Outraged

Believe it or not, I’m not all that outraged about Plan B being over the counter for teenagers. As safety goes, it’s a reasonably benign medication. Teenagers can do more harm with a bottle of acetaminophen or ibuprofen than a couple of tablets of levonorgestrel. And, it doesn’t cause abortion or the failure of implantation of a fertilized egg. It causes either failure of ovulation or fertilization.

Why am I outraged, then?

I am outraged that teenager girls feel like they need sex in order to feel loved.

I am outraged that rape is so prevalent in our culture and that we don’t treat it as the heinous crime that it  is.

I am outraged that teenagers and parents can’t talk openly about the need for contraception.

I am outraged that our culture is completely sex-saturated.

I am outraged that sex is no longer a special and sacred bond between a husband and wife.

I am outraged that almost no one, even Christians, takes God’s plan for sexual intimacy seriously.

In short, I am outraged that any teenager would need the morning-after pill without a prescription.

What we need is Jesus. We’ve been educating abstinence and comprehensive sex ed for 40 years, but teens and young adults are still having babies without the benefit of marriage and getting sexually transmitted infections. Our culture knows plenty about sex. What they need to know is the love of Jesus.

And that requires a lot more work on our side than just giving information. It means fewer programs and more living. It means getting out of the churches and into people’s lives. And it takes lots and lots of prayer.