I'm in this Ethics class on Money, Sex, & Power this week. This afternoon, we had a licensed marriage and family therapist in talking with us. One of the things we discussed was the church's role in sex education. Several great thoughts were brought up and discussed. So, I'm interested to hear your thoughts as well.
What do you think the church's role should be in the sexual education of our children and youth?
I'm not sure necessarily "what" they should teach, but I do know that I think it's very, very important to teach kids and teens the WHY behind what we believe. "Don't do this because I said so" just doesn't work anymore. It worked with my parents generation, it sort of worked for my generation, but it's not going to fly with my kids. I think that if churches would spend more time teaching personal responsibility - no one can make you do something that you don't want to, you choose to do the things you do (within reason of course) - it would take care of a lot of the problems we see in youth groups.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great question. I think it helps for children to have a healthy education about sex, having all the facts. First and foremost the role of the church should be be of service to the parents, guiding them on ways to talk to their children. I am guessing most churches will take an abstinence only stance on sex for teens, which I don't 100% agree with but understand fully. With a battle in the school about proper sex ed I am sure a lot of parents welcome the teachings of abstinence only, and very much welcome extra encouragement for teens to wait to have sex.
ReplyDeleteI think the church should educate the parents on teaching their kids and/or have joint classes with the kids and parents.
ReplyDeleteThe downside to that is that some youth go to church without their parents. What then?
I believe that the church should teach the children how to abstain from it and what the results could be, i.e. children or disease.
ReplyDeleteI have been taught that sex is a gift that husband and wifes should only share. I believe in no sex till marriage. I want it to be special and I think that children should understand that having sex should not just be about infatuation. Love takes more than 6 months to achieve and children need to understand that.
I agree with Teresa in having a class with both child and parent.