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God's Plan for Safe Sex Tim Smelser Ten years ago this month,
basketball great Magic Johnson announced to the world that he had tested
positive for HIV. He freely admitted that he had contracted the virus
through unprotected, promiscuous sexual relations, and soon was
appointed to the presidential AIDS commission. Johnson was hailed a brave
hero who was able to relate to the youth in America and would be able to
emphasize the need for “safe sex.” However,
the message was not abstinence and monogamy; it was, “We know kids
will do it anyway, so let’s teach them to use the proper
protection.” This has always
been society’s answer. In the state of New York the courts ruled that
high schools had the right to distribute condoms to students without
parental knowledge and consent. Many other states have considered taking
similar action and Washington state was trying to get court approval for
giving condoms to sixth graders! The front page of the San
Francisco Times once read, “[The] most effective way to avoid STDs
is to use a condom.” Wrong!
The most effective way is to practice abstinence. When we lived
in Illinois, Michael Jordan taped a public service announcement in which
he said, “Recently we have all learned that anyone can get the AIDS
virus.” Again, I take issue
with that statement. Among non-promiscuous married couples the numbers
are virtually non-existent. God said, “Let marriage
be held in honor among all and let the marriage bed be undefiled”
(Hebrews 13:4). It is His intent that we “abstain from fornication”
(1 Thessalonians 4:3). He designed marriage to keep us from fornication.
Paul wrote, “Let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have
her own husband” (1 Corinthians 7:2). Let us follow God’s will
for the sexual relationship and not take on the world’s mindset. One
leads to joy and happiness while the other leads to physical and
spiritual death. |
