Another Alarm Is Sounding

Welcome to the Merry Month of May.  Those of us living in the Twin Cities are waking up this morning to snow showers which will later become a Winter storm, adding another three to five inches to our very loooong Winter snow total.  The flowers in my garden are trying to peak through, but wondering if the calendar is wrong.  Birds are hopping around with weird looks on their faces.  Yet the pansies continue to smile - they always seem to have a sunny disposition. 

One of the top news stories making headlines this morning is the decision yesterday by the Food and Drug Administration to allow the "Morning After" contraceptive to be sold over the counter and to teens as young as 15.  Presently that drug can only be obtained by those over 17 and at the pharmacy of a local store.  However, a teen must show some type of identification to prove age.  (Interesting that there is a need for identification to obtain a contraceptive, but no identification is needed in order to vote in a national election!  Oh the hypocrisy of our age!)  But there are some in Washington who believe the decision by the FDA is still too limiting and that the "Morning After" or Plan B One-Step should be available to any young girl, no matter the age.  Nancy Northrup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said, "Lowering the age limit may reduce delays for some young women but it does nothing to address the significant barriers that far too many women of all ages will find if they arrive at the drugstore without identification."  She continued, "These are daunting and sometimes insurmountable hoops women are forced to jump through in time-sensitive circumstances, and we will continue our battle in court to remove these arbitrary restrictions on emergency contraception for all women." 

According to statistics, half the nations' pregnancies every year are unintended and doctors' groups admit that if there was more access to the "Morning After" pill those numbers could be significantly reduced, but the pill works best if taken within 24 hours of the sexual encounter. 

Friends, how did we get to this place where we are debating the availability of contraceptives for our young girls.  I have two granddaughters who are in their early teens.  Fortunately, neither is that interested in boys at the present moment, but I know that will change in the coming years.  Should my two granddaughters have access to contraceptives?  Of course not!  Praise God they have parents who have instructed them to abstain from sexual impurity and to keep themselves pure until they are married.  Where are parents today?  Where is that counsel today?  Why do our nation's educators keep forcing the sexual experience down the throats of our young people in classrooms?  Yes, there will always be untimely pregnancies and illegitimate births, but I believe the question we must ask ourselves is this: Is the availability of contraceptives for young teenaged girls a deterrent or more of a permission to try because the possibility of an unplanned pregnancy is removed? 

If you want to read more, go to www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/30/plan-b-over-the-counter-morning-after-pill.

Continuing to expose the direction our schools are going with regard to morality, the following article appeared at the WND website on April 25.  It is titled, "School Forces Girls to Ask for Lesbian Kiss."  The article can be found at www.wnd.com/2013.04/school-forces-all-girls-to-lesbian-kill.  The incident happened at Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook, New York.  An eighth-grade student went home and told her Mom that she had to ask another girl if she could kiss her.  She also related, "They also picked two girls to stand in front of the class and pretend they were lesbians on a date."  Boys, in that same class, were being taught on how to use a condom and how to determine whether a girl was a slut or not. 

Friends, this is the world my grandchildren are growing up in.  If these two incidents represent what is happening in the majority of our schools, then is it little wonder that our children and grandchildren are growing up not knowing how to read or how to do math or to understand the history of our great nation?  Is it little wonder that home-schooling is exploding and private education is growing rapidly?  It is time for parents and grandparents to begin taking a vested interest in what their children and grandchildren are being taught.  Yes, it will be going against the cultural norm.  Yes, it might result in some people thinking we are odd.  But I want my grandchildren to understand that God has given to them the ability to know right from wrong and to make good choices based upon that knowledge.  So, it is time to evaluate what is being watched on television - are those programs reinforcing those values that I want my children and grandchildren to know?  So it is time to regulate what I view on my computer screen.  It is time to throw away those songs that do not foster positive values.  If we fail, then I am fearful that God will simply give us over the depravity of our immorality.