In talking to people and judging from what others have told me, the attitude of many people nowadays concerning their teenage children is, “they’re going to have sex anyway, so we need to encourage them to use protection.” This is a completely ungodly attitude.

It is apparent from passages such as Proverbs chapter two and seven and Hebrews 13:4 that God saves very few who go down the path of fornication and adultery. Shouldn’t we do all within our power to protect our children’s purity?

A main protection for our children against this sin is for we parents to be firm in our own convictions. This should particularly be so for Christians, but it should also how true for unbelievers. In my parents and several of my older relatives I was blessed to know people who let their children know in no uncertain terms that if they committed fornication or got into an illegitimate pregnancy situation, there would be severe repercussions.

Another protection is to keep our children out of the public school system. This system has been infamous for decades for teaching extreme sex education and passing out free birth control, both of which encourage promiscuity. They are even teaching their students that sodomy is completely normal. Further, there is constant peer pressure for teenagers to lose their virginity. In light of all this, does not home schooling, where you can not only better protect your children’s purity, but also instill your values in them, seem the better, safer choice?

A final protection I will mention is to insist our children use the courtship system instead of the dating system to meet a spouse. Our sexuality is a precious gift from God, but seeing that we are all fallen, it is now also an almost uncontrollable passion as any typical adult knows. This being so, how dare we as parents put our children in the dating system where their raging passions are given free reign and where fornication is practically certain? Supervised courtship is the only alternative for those who care about their children’s purity and souls.

JOSHUA ASHWOOD

Fort Gibson