Teaching our Kids!

Yesterday, I had a client and old classmate tell me that she'd just learned that her 16 year old son was sexually active. Of course her main concern was his girlfriend getting pregnant. She checked with the mother to see if the girl was on birth control. I may be in the minority but I do not endorse birth control as a solution. First, pregnancy is not my only concern for my kids. Thru experience I've come to see why God's word, the Bible discourages sex outside of marriage. The emotional hurt, unplanned pregnancy and disease being a few reasons. The world encourages sex outside of marriage because we don't want to say no to our desires...Thus we have more divorce, more abortions, more STDs and more single parent families. In our society it is very hard to tell ourselves no. Without love for ourselves, God and others we will engage in anything that feels good. I believe a lot of girls and women seek affection and attention though sex. I've heard physchologists say that when a girl doesn't feel loved or special to a father she will seek attention through other males. This makes her vulernable. There can be other strong male figures in her life to conteract this I believe, a loving grandfather, God: the father, a respectful boyfriend. How many girls find that respectful boyfriend? One who will not pressure her to have sex, then dump her later? As a teen girl I didn't have a father figure. My father passed away when I was 11. However, I had a strong relationship with God and a respectful boyfriend that didn't pressure me for sex.
Sex is a moment of pleasure but can be a lifetime of hurt if not in a secure relationship such as marriage. I believe in marriage. It's a committment. I believe that living together is "all the benefits without the committment." I lived with Roger and I regret that decision. I had went into rebellion to God because of my divorce. Recently I relized that when I felt God dissappointed me I rebelled. I use to serve God because I expected Him to bless me. Now I see, as Erik so plainly told me yesterday "We shouldn't do things because we expect a reward." He is so wise for his years!!! That is true in love for God, for our family and for our neighbors. "Don't pretend that you love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honouring each other. Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically." Romans 12:9-11 "Pay all your debts, except the debt of love for others. You can never finish paying that! If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill all the requirements of God's law. For the commandments against adultery and murder and stealing and coveting-and any other commandment-are all summed up in this one commandment:"Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to anyone, so love satisfies all of God's requirements." - Romans 13:8-10 (New Living Translation)
Roger and I settled into familiarity too soon and didn't enjoy the concept of dating each other. We also moved in together during the "oh-ah" stage and things could have went to ah-oh! But thank God they didn't. Roger wanted marriage from the beginning. I was wary because of my divorce. He asked me if I'd marry him if I felt the same way in 6 months. And 12 months later, I did!
I am open in my conversation to my kids about sex and the consequences. I believe I should be more worried about their souls than anything else. I have tried to instill Godly advice. I have tried to present them with facts. Recently I learned that at least 50% of sexually active people will contact HPV in their lifes. see- http://www.cdc.gov/std/HPV/STDFact-HPV.htm
The Human Papillomavirus is the new hot topic, showing up in magazines and on TV. There is a vaccination now to help protect our daughters from contacting this disease before they become sexually active. Even if she waits for her future husband, he could pass it to her if he's been sexually active.
You are not protected from HPV if you use condoms. It causes genital warts anywhere from the area around the genitalia, to the anus, to the inside of the uterus. HPV is one of the leading causes of cervical cancer in women. How scary is that?! I've told my son that when you have sex it is like you've had sex with all the people your partner has been with.
If you have no other reason, no moral conviction to wait for sex, at least the fear of contacting or spreading disease to your future spouse would caution us to not "Sample"
I am sick of Hollywood's infiltration of sex in the media. Like Phillip Morris who sells cigarettes but pretends to care about future smokers, MTV and other media platforms pretend to care about our kids while "Selling Sex"
"Kids who listen to music with sexually degrading lyrics have sex at an earlier age, reports a RAND Health study thats followed 1,400 kids, ages 12-17, for 3 years. The more exposure kids have to media with any sexual content, the more likely they are to start having sex themselves. this is especially true with regard to movies and music, reports a University of N. C. at Chapel Hill study of 1,000 seventh and eighth graders." -Good Housekeeping, February 2007
It's our call. We can let the world influence them or we teach and try to protect them. Sure they are not going to listen to everything we say but it is suprising what sticks. And when you've done everything you can to influence them know that you aren't responsible for their choices only for your influence!

Sanctity of Human Life Sunday 2007

-Sanctity of Human Life Sunday 2007 bulletin insert by Indiana Right to Life -www.protectinglife.com

-"The Rescuing Hug" These twins were born prematurely and placed in seperate incubators. One sibling was struggling to survive. A nurse decided to move them together and the stronger sibling placed her arm around her sister and her heart rate and tempture improved. They are now in kindergarden.

"You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." -Psalm 139: 13-16

I've been researching facts on abortion and it is scary. 43% of American women will have had at least one abortion by the age of 45.
Of the reported legal abortions according to the Center for Disease control and Prevention (CDC) Abortion surveillance Report, Jan. 7, 2000 in 1972 there were 586,760 abortions and 25 years later in 1997 there were 1,184,758. Nearly twice as many!!!
15,000 abortions each year are attributed to rape and incest. This represents only about 1% of abortions!
In a 1990 Canadian study of 22,000 women who received prenatal diagnosis, 88% who found they were carrying a child with Down Syndrome aborted the unborn child. Other studies have put the rate of Down Syndrome abortions at about 90%
"The fertilization of an egg can occur as early as 15 minutes after intercource. This egg contains 46 human chromosomes. These chromosomes are a complex genetic design for every detail of the prenatal human development. This genetic design includes hair, sex, eye color, skin tone and height."
-Focus on the Family website http://www.heartlink.org/beavoice/
When looking at the Sanctity of Human Life bulletin I noticed the face of the boy with Down Syndrome. I have had the priveledge of meeting and cutting the hair of a Down Syndrome boy. He is so incredibly happy! I've also read much on the internet of parents or siblings with Down's syndrome children, their many obsticles and their many triumphs! It is obvious that those parents, siblings, etc. have been blessed.
Today our community is gathering together at St Thomas Aquinas Church in Knox at the Monument for The Unborn. There they will mourn the lost of an unborn child, either from a misscarriage or an abortion. I've lost a grandchild to a misscarriage and I often wonder what he/she might have been like. I believe I will see her/him in heaven someday. Many of us have known someone who has had an abortion. It is for many a choice that is regretted. But God Forgives...God Heals...and God Restores. I do not pretend to know what it is like to go through this but there are excelent resources for post-abortion trauma at http://www.heartlink.org/beavoice/ "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." -Lamentations 3: 22,23 "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee." -Isaiah 44:22
I have a strong opposition to abortion. It is not a way to fix a mistake. God has not given us that right. I know many people hide their mistakes even encourage their children to hide their mistakes this way. Then there are the brave people that give life to these mistakes and they don't feel like mistakes anymore! A child is never a mistake. "How could we put a price on even one helpless little baby in it's mother's womb? Each one is worth more than the possessions of the entire world." -Dr. James C. Dobson
This is not a political issue for me. I am aware of the arguements for abortion. I just don't agree that life and is in our hands.
Are we playing God with stem cell research? What do you think? Post a comment.