Ignorance as useful? –The sex education debate continues

There is a camp of cultural conservatives that believes that keeping children (and teens?) ignorant on matters of sexuality and sex education will somehow preserve their chastity. They believe that if you give young people knowledge of sexuality and sexual practice, they will begin to experiment and live carelessly. Is this true? Does knowledge lead to indulgence? Will the teenagers behave worse if we teach sex and sexuality from grade four?

I believe that as we answer we should bear in mind that as human being mature they develop abilities that exceed their wisdom to handle. For example, children learn to walk before they learn to cross the road carefully; they learn to put things in their mouths before they learn to read the ‘poison’ warning. So it is with our sexuality – we have instincts, desires and affinities before we know how to express or use them. In light of this should we wait for disaster before we give the guidance and instructions every growing child needs? I believe not. I would argue that as children develop their parents and other responsible adults should dispense age appropriate information on matters of sexuality as the young person’s sexuality develops. For example when the toddler asks about their genitals a simple (and age appropriate) explanation of the differences between men and women can be offered. Perhaps a discrete “girls are this way so that they can grow up to be mommies” and “boys are this way so that they can grow up to be daddies” can also be offered. What is not necessary is handing out Playboy magazines and boxes of condoms.

As the Children develop to a point where they can express their sexuality it will be necessary to start including a moral element to the instruction. Provide the young person with the whole Biblical worldview on sexuality and how this impacts on behavior. I would argue that even at this stage the parents of the child should be responsible for this as the Lord has given them the responsibility to raise their children in “fear and admonition of the Lord” and handling our sexuality is part of fear of the Lord.

I conclusion we should teach the children that it is their duty is to guard their own and their friends’ chastity, that sexuality must be expressed within certain moral bounds if it is to be constructive (building families and keeping faithfulness) and not destructive to society. When this is done then the sex education is complete, and young people well be able to handle and express their sexuality in God honoring ways.

Is America a Christian Nation

I know the blog is called salt and light Zambia, but I think it doesn't hurt to hear what other Christians think about a nation being charterised as "Christian".

Here is are the some thoughts from Albert Mohler on why America can be considered a Christian nations.

America is not a Christian nation by constitution or charter. There has never been a time when all Americans were Christians or that Christian identity could be assumed as evangelical.

But, American citizens are overwhelmingly Christian. This has always been so, and is so now. This is why G. K. Chesterton would refer to America as the “nation with the soul of a church.” The American experiment in religious liberty has produced a nation that, unlike most of Europe, has resisted complete secularization.

The vast majority of Americans identify themselves as Christians. This simple fact points to the “Christian” character of the nation. America is not Christian by constitutional provision or creedal affirmation — but its people are overwhelmingly Christian by self-affirmation. Thoughtful evangelicals will not overestimate the convictional character of this self-identification.

Sex education without Life education

In the continued debate over sex education in schools, another bone of contention is the morals reflected in these lessons. Because knowledge is power, we are keen to see that this power is not abused. This means it is sad to see the post-modern thinkers trying to be “neutral” in education, and leaving morals to be a private affair. Yours belief system becomes your private business. Is this fair to the next generation?

Is it possible to be morally neutral in anything in life? Perhaps some things are a matter of taste, like the colour of your shirt, how much chili you put in your food or the brand of toothpaste you prefer. But can sex education be morally neutral? Even from the scientific perspective, certain lifestyles can be healthy or dangerous. As the famous line goes, with great power comes great responsibility! How can we teach about the power and potentialities of sex, and not teach the responsibility that comes with it?

Many aspects of sexuality can be taught, including the following:

(a) Male and female roles, such as men being gentlemen and taking initiative to protect, provide and lead

(b) The evil of sexual abuse and how to respond to and report it

(c) The price to pay for teenage pregnancy and forced marriages

(d) The mental and health benefits of avoiding teenage promiscuity (including reputation, avoiding disease, concentrating on education, building character, etc)

(e) Avoiding peer pressure in sexual behavior

(f) Principles of deferred pleasure for greater reward

These are just some examples of important principles that could be incorporated into sex and sexuality education. We must not give a bland moral slate. Train up the child in the way he or she should go. If we do not give moral direction, we shouldn’t be surprised at the path they choose to go.

