Back in Black
by: Rev. DanTeenagers who take pledges to remain virgins until marriage are likely to deny having taken the pledge if they later become sexually active. Conversely, those who were sexual[ly] active before taking the pledge frequency deny their sexual history, according to new study findings.
These findings imply that virginity pledgers often provide unreliable data, making assessment of abstinence-based sex education programs unreliable. In addition, these teens may also underestimate their risk of exposure to sexually transmitted diseases.
“Teenagers do not report their past sexual activity accurately, with virginity pledgers giving more inaccurate reports of their past sexual activity,” study author Janet Rosenbaum, of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, told Reuters Health.
From Yahoo News
If exposure to the mechanics of sexuality is dangerous, then certainly erotic literature is extremely dangerous. Certainly erotic, poetic imagery which celebrates sexuality is a supersonic jet ride towards the land of fornication compared to the balsa-model-airplane-with-rubber-band-propeller of boring, clinical, technical explanations of sexuality and disease prevention.
Christians, I assert that you should go for the real problem and work towards the banning of erotic literature. Why not start with the most popular books and consistently work against them! Rise up like Lazarus from the grave against moral decay in literature! Rise up like King David against Goliath and slay books filled with tales of sexual and moral perversion! Rise up like the Kingdom of Heaven against the Gates of Hell and decimate any book which would tell of rape, prostitution, incest, fornication, sodomy, and bestiality!
Ignorance of sexuality and related health topics (which is the empirical reality of “Abstinence Only” education) isn’t bliss, it’s dangerous. G.I. Joe taught us that “Knowledge is half the battle.” Scripture admonishes us to “be wise as serpents, yet innocent as doves.” I see no knowledge and even less wisdom in Abstinence-Only education and these purity vows.
Everyone makes choices, and every choice has consequences. Some are good, some are bad. Kids who make and break abstinence vows will have to deal with consequences (good AND bad) of their actions, as will kids who make and keep abstinence vows.
And, it bears saying that while the Bible does contain many stories of illicit sexual acts, those stories are included as a warning to those of us who read it. Furthermore, the site you link to twists those Bible stories far beyond what is included in the Bible.
Kids who are pushed into taking these vows are being manipulated. Worse, these children are being taught that ignorance equates to purity.
Of course they lie about their sexual history, or else they’d have to deal with the consequences: having to endure the steady downward spiral of horseshit morality and willful ignorance pushed upon them in the name of Jesus Christ.
Truly, I feel there’s no greater evil than to believe or teach that myths and lies are Truth and that ignorance is Godliness. I see this behavior from Conservative Christians regularly.
> while the Bible does contain many stories of illicit sexual acts,
> those stories are included as a warning to those of us who
> read it.
The Song of Solomon is not a warning. It’s erotic literature. I personally find it to be terribly boring erotic literature.
Erotic literature is generally labeled as porn by Conservative Christians, so it stands to reason that if they were to demonstrate any sort of consistency, then they’d agree that the Bible should never be put in the hands of children.
I found the movie A Clockwork Orange to be quite edifying regarding this issue.
> you link to twists those Bible stories far beyond what is
> included in the Bible
Generally, Conservative Christians regard the Bible as a singular piece of literal literature, written in a consistent style by the hand of God. That’s quite wrong. The Bible is a collection of a wide variety of “literature” (mostly bad), “music,” “history, ” and so forth in varied form.
My experience is that Conservative Christians don’t seem to be able to effectively differentiate between satire, commentary, or scholarship. The site I linked to was the foremost, and quite entertaining.
For me, the dead giveaway was the text, the illustrations, the tone and design of the site, the selling of “Sex Advice,” “Anal Techniques,” “Order Dildos,” “Buy Viagra,” and well… this:
http://www.biblesexstories.com/stories/hell.html
–begin quote–
Over the past two years I’ve been blessed with an outpouring of Christian love and forgiveness in response to this site. Here’s a sample, completely unedited: [I’ve picked out my favorites, so this is snipped. - D]
YOU EVIL PIGS!You are going to hell for this!you and all your faggot friends,I bet your one of those filthy liberal pigs!you’re gonna burn with all your commie faggot friendsYOU FILTHY FAGS! - Paul, Georgia
I THINK U PPL ARE DISGUSTING, U SHOULD NOT MAKE FUN OF THE BIBLE. U GUYS WILL PAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Connie, Las Vegas, NV
Man. Okay, it’s true. There’s sex in thi bible. You got me there. But the way you put it all together with the funny cartoons and the viagra links & shit… you’re fucked up, dude. I aint saying take the site down or anything, but you better make some modifications here & there, or you’ll smoke a turd in hell for this. - James, Michigan
You and all your stories are a blasphemy and an abomination the the Lord Almighty. You have no sense of reverence to the King who died for your terrible sins. You should be ashamed of lying about the Holy Book. Woe unto you sinful creature with evil desires.
fuck u u will go to hell with ur shit may god pusnish u and send u ppl straight to hell - faisal, Pakistan
–end quote–
I totally appreciate Christian Love. Thanks for posting.
