I was just responding to some comments my sister-in-law made on Facebook. The topic was the "Bible Belt" and teen pregnancy rates. Her thought was that the there are more pregnancies among teens in the Bible Belt because the religious parents, by telling their kids to wait till marriage to have sex are actually forcing their teens to have sex secretly and without protection.
She is very much a socially liberal person and I am sooo totally the opposite in many ways. "Freedom", "Choice", and "Rights" are all things she brings up a lot. We disagree on abortion. We disagree on homosexuality. We disagree on whether the Bible is God's word for today. She is a Christian, but she really seems to be following a different "gospel" than me. I am not going to say who is right and who is wrong, or if we are both right, or if neither of us is right. Of course, if I have a strong opinion about something, I think I am right. But, I am always open to hear why another person believes so strongly in a different opinion. I always know that I might be wrong.
Anyway, here is what I said after a LONG paragraph of my thoughts on teaching my children to avoid casual sex: "There is something wonderful about being FREE of sexually transmitted diseases (especially the ones that are incurable or that can lead to cancer), unwanted pregnancies, or a history of having aborted an unwanted child, or even the emotional distress of wondering if you or your sexual "partner" "measures up" to previous partners.. I want my children to enjoy that freedom in their life. I would rather have them enjoy those freedoms than for them to have some other freedoms people have fought and are still fighting so hard for."
Then I was thinking about some of the "freedoms" people have fought and are still fighting for. Take, "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Okay, I got it. How about "Freedom of religion." Definitely. But what about, "the right to kill my unborn child" or "the right to call my homosexual relationship a legal marriage" or "the right to break my marriage vows to my spouse without having to "show cause"." I really don't think we should ever have a "right" to hurt someone else, and even if "gay marriage" doesn't hurt anybody (and I am not convinced it doesn't), I know that abortion and "no-fault" divorce laws hurt individuals and society. They hurt INNOCENT individuals. That means one person is being deprived of "life" and ALL other rights in the case of abortion, and in the case of no-fault divorce where there is one party who wants to preserve the marriage (and hopefully improve it), the person who doesn't want the divorce is deprived of A LOT.
People can be SOOO selfish and narrow-minded and they are so deluded or else they just don't want to see the truth. I sure don't know everything, but I know there are far too many lonely middle-aged people and too many single parents and too many children who are not getting to enjoy an well-functioning intact family because of "no-fault" divorce.
She is very much a socially liberal person and I am sooo totally the opposite in many ways. "Freedom", "Choice", and "Rights" are all things she brings up a lot. We disagree on abortion. We disagree on homosexuality. We disagree on whether the Bible is God's word for today. She is a Christian, but she really seems to be following a different "gospel" than me. I am not going to say who is right and who is wrong, or if we are both right, or if neither of us is right. Of course, if I have a strong opinion about something, I think I am right. But, I am always open to hear why another person believes so strongly in a different opinion. I always know that I might be wrong.
Anyway, here is what I said after a LONG paragraph of my thoughts on teaching my children to avoid casual sex: "There is something wonderful about being FREE of sexually transmitted diseases (especially the ones that are incurable or that can lead to cancer), unwanted pregnancies, or a history of having aborted an unwanted child, or even the emotional distress of wondering if you or your sexual "partner" "measures up" to previous partners.. I want my children to enjoy that freedom in their life. I would rather have them enjoy those freedoms than for them to have some other freedoms people have fought and are still fighting so hard for."
Then I was thinking about some of the "freedoms" people have fought and are still fighting for. Take, "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Okay, I got it. How about "Freedom of religion." Definitely. But what about, "the right to kill my unborn child" or "the right to call my homosexual relationship a legal marriage" or "the right to break my marriage vows to my spouse without having to "show cause"." I really don't think we should ever have a "right" to hurt someone else, and even if "gay marriage" doesn't hurt anybody (and I am not convinced it doesn't), I know that abortion and "no-fault" divorce laws hurt individuals and society. They hurt INNOCENT individuals. That means one person is being deprived of "life" and ALL other rights in the case of abortion, and in the case of no-fault divorce where there is one party who wants to preserve the marriage (and hopefully improve it), the person who doesn't want the divorce is deprived of A LOT.
People can be SOOO selfish and narrow-minded and they are so deluded or else they just don't want to see the truth. I sure don't know everything, but I know there are far too many lonely middle-aged people and too many single parents and too many children who are not getting to enjoy an well-functioning intact family because of "no-fault" divorce.
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