A friend of mine has been trying to get the attention of her church. Today, after nearly 14 years, God made it possible for her to speak to a small group of church leaders. To make her plea. To provide well-documented evidence giving justified reasons for her concern. I prayed for listening ears. Open hearts and minds.
I share my friend’s concern. Motivation. Perseverance. Our experiences are different, but our conclusion the same. That is: Christians have been taken captive to the ways of modern sex education. Nowhere in Scripture does God say to “educate in sex.” He does tell parents to “instruct” in “purity.” Guard the innocence of youth. Mentor Biblical manhood and womanhood. I want the church to be distinctively different from the world. As it should be. But, making this request of the institutional church is costly. My friend knows. She and her family have paid a high price.
I, too, recognize the cost. Involvement. Thirty years of researching, serving on boards and committees, writing, traveling the country, meeting with young and old, listening to people suffering a wrong choice, and being a voice of hope. Those who didn’t understand thought me odd. Well-meaning folk suggested I “lighten up.” But, the more I contrasted the world with God’s Word, the more convicted I became. I couldn’t “lighten up.” Not when boys and girls have their innocence stripped from them. Not when educators try to wrap Jesus around Kinsey. Not when parents or grandparents who’ve suffered the consequences of worldly ideology ask for my help in warning a younger generation. But, pointing out an error in teaching troubles the teacher. No one wants to hear that wrong teaching, no matter how well-intentioned or Gospel-wrapped, hurts children. Makes them more vulnerable. The whistle-blower risks being called a fool. A simpleton. Out of step. There is much resistance.
Why? Perhaps the greatest reason is pride. Years ago, while serving on a sanctity of life task force, I was given opportunity to meet with men of influence. I expressed concern that legalized abortion had greased the slope to euthanasia and offered documentation of the growing acceptance among Christians of “mercy killing” and “assisted suicide.” I was silenced by a kindly church leader who told me not to concern myself. His words were like a pat on the knee. “You’re just a homemaker,” he said. “You let us take care of this.”
Pride. The pride of education. Position. Initials before or behind one’s name. But, the saying is true: Pride goes before the fall. It certainly did in the Garden of Eden.
The day came when I was confronted by a church “expert” on all things pertaining to sex. He stood with arms crossed. Feet planted. Taller than me. “So,” he said. “I understand you have concerns about my work.” Who was I to respond to him? Would he, a driving force behind Christian sex education, listen to a homemaker? A mom? A lay-person? His stature was intimidating, but I managed one small request. “Please.” I said, “Guard the boundaries of modesty. Teach what it means to be a boy or a girl first… before educating in sex.”
Pride puts well-meaning people on the defense. Even after a “good” person has been deceived, pride says, “Hey! I know what I’m doing here. And, because I’m a Christian, I will do right.” Well, that’s what Chuck Colson said before he was neck-deep in Watergate. In his new DVD series, Doing the Right Thing, Colson admits to thinking that because he was a Christian, he couldn’t be deceived. Couldn’t fall to wrong choices. That’s a different sort of pride, isn’t it? Is this also true for Christians who associate with the theory of sex education?
It isn’t that that Christian leaders want to do wrong. They simply do what they should not and don’t do what they should. (Sound familiar?) Perhaps these leaders believe themselves Christian enough to stand strong. To sort the good from the bad. But, the deceiver is always at work. Deception comes at the university, in study groups, on the internet, at the coffee-house, and in animated discussion with intelligent but secular friends. Well-intentioned Christians can actually be duped into wrapping Jesus around worldly ideology. Sophistication. Progressivism. But, the Word doesn’t wrap around the world. Jesus doesn’t… won’t… can’t wrap Himself around the world. Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life. He is Light upon the world’s darkness.
A “good” Christian leader knows this. But, pride is an ugly monster. As pride swells, we dig in. We go on the defense even as we begin to feel the prick of conscience. There is guilt when one realizes that something intended to be straight was built on a crooked foundation. When wrong teaching or practice has coursed its way through curricula, workshops, conferences, sermons, counseling sessions, books, and media.
But, most amazingly, there is hope. There is always hope, even in the midst of error and sin. In humility we are strengthened by the Spirit of God who lives in us. We can allow the alarm to sound. We can express shame and regret. We can apologize for wrong teaching. We can ask for and receive forgiveness.
We can squelch pride and return to the Word.
For related topics, see “Jesus Doesn’t Wrap “Silly Myths” (10-1-10), “1988” (1-22-11), “The Body is Our House” (1-24-11), “Damage Control,” (1-26-11), “Choices Affect Our Attitude Toward God” (2-9-11), “Too Long at the Animal Circus” (3-23-11), “Unhooked and Set Free” (5-17-11), “Unhooked: Part II” (5-18-11), “Men and the Monogamy Molecule” (5-18-11), and “Were Moms Hooked, Too?” (5-18-11)
Ezerwoman's Blog 