Too bad there isn’t a vaccination against heartlessness.
Posted on October 17, 2008 at 10:32 am by Dr. Jim
I just wrote a response to a letter objecting to my comments in an article about the local Catholic School Board’s backtracking on the HPV vaccinations that they had originally accepted. In the article (around Oct. 8), I was quoted as mentioning the typical fear religions have of female sexuality and the empowerment given women by birth control and the challenge this presented to “abstinence only” sex education favoured by many churches.
On the 15, a certain David Cavilla wrote to object, and this morning I just wrote back. Here is what I had to say:
Mr. Cavilla asks for my rationale in claiming that women are empowered by birth control and that abstinence only sex-education is a poor policy. He also considers it “misguided” to protect teenagers from their own lack of self-control by removing consequences from bad decisions.
I would remind him of the stigma and ostracisement born by unwed mothers and “illegitimate” children in past decades, not to mention the biblical story of Mary’s controversial pregnancy. Thankfully things have changed but terrible burdens continue to be born by young mothers in terms of family stability, career prospects and so forth.
Teaching abstinence alone to young people simply does not work as well as proper sex education and access to birth control. The statistics bear this out.
Society typically judges women accused of sexual impropriety far more harshly than men guilty of similar indiscretions. Count all of the profane words we have to name a sexually active woman and compare this list to the number of derogatory terms for men who enjoy frequent amorous adventures.
The Bible itself often personifies religiously apostate societies as promiscuous young women who enjoy many “lovers”. Of course, the cities are condemned to destruction. In Ezekiel 16 and 23 the sexual imagery reaches pornographic proportions. The latter chapter goes further to command that real adulteresses and prostitutes be executed –along with their children!
Parents and governments protect children, teens and adults from the worst consequences of countless rash actions. Many children and teens take silly risks when riding bicycles regardless of how many times they are told to be careful. We do not ban helmets but make them mandatory. Why should a harsher standard apply to teen girls who succumb to natural sexual urges?
I suspect it will get published, but it might take a week or so.
UPDATED TO ADD: The letter got published today (Oct. 22). I expect some “polite” replies.
October 17, 2008 at 10:47 am
What you teach your children is your business however, God will hold us accountable for what we teach them. If we are not teaching them that sexual immorality, including fornication, is sin then we are not training up our children in the truth.
October 17, 2008 at 11:30 am
Wow, that’s great Jim. I’m glad that you are following this and standing up for rationality.
One thing I don’t understand: how the heck is vaccinating your kids against HPV going to lead to promiscuity, considering kids don’t understand what any of their shots are for anyway? I mean, I think it’s been well evidenced that providing contraception does not increase promiscuity, but I can still wrap my head around the argument religious people make. This one, though – I just don’t get it. Ask a kid what their recent vaccinations were for. If they don’t just answer “I don’t know,” I bet the most detail you’ll get out of them is “So I don’t get sick.” Vaccinating them against something, when they don’t even understand what causes that something they are being vaccinated for, has no possible mechanism of causing them to feel the diminished consequences of doing that thing and decide to do it. Silly.
Russ: you would deny a child a safe and effective medical treatment to teach them a lesson? That’s not love, that’s malice. If you want to teach your child not to have sex out of marriage, teach them. Don’t deny them something that may save their life if they ever make a mistake or an (in your opinion) wrong decision.
October 17, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Forgive me, I thought you feared God. My mistake.
October 17, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Fearing God has nothing to do with it, at least not in the perverse way you are implying. It’s about loving and protecting your kids in spite of themselves.
October 20, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Fear God? If you’re a New Testament Christian, you believe God’s love is unconditional. So why the conditions-behave this way and God loves you–behave that way and you’re not worthy(unless you ask for forgiveness). The greatest of all commandments is LOVE. There is not one of us without “sin”. In the eyes of the church, we are “bad to the bone” the minurte we take our first breath. How much of the “fear” of God has been instilled and created by the church hierarchy? How much of the “word of God” has been bastardized over the ages by influential humans with their own issues and agendas? How many children have been emotionally scarred for life by the clergy as representives of the Lord? I know too many youth(male and female)who have rebelled against the black/whiteness of Russ’ view(several children of ministers). Youth is shades of grey, hormones take the forefront and even the best parenting advice and youthful judgement take a backseat when emotions are in play. Education doesn’t promote promiscuity, it arms youth to protect itself if they decide to act on the “innate emotions” God has given each of us. This falls under the heading of “freewill”. We can pound “the evils of immorality and fornication” into the heads of our children and “train them up in the word of the Lord” and still fall short in the eyes of those who stand by to “tsk,tsk” and are self-righteous. God and ONLY God has the right to judge each of us. I hope your children never reject your “truth” Russ, but if they do, will you be able to love them and forgive yourself? God will.
October 20, 2008 at 11:06 pm
What a twisted way to live a life.
October 21, 2008 at 11:36 am
Jesus is the one who taught us to fear God.
… I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him! [Luke 12:4,5]
October 21, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Rubbish. People have been paranoid about offending deities for thousands of years b.c.
October 22, 2008 at 7:45 am
According to theologians, “to fear” means “to respect” god. Fortunately the stigma has lessened for the teen female when dealing with pregnancy. Teen pregnancy has been going on for at least 2,000 years(Mary was a teen). Again, Jesus’ platform was compassion and love and he was a “love” child in the strictest sense. We generally respect those we love and will do what we can to nurture them. He would not condemn, but counsel, comfort and guide a young woman if he were physically here just as he does through prayer. Have you noticed most of the diatribes and injustices against women throughout history, have stemmed from a male-based hierarchy. This mentality still exists in the very institutions that spout god’s love. I believe sex education, abstinence, protection and parenting classes(outlining the committment and responsibilty involved with child-rearing) should be taught together at the HS level. Offering just one option has never made the cut and is unrealistic.
October 23, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Actually, yr’ “fear” in Hebrew can mean to actually be in a state of terror, and when used with God and a predicate it actually means something far stronger than “respect”. It means to be “in awe” or something like that.
October 24, 2008 at 7:11 pm
i.e., crapping ones shorts should be involved. ;p