When Did Right Side Up Flip Upside Down?

God tells us that the day will come when good will be called evil and evil will be called good. Consider this, one of the school districts in California is facing a lawsuit over the curriculum for sexual education. No, parents were not up in arms because the school or some other entity was handing out condoms without parental consent. It was actually the opposite.

Here are excerpts from the article entitled, "California school district sued over abstinence-only sex ed" written by Sevil Omer from NBC News:

"Two California moms are suing a Central Valley school district over its abstinence-only sex education, saying the policy puts students' health at risk by failing to give teens information about condoms and contraception and about how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. The civil lawsuit against the Clovis Unified School District was filed … by two parents, the California District of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Gay-Straight Alliance Network.…. According to the lawsuit, the school district teaches students that all people, even adults, should avoid sexual activity until they are married."

Are you scratching your head over this? Since when does a parent so thoroughly abdicate his or her responsibility to teach their children about sexuality that they decide a school "ought" to be the main source of that education and that the school "ought" to teach it only from the perspective of that parent?

Schools should not be the primary place our children go to learn about handling their bodies responsibly. That is a parent's job. Schools should provide children with lessons in subjects like biology (which includes reproduction) and anatomy, but telling children about birth control but not self control (part of the fruit of the Spirit, by the way) is out of line.

The birth control movement has been in full swing since around the 1960s, and I’m sure it has had some impact. But, in case anyone hasn't noticed, not only have STDs continued to thrive in spite of birth control, the types of diseases have grown exponentially worse with each generation. Abstinence is the only thing that is 100% effective, but we refuse to consider it a valid option. Research dollars are gladly spent on behavior modification to get people to use condoms, but not to modify behaviors to help young people respect their bodies and delay sexual activity.

Abstinence education has never been given the same level of comprehensive support that has been given to birth control education. Perhaps it’s because parents and communities expect our young people to fail in the area of self-control and then set them up for failure in the name of "keeping it real." We allow them to saturate their minds with sexually-charged music, dress and dance provocatively, view sexually explicit movies and do countless other things that groom and doom them for early sex.

It's about time someone gave abstinence education a real concerted effort, and I heartily commend the officials in that California school district for taking such a bold stance. Sure, it wouldn't hurt to mention birth control in an abstinence-focused sex ed class, as long as the grim consequences that go along with the failure of the birth control movement are not glossed over or minimized. Our kids deserve to see the societal and spiritual failures of that movement, not just the false hopes that society wants them to hang onto.

Instead of giving in to societal peer pressure or operating out of the guilt of our own failures, we should expect and prepare our children to be better and stronger than we were. Our children deserve the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Because we were created in the image of God, that truth is:

• We know that sex is a gift from God and that He has provided a safe place for us to fully enjoy it--a God-centered marriage where both partners remain faithful to God and each other;

• We are not wild animals that are unable to control our sexual urges;

• Saving sex until marriage is a valid option when we remember not to lean on our own understanding and sincerely submit to God, boldly asking Him to steer us away from or out of temptation;

• God will always honor self-control, but can always override birth control, especially if we put more faith into it than into Him.

Let’s not allow our personal guilt or societal pressure prevent us from talking to our children about sex from God's perspective or from fully encouraging them to honor God with their bodies. Society can do or claim whatever it wants. But, we who bear the name of Christ will be held accountable for leading our young ones astray, so let's stop projecting the moral failures of our generation onto them. Plus, our children don't really need us to teach them about condoms and the other forms of birth control because there are more than enough ads on television, buses, billboards, songs, music videos, movies and private discussions with their peers to tell them all they need to know, which really isn't much when it comes to birth control.

We don't need to waste time telling them what they already know, or spend time validating secular perspectives on something as sacred as sex. What they really need to know is how to avoid tempting situations up front and how to get out of them if they are about to fall--because they don’t need our help to fall, they need our help to stand.

What our kids need to know is that the strong urges they feel are a normal part of hormonal development, and that despite it being called a “sex drive” their hormones are not in the driver’s seat-- their minds, hearts and spirits are. Our kids need to know that they won't die from remaining a virgin-- but they can die from premarital sex. What they need to know is how beautiful, rich and satisfying God designed sex to be, not an act filled with shame, guilt, fear and regret. They need to know that sex is designed to be life-giving, not a death sentence.

I don't care how many times society tries to flip the truth upside down, repackage it and tell me that I'm not seeing what I'm seeing or that I don't know what I know. I know the truth when I see it, and I know a lie when I see one. I refuse to exchange the truth of God for a lie because a lie will only carry me as far as my imagination will allow it to. But God, who IS truth, can do exceedingly abundantly above all I can think or imagine, and truth always wins in the end.

BNcouraged!

Rev. Karen

 

"Forgive if ye have ought against any..."

"And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." Mark 11:25

The King James version of that scripture uses the word "ought" in a way that is not used today. In the context of Mark 11:25 it means "anything", or "grudge", or "something".

The New Living Translation reads this way, "But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too."

Although the New Living Translation is clearer for us today, the word "ought" in the King James Version actually has deeper meaning than we might realize.

I have been noticing lately how much we impose our expectations on one another and get ourselves all worked up about what someone "ought" to be doing.