I Just Don't Know What to Say

I appologise for the long pause between posts. My working life got a bit hectic. But I am back and will be posting on the Christian nation topic.

The Declaration as a Socialogical Statement P1

In my first post I categorized the various understandings or viewpoints held by people on the meaning of declaration of Zambia a Christian nation. In this post I will look at the first category, the Declaration as a social fact.

According to this viewpoint, the majority of Zambian’s are Christian, therefore, as Zambia can rightly be described as a Christian nation. Now any honest person will need to admit that this is a demographic fact. The question remains however, whether this demographic fact should influence our constitution making process. There are a number of objections to this view point that we will consider below, as I do this please remember that I am interacting with the arguments and not passing final judgment that will come later.

The first objection is that it is immoral to bind future generations of Zambian, who potentially may not be Christian to the declaration on the basis of the fact that today most Zambian’s are Christian. I would like to point out that this objection could be posed to any clause in the Constitution and that ultimately this type of reasoning undermines the very practice of writing constitutions. A constitution is a document that a particular group of people assent to at a particular point in time, it is possible that in some future point in time the decedents of that group of people (whether physical or civil) may take issue with the constitution and change it. This process is called constitutional amendment and it is widely practiced around the world. In light of this I think that today most Zambian’s are Christian, therefore, it is fair to say that Christianity is a predominant characteristic of the Zambian people. If at a future date most Zambian’s will not be Christian’s it will be their prerogative to amend the Zambian constitution to suit the Characteristics of Zambia at the time. I further believe that it in drafting the constitution our emphasis ought to be on present facts and not hypothetical possibilities.

A Christian in Politics

In line with one of the theme's of this blog during the month of July In have decided to draw your attention to a professing evangelical Christain who chooses to engage in the "dirty game" of Zambian politics. The person is Mr. Watson K. Lumba MP. He was elected as Solwezi Central Member of Parliament on 19th November 2009.

What makes this kind of person tick? Well here is a part of his maiden speech to Parliament:

Mr. Speaker, allow me to digress and give some aspect of my life story that inspired me to seek to serve the people. I come from a family of 14. My father, who is 79 years old and he has spent the last 40 years as a pastor in the Christian church. Growing up in that family, we were taught, as many in this house I am sure were, values and virtues rooted in scripture that called on us to love God first and then our fellow man. I therefore believe that without a sense of wanting to serve fellow man, man used generically to include woman, politics becomes devoid of its soul. But how can one serve man without love for him/her? And how can one love man without the love of God, the giver of true love? Mr. Speaker, I strongly believe that service to our fellow Zambians and our country should be informed by principles of virtue that will once again make our people proud of themselves. It is only when we believe that we can and should take care of our neighbours that we will have a fearless energy to drive this country forward. With this, we must reject an infamous proclamation of one of the leading western leaders of the last two decades when she said that “ there is no such thing as society.

The rest of his maiden speech, which includes reference to his views on free society, Zambian development and economics can be found here.

The Christian and Politics

I know I have taken my time writing my first post on Zambia the Christian Nation, I have been thinking and re thinking my approach in light of the comments I have received. I have however resolved to write the post as I initially conceived it and you will be able to read that post on Friday. After I finish the series I will take time to interact with your comments.

But before that here is something from C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters. For those unfamiliar with the book, it is a series fictional letter from a senior tempter (demon) to a junior tempter, these letters provide the junior tempter with advice on how best to tempt Christians. The value of the book for the Christian is as a means of reflect on the temptations that Christains face in the various stages of thier lives.

This is a portion of a letter that touches on the subject of the Christian and politics:

About the general connection between Christianity and politics, our position is more delicate.
Certainly we do not want men to allow their Christianity to flow over into their political life, for the establishment of anything like a really just society would be a major disaster.

On the other hand, we do want, and want very much, to make men treat Christianity as a means; preferably, of course, as a means to their own advancement, but, failing that, as a means to anything—even to social justice.

The thing to do is to get a man at first to value social justice as a thing which the Enemy [=God] demands, and then work him on to the stage at which he values Christianity because it may produce social justice. For the Enemy will not be used as a convenience. Men or nations who think they can revive the Faith in order to make a good society might just as well think they can use the stairs of Heaven as a short cut to the nearest chemist’s shop. Fortunately it is quite easy to coax humans round this little corner.