Interesting to read that abstinence -only education programs meant to teach children to avoid sex until marriage fail to control their sexual behavior, a US Government report says.
I have mentioned before that I fear that as Christians we are always telling people what not to do and reacting to society instead of coming up with positive solutions about how to overcome these issues.
What practical ways can teenagers deal with their sexuality? How do people who are now marrying into their 30's be sexually innocent through nearly 20 years of their sexual peak? I don't have the answers to this. On the one hand I believe that sex outside a permanent commitment is destructive. On the other hand remembering that I became sexually aware from about 11, and that it would be 20 years of suppressing these desires if say I married at 31. That is also unrealistic (as Christian Youth Stats back up).
We kid ourselves if we just tell people to say no. One of my solutions is to marry Children off at the age of 13 like the good old Bible days, what do you think? (I'm joking here!)
Our physiology is designed to respond to sights, sounds, smells and touch. Advertising companies (and broken people) trade on this to sell their products (and my guess is that broken people often confuse it with approval, or love).
It's true that laws, rules and programmes don't seem to be the entire answer. Sexual holiness is surely connected to personal wholeness after all. Neither do rules and laws help people ‘rage against the (global sellers of flesh) machine’.
Is there a role for the emergent church in raising boys to men and girls to women? Surly being ‘realistic’ isn’t the answer?
(my guess is that Phil is stirring the pot here).