My point about consequences is just that - they’re gonna have to face the consequences of their choice. While we may disagree about what those consequences are, there will be some sort of repercussions from it. A kid who lies about his sexual history will have to face those consequences - whether he is ostracized from his church when his lie is discovered, perhaps he is more/less attractive to his spouse because of it, and so on. Same thing goes for those who remain virgins. It may be easier/harder to find dates/spouses, and their “lack of experience” may or may not be a good thing for their marriage. And so on.
If you want to debate sex ed as it is today, I think it’s messed up. Public school, private school… you name it. I have yet to find a school with a good sex ed program. I think sex ed has to begin in the home, and I don’t think you’ll find an educator who disagrees with me.
Upon first glance, yes, the Song of Solomon does look like erotic literature. However, if you study it (not just read it), you’ll learn that it is much more. It is about joyful marriage between a man and a woman. Much much different than erotic literature.
As for all the hateful remarks sent by “Christians”… I wish I could tell you just how disgusted I am by those. When I see “Christians” protesting outside a funeral, with signs saying “this dead guy is going to hell”, then I’m infurated by just how shallow their faith appears. When I see them protesting at a gay-pride event, with signs saying “you’re going to hell”, I’m so, so angry. When I was in college, there was a group from a local church that would carry signs on campus saying “Jesus wants you all to go to hell!” and I was just so angry.
I’m sorry that they behave the way they do. But I hope you remember this. I do believe in consequences. Some consequences are immediate, some are not, but everything will have a consequence. I believe we will all stand in judgement before God one day. That means we will be judged for all our sins and for all the good things we’ve done. And I really don’t want to stand before God in shame and face his punishment. But even those people who said “you’ll go to hell” will face that.
> While we may disagree about what those consequences are, there will be
> some sort of repercussions from it.
The consequences of teaching “Ignorance Only” as “Sex Education” is the spread of disease and unwanted teen pregnancy. The consequences of the Sin of Willful Ignorance are great.
> Upon first glance, yes, the Song of Solomon does look like erotic literature.
Eros = fucking. Married people fuck. Fucking and “lovemaking” aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. It’s quite definitely erotic literature. Solomon knew a lot about fucking, as did King David.
> However, if you study it (not just read it), you’ll learn that it is much more.
I suppose the assertion is that you should study this blog (not just read it) and you might, perhaps, understand what’s being said instead of what you’re filtering through the Holy Kool-Aid.
> It is about joyful marriage between a man and a woman. Much much
> different than erotic literature.
Are you certain that it’s not about a joyful marriage betweeen a man and a woman and another woman, another woman, more women, and well, a whole truckload of other women and concubines? I seem to recall that Solomon and King David had more wives and concubines than Joseph Smith ever dreamed of having. I suppose some facts are convenient to overlook when you’re trying to promote an agenda of hate and intolerance.
I said we would disagree about the consequences, and that’s fine. You can’t deny that there will be consequences from it, because there are consequences for every decision we make. But I stand by my statement that sex ed as it is today is broken. I am honestly not 100 percent certain of what it should be. I have some ideas, but I’m not positive. But, I know from my own and other’s experiences that it’s not good. The local health/sex ed teacher at our local public high school is a coach who spends the entire semester teaching the (coed) class strategies about how to get “it” up. Nothing about STDs, safe sex, etc. The local Christian school ignores the topic altogether. Neither of these are appropriate.
If you study the Song of Solomon, you’ll discover that he did a lot more that “f*” his wife. Sorry to disappoint you. It’s a book about true love, devotion, lifelong marriage, and continued dedication to an oath. It’s a love story, beginning when the boy and girl meet, and ending many years into their marriage. It is the BC equivalent of a Danielle Steele novel.
And, laid over historical, extraBiblical facts, it WAS between one man and one woman. There are verses which clearly display that there are just one man and one woman in this story.
This book’s presence in the Bible is twofold: First, it is for married couples everywhere. Sort of like, a reminder to them the keep the romance alive. Second, it is laden in symbolism of the Church. The Church, as the Bride of Christ, will one day be fully united with Christ in pure ecstacy and bliss.
It should also be said that we are still not sure who the author of this book is. Although many scholars believe the author WAS King Solomon, there are at least as many who believe the author is unknown.
You’re right, though, that David in particular had a whole lot of wives and concubines. In fact, his penchant for marrying foreign woman was the reason God refused to allow him to build the temple. Solomon built the temple and, later in his life, developed the same desire for many woman, which led to his death.
And FYI, although Joseph Smith is rumored to have had an affair, he only had ONE wife. Next time you want to use that argument, I suggest that you use Warren Jeffs, the fugitive who is wanted by the FBI for leading a group of polygamists, who is believed to have somewhere between 50 and 100 wives, maybe more.