Today I am writing about the controversy over sex education in this country. As someone who was raised in a Christian home, sex wasn’t discussed at home, other than to say it was a sin, and not to do it. The Church itself taught that premarital sex was evil, and the schools taught a sterile health version of sex education. Both failed to take into consideration those teenage feelings and urges are not so easily shut off. They also failed to mention, that under the right circumstances sex could be a wonderful experience.
When the Church mentions sex, it is in such a way that you feel it is an obligation to increase the population of Gods people. By doing this, in some cases the wife feels that it is a duty on her part. This turns what should be a joyful experience into a chore for her. It also opens the door for what could be considered sanctioned spousal abuse to those husbands who use sex as a power tool.
Well, back to the subject at hand: today’s sexual education curriculum. As Christians we have a tendency to take God’s admonition for children to obey their parents and forget a few things.
1. Our children who are old enough to have sexual urges are physically adults. As adults, we need to remember this, and give them the information needed to make informed adult decisions. If we do not do this, our children will act like the little child we treat them as. They may even do exactly what we object to out of spite, or even ignorance.
2. Our children are only human, and are subject to the same failings that we are.
We must treat our children with the same respect that we require from them. If they fail we do not want to alienate them, which could force them to make decisions that they wouldn’t normally. God is the only one who can judge us, or our children’s actions.
I can hear some of you now. “Are we supposed to just tell our children that it is O.K. to have sex before marriage?” No, as Christians it is our duty to teach our faith, and moral beliefs to our children. We must trust them to make the right choices, and God to keep them safe. I also feel that it will be a sin against God, and our children to not protect them from disease, and pregnancy. The only way to make sure that our children know all the dangers, and are sure of the protection there is available to them.
This means that we should make sure that our daughters of childbearing age, (be that age 14, or even age 10) are on birth control pills. They should also make sure that their partners use condoms to protect against disease. We need to remember our sons as well. They should be made aware of their responsibility to wear condoms if they decide to have sex.
The days of forbidding our children to do anything, and blindly ignoring what is before our eyes are past. The rate of child pregnancies and sexually transmitted disease has increased to the point that we cannot ignore it any longer. If we blame this trend on the schools, or even society as a whole, we are not taking responsibility for what happens to the next generation at all. That is the easy way out.
You ask me, “Why should the schools teach our children about sex?” One reason is the fact that some parents refuse to see the possibility of their children might have sex, even when told not to. Another reason is the fact that there are people who do not care what their children do. So who does this leave to teach the children? This leaves us with just the school system to do this. In some cases there are parents who require the schools to do this job for them out of laziness, or out of the fear of the subject.
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