No Self Control

            I found this article to be interesting.  Well.  I guess I don’t find the article all that peculiar.  It’s the general response that I don’t understand.  Most of the responses I have been reading seem to be upset that she was let go because her boss found her irresistible.

It doesn’t make sense to me.  I mean, that is precisely what our world teaches over and over.  My daughter is in her first year of high school and she is being taught the very same things I was taught over 20 years ago.  Whenever anyone brought up the concept of celibacy outside of marriage, the predominant teaching was that you can’t expect people to control themselves.

                It is taught year after year, generation after generation, and from class to class.  We are animals with no self control.  Whatever your inclinations are, either men or monkeys, there is nothing you can do about it.  History and science generally teach the same.  We’re just creatures of instinct.   (Personally, I don't know why we aren't offended by the message.)

So why is it, that a man without self control would offend our culture?  Not only that.  Why are we appalled at rape?  If we can’t control ourselves, then we can’t control ourselves.

                One of the comments I read said something like this – ‘I thought we were past this sort of thing.’   That’s precisely the point.  This is the very direction we are headed in.  We tell each other that we are animals.  We teach our students that we can’t expect them to control themselves.  We glorify the orgasm in song and in film, and somehow we have the gall to be offended when somebody can’t control himself.

Of course…the news writers spend very little time taking note of the fact that her boss asked her to dress down.  I don’t know about you, but in my workplace, the people who sign my paycheck generally expect me to do as they say.  In fact, I even have to wear the clothes they tell me to.  

Did the dentist do right?  In my opinion, that depends on whether he is a monkey or a child of God.  If he is a monkey, he did well.

For the Weird Girl

  Whether we realize it or not, there is a very real battle being fought for our minds.  Some of those fights are waged hoping that we will simply purchase their product. Others are trying to convince us of their political views or to get us to join their cause.  Others are vying for our very souls.

   I often wonder whether or not those battles are intentional, or if we have been programmed as such.   We’re taught, at least in English, how to form a thesis and defend the argument, in order to convince the reader of that thesis.  Rather than a seeking after truth, we have been taught how to defend our point.  (Personally, I think there is a great injustice in that)

     It is therefore no surprise that our world does everything it can to mould you into their form, buy their stuff and think their thoughts.

    Sending you off to high school wasn’t really all that tough of a decision for your mother and I.  A lot of people thought it must have been hard.  You have likely overheard many people ask, “So.  Are you ready for the big change as your daughter heads off to high school?”

   I guess it was big in the sense that we did a lot of praying over the decision.  It was also big in the sense that I almost cried when your cat walked to the road to say good-bye on your first day of school.  It was not a big deal in the sense that we are worried about your ability to find your way in this world. 

  It isn’t so much that we think you’re the perfect girl and that you don’t sin.  It’s more that, we believe that your faith in Christ is authentic, and that He is able to meet your every need as you navigate through life.

    As believers, we often debate over what our lives in this world should look like.  Sometimes we look down on people who seem to isolate themselves from the world.  The truth is, we are in the world whether we like it or not.  The question we need to ask is, “What am I doing as I live in the world?”

Jeremiah 15:19

“....If you speak good words rather than worthless ones,
you will be my spokesman.
You must influence them;
do not let them influence you!”

   When I think of you in your life at high school, God’s words to Jeremiah often come to mind when He said, “You must influence them.  Do not let them influence you!”

   You are much different than the world, and by now, you have no doubt noticed exactly that.  It’s not that you are better than anyone, that you sin less or that you do more good things.  The difference is Christ.   Sure.  Our world is fine with individuality, just as long as our individuality remains about the clothes we wear, our hair style or wearing black lipstick.  We find opposition when we actually are different.

   I believe that you are there in your setting to influence those around you.  They are not to influence you.  My hope is that you don’t grow weary in being you, because your mother and I REALLY like you.  I know it can be tiring to swim upstream, but that’s kind of the whole point.