We make judgments about one another based on age, education, experience, spiritual maturity, titles, etc. and decide that based on certain characteristics or criteria, people "ought" to understand this, or "ought" to behave this way, or "ought" to have moved on, and the list of "oughts" goes on and on.

In some cases, it might be reasonable to expect certain things from others, but we must always check our expectations against God's plan and timetable. For instance, we might think we should not have to spell something out for someone, but we have no idea what stresses and distractions people are under and how much it may have taken them just to show up, nonetheless perform at their best. What if God is showing us what they "ought" to be doing because we "ought" to be helping them instead of criticizing them?

Sometimes we even get angry at each other and God because of the "oughts" we have against one another. We think certain people because of their titles or roles "ought" to be able to do certain things the way we expect or "ought" not to get certain things because of their actions.

I just thank God that we are not God, because that speck in our brother or sister's eye is nothing compared to the beam in ours, and we are often in no position to accurately judge what someone ought to be doing.

Let's try to have less "oughts" against one another and instead turn them toward ourselves. Let's ask questions like, "What ought I be doing when someone's shortcomings are exposed to me?" "What ought I be praying on behalf of my brother or sister?" "What ought I contribute to be part of the solution and not the problem?" "What ought I be doing to improve my patience and demonstrate the same longsuffering toward others that God continually shows toward me?"

There just "ought" to be something better we can do than create expectations for one another and serve as self-appointed judge, jury and executioner when others fail to meet our expectations.

Whenever we have "ought" against someone, let's ask God to show us the videotape of our lives displaying how often we did or said the wrong things over and over again, or how many times we disappointed others, or how many times we stubbornly refused to do what God told us. That "ought" to be enough to make us more forgiving, loving, kind and patient toward one another.

BNcouraged!

Rev. Karen

Fowl Play in the Land of the Free, Home of the Brave

"Homegrown hatred"; "A place that serves poison & preaches it"; " ...Introduces New Hate Sauce"; "Does Chick-Fil-A have to list the amount of calories in the hate they put in their food?"

Will the real haters please stand up?

Chick-Fil-A CEO Dan Cathy has been accused of hateful speech and actions.  Yet, the statements above did not come from him, but were directed from others toward him.  Those statements are some of the milder ones being tossed about, but they still seem pretty hateful to me, so I'm not sure why the pot is calling the kettle black.  In other words, why is it hateful for Dan Cathy to speak his mind, but not hateful for taunts to be directed toward him and his company?

Whatever happened to civil discourse? What ever happened to agreeing to disagree without resorting to labeling and name calling?

From what I have learned about Dan Cathy, he has been generous and loving to many people throughout his life, including numerous foster children.  Does that make him perfect? No.  Does he even have to be perfect?  No.

Today when I visited a Chick-Fil-A restaurant (twice) I was greeted warmly and served promptly and professionally--as was every other customer.  So, where was the hate? I can tell you that it wasn't at Chick-Fil-A--which by the way was packed out all day.  I'll tell you where I found hate-- all over the internet, directed at Dan Cathy and his team.

When I visited the Holy Land earlier this year, I was surprised to find communities in which Jews, Muslims and Christians live together peacefully.  They have found a way to passionately disagree about their fundamental beliefs while peacefully coexisting and trusting that God will sort it all out.

If members of  the major Abrahamic religions can respectfully agree to disagree on serious fundamental differences in faith, can we sit down over a chicken sandwich and peacefully respect our differences without resorting to attacks?

Some individuals think that conducting staged public displays of affection at Chick-Fil-A restaurants later this week will somehow convince people to kiss their sincerely held religious beliefs goodbye.  But, since religious beliefs are at the center of this firestorm, instead of puckering up, perhaps those persons who disagree with Cathy's views should be using their lips to form a prayer asking God to clearly reveal God's plan for marriage to all of us so that none of us is left to lean only our own understanding.  For, there is a way that seems right to man....

Dan Cathy publicly declared what has been well-known for years, that he is a Christian whose faith permeates everything he does.  Since he really said nothing new, what's really behind the firestorm that has erupted over his comments?  Some would say it is a thinly-veiled attempt to intimidate those voices that don't dutifully line up with the politically correct climate that too often crosses into censorship.

We must be careful who we allow to function as the self-appointed hate police with the authority to decide who and what is to be declared hateful.  We also need to be much more responsible in checking out the background and context for various statements being tossed about regarding Dan Cathy's associations with various groups.

I'm still trying to figure out what is so hateful and shameful about supporting heterosexual men and women who want to marry and raise families.  Cathy simply stated his views on marriage, cited the source of his views-- the Bible-- and put his money where his mouth is.  Those who disagree with him are free to do the same--state their views on marriage, cite the source or authority from which they derive their views, and financially support any individual or organization that furthers their cause.  That's the beauty of living in a democracy.

In researching the varying opinions on this issue, I came across a comment from an individual who said, "I'm gay. I don't care. If I ceased buying products from companies that did things I didn't like, then I'd be Amish. I don't make political choices when I eat out (though, for the record, I actually don't like CFA's food or any fast food for that matter). I go out to eat to fill my belly."

Eat more chik'n or eat less chik'n.  The choice is yours.  But projecting one's own hatred and intolerance onto others is just "fowl" play and has no place in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

BNcouraged!

Rev. Karen