Sexuality in America
Apr 6, 2017 13:27:27 GMT -6
Post by Todd on Apr 6, 2017 13:27:27 GMT -6
I have been around long enough to have witnessed the complete reversal of America's attitudes regarding human sexuality. I remember the days of the "double standard," when girls were supposed to remain virgins until marriage, and boys were allowed to "sow their wild oats." Even as a pre-teen I recognized the whopping inconsistency and hypocrisy in such a scheme.
I lived through the sixties and seventies and watched as sexual norms were simply butchered by the Hippies and New Left until there were no standards left. Then I watched as abortion on demand was legalized by a court that had apparently lost its mind, and certainly its moral compass but did manage to leave us a possibility to put the whole business on the scrap heap. Then I saw every person adopt his own personal attitude about sex without fear of contradiction, because, "everyone is entitled to his own opinion." And opinion was all that was left!
In short, I watched America go from having a twisted standard to having no standard at all. In all those years, I did not hear a single sane voice in church, school, or news outlet address the problem. Why? Because nobody thought it was a "problem." Everybody thought what was happening was great. It never occurred to them that abortion, the growing number of “single parent families," AIDS, and the increase in STD’s (a circumlocution for venereal disease, used to keep religion or divine judgement out of the discussion), in spite of all the birth control methods and medicines available, was the price of their “sexual freedom.”
And now, we find ourselves in a culture so inured to the consequences of sexual immorality, most of us cannot envision a world without them. The consequences (or God’s judgment, however you want to read it) are all part of the “new normal.” As I watch young children grow up with only one parent, or being shuffled back and forth between two parents (still one-parent-at-a-time), I am grateful that they were not aborted, although I am not quite sure what saved them. Yet the existence of these little ones is still tragic. They just don’t know it. And apparently, neither do their parents.
What I wonder about is this: With all the Madison Avenue churches (mega-churches, and the mega-wannabes), and so many post-Boomer people in churches these days, what are they being told about sexuality? Are they simply told “you can be forgiven,” and nothing more? Is there any repentance? Do we care at all about sin? The problem becomes acute when we focus on the youngsters. What will they be told as they grow up? Will little girls be told that they should wait for “someone they love?” For marriage? Forever? Will the boys sow their oats in a kinder, gentler way, or not at all? And more to the point, “Why?”
In the 60 years of public palaver about sexuality, I have yet to hear anyone speak up for the Biblical standard of chastity for both male and female until marriage. That is the single standard. That is the answer to “unwanted pregnancy.” That is the answer to the bulk of venereal diseases. That is the answer to single-parent families. That is a major component of the doctrine of separation from the World. If anyone is speaking, it must be in a whisper. The silence is deafening. For more on the subject click on "Bible Research Web Site" on the menu banner above and > For those who like to read > Battle Lines > The Biblical Standard of Sexuality. - Todd
I lived through the sixties and seventies and watched as sexual norms were simply butchered by the Hippies and New Left until there were no standards left. Then I watched as abortion on demand was legalized by a court that had apparently lost its mind, and certainly its moral compass but did manage to leave us a possibility to put the whole business on the scrap heap. Then I saw every person adopt his own personal attitude about sex without fear of contradiction, because, "everyone is entitled to his own opinion." And opinion was all that was left!
In short, I watched America go from having a twisted standard to having no standard at all. In all those years, I did not hear a single sane voice in church, school, or news outlet address the problem. Why? Because nobody thought it was a "problem." Everybody thought what was happening was great. It never occurred to them that abortion, the growing number of “single parent families," AIDS, and the increase in STD’s (a circumlocution for venereal disease, used to keep religion or divine judgement out of the discussion), in spite of all the birth control methods and medicines available, was the price of their “sexual freedom.”
And now, we find ourselves in a culture so inured to the consequences of sexual immorality, most of us cannot envision a world without them. The consequences (or God’s judgment, however you want to read it) are all part of the “new normal.” As I watch young children grow up with only one parent, or being shuffled back and forth between two parents (still one-parent-at-a-time), I am grateful that they were not aborted, although I am not quite sure what saved them. Yet the existence of these little ones is still tragic. They just don’t know it. And apparently, neither do their parents.
What I wonder about is this: With all the Madison Avenue churches (mega-churches, and the mega-wannabes), and so many post-Boomer people in churches these days, what are they being told about sexuality? Are they simply told “you can be forgiven,” and nothing more? Is there any repentance? Do we care at all about sin? The problem becomes acute when we focus on the youngsters. What will they be told as they grow up? Will little girls be told that they should wait for “someone they love?” For marriage? Forever? Will the boys sow their oats in a kinder, gentler way, or not at all? And more to the point, “Why?”
In the 60 years of public palaver about sexuality, I have yet to hear anyone speak up for the Biblical standard of chastity for both male and female until marriage. That is the single standard. That is the answer to “unwanted pregnancy.” That is the answer to the bulk of venereal diseases. That is the answer to single-parent families. That is a major component of the doctrine of separation from the World. If anyone is speaking, it must be in a whisper. The silence is deafening. For more on the subject click on "Bible Research Web Site" on the menu banner above and > For those who like to read > Battle Lines > The Biblical Standard of Sexuality. - Todd