But the clothes are an expression of a more disturbing, and rising, trend of teenage sexual behavior: Oral sex. More than half of teens (55% of boys, 54% of girls) have engaged in oral sex, according to the Center for Disease Control. Moreover, because it is not actual intercourse, kids do not consider oral sex to be unsafe, or even to be sex.
and now this:
Gen. 3:4,5 But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
Everyone knows that the Dragon Deceiver was right; Eve ate the apple, and she didn’t die. (Dead women don’t hand their husbands the fruit bowl.) Today those same whispered lies are all around us– in the magazines we read, the textbooks we study, the TV we watch and the movies that beckon us from the theater or Youtube. It’s not really sex, right? No baby, no need for birth control, no pangs of conscience since intercourse is not involved (“I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”). It’s practically magic!
I know of two people whose lives were changed for the worse, and in some ways ruined, by this deception. In both cases older women seduced them; in at least one case, oral sex was the bait. Did these female dogs rape their targets? No, not really– each guy was no doubt willing, at least on a basic level. Did the serpent murder Eve? Well, no! She didn’t die … did she?
It is sorrowful to speak of such things in a family oriented blog post, and some would say I should remove it. I can only reply that a detailed (but not X-rated) account of just such a seduction is found in the book my family and I read together, often out loud, almost every day. You can read it, too. If you are the parent of a boy, you must read it. The apostle Paul described this seductress well when he said:
Romans 3:13 Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips.
In our sex drenched culture, where the almighty self must be satisfied with a wondrous high (from sex, drugs, money or power), we parents deceive ourselves if we don’t remember something. In every mall our teenagers enter, every concert they attend, every classroom they study in and every sporting event they cheer at, there are young Adams and Eves who have already eaten the “it’s not sex”. In all likelihood, there is one in every two or three young people you see on the street. Many of them are ready to, and some of them may be right now, reaching out with this bitter fruit to the children, grandchildren or young friends you hold dear. You can’t stop them. You can only warn your sons and daughters, teach them the truth and pray for their good judgment and wise choices. Even then, on occasion, it doesn’t work.
If you have been deceived, and now understand that Eve did die the very moment she ate, take heart– there is forgiveness and hope. If you are a parent or friend, and are frustrated because the message doesn’t seem to be getting into the head/heart of the one you love, there is help available. In both cases, you may contact Beth or me for more information; we would love to talk.