Do you remember what it was like when you were in high school? For some of us, those days are becoming more and more blurry as time progresses. However, you do recall the lack of maturity you possessed along with the foolish amount of importance we all placed upon certain things – size of arms, height, speed, length of chin, width of nostrils, eye color, hairstyles, and more. It seems foolish now to think about what we used as entrance into our circle of acceptance. For some of us, it was the length of sideburns or tight rolled jeans, but for far too many today it’s sex! One popular means of acceptance into certain social circles is the willingness to engage in premarital sex. This is not a new trend. Sex has been used to “feel” accepted for years, but with the more liberal television and entertainment outlets, what was once hidden, or merely alluded to, is now openly shoved in your face.
Unless you have been spending a lot of time on the moon, it’s no secret that the modern cultural trends of American television entertainment has been on attack mode for years toward biblical marriage and abstinence. The public schools have aided in this effort through free condom distribution and unwise sex education programs. This has led to a massive amount of sexual promiscuity. The drum continues to beat in that direction through our entertainment outlets. It’s apparently not cool nor culturally acceptable to wait until you are married to engage in sexual activity. Just a passing glance at the popularity of The Bachelor will give you an idea of what people really think about marriage, sexual promiscuity, and abstinence. The thought of modesty is about as ancient as the old typewriter is to an iPad in our culture. Houston, we have a problem!
Just this week (February 4th), Jimmy Fallon and The Tonight Show posted a video that portrayed the reunion of the cast of Saved by the Bell – a popular teen sitcom from 1989-1993. What was more troubling than 40 somethings playing high school characters in this reunion scene was perhaps one line by “Zack” – “I got Kelly Kapowski pregnant.” It wasn’t “Oh no, I’ve made the biggest mistake of my life, I got Kelly Kapowski pregnant,” but rather, “Guess what everybody, I’m the real deal…I’m the big man on campus, I got Kelly Kapowski pregnant.” Just since it was released yesterday, it has already had more than 6 million views on Youtube.com. In what seems to be a big sweeping success on social media, the whole idea of sleeping with your high school girlfriend appears to be the normal acceptable practice of today’s culture, not to mention the wink at homosexuality that slid its way into the scene as well.
Think about your entertainment outlets. What television programs are the normal diet of your family? What do your children perceive as acceptable based on what you approve to be viewed in your living room? What do your children see you liking and sharing online? What are you communicating to your struggling teenage son who is considering losing his virginity this weekend after he takes his girlfriend to an early movie? Wisdom and prudence are essential in making decisions about entertainment outlets, but we have no room for laziness as we teach our children the truth about life. We must not lose sight of the responsibility we have as parents to raise our children under the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Deuteronomy 6).
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) – “Teen Pregnancy in the United States. In 2012, a total of 305,388 babies were born to women aged 15–19 years, for a live birth rateof 29.4 per 1,000 women in this age group. This is a record low for U.S. teens in this age group, and a drop of 6% from 2011.” God has a better plan for sex and it’s always within the confounds of marriage. When we tamper with God’s plan for sex, the results will be harmful for the entire society. God has rightly declared, “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous” (Hebrews 13:4). Sexually immoral is the Greek word – πόρνος – one who practices sexual immorality – a fornicator. This involves a male prostitute, homosexuality, beastality, and various other sinful deviations. Within our culture, and our culture is not alone in this, we see an improper reflection of marriage. Marriage is intended to do something. It’s intended to communicate a message. At the foundational level – marriage is intended to show a picture of Christ and His bride – the Church. It exists to bring God glory. When we alter marriage – we alter God’s intended plan. R. Kent Hughes writes, “Anyone who imagines that unrepentant adultery and sexual immorality will go unpunished is in La-la Land.”[1] This type of outlook toward sexual sin lowers the value of women and cheapens the sanctity of marriage in our culture.
The Bible teaches us in Ecclesiastes 9:9, “Enjoy life with the wife whom you love.” In other places we see the Bible make statements such as, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord” (Proverbs 18:22). Our children need to hear more than “be good” and “do better” messages. They need far more than that from the pulpit of their local church and from the instruction they receive in their living room. Moralism will not change the heart. Our children need to hear messages that point them to Jesus. As they bow their knee to Jesus Christ as Lord, their outlook on marriage, sex, and life as a whole will be changed.
Before you celebrate the pregnant truth of Kelly Kapowski – think about it. Your son is watching you and learning from what you think is acceptable. Point your son to Jesus Christ – not Zack Morris!
1. R. Kent Hughes, Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul, vol. 2, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1993), 219.
