). Let us proclaim to our children and the world that sexual relationships outside the marriage relationship are wrong! “Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge” (Heb. 13:4).
Tell them abortion is wrong! Homosexuality is wrong! Fornication is wrong! Watching sexually stimulating television programs and movies is wrong I Lusting after men and women is wrong! These things, and many other things of like nature, are wrong because God said they were wrong (1 Cor. 6:9,10; Gal. 5:19-21; Matt. 5:27,28; Eph. 5:5)!
Will your voice of protest be heard or will you be silent? Your standing for the right may not change society, but it will save your soul and maybe the souls of others.
Guardian of Truth XXXI: 17, pp. 515-516
September 3, 1987