Strawberry

I know kids who have gotten pregnant, STDs, etc. because of this lack of information. It makes me want to puke. Since when has telling a teenager not to do something "because I said so" ever been effective? This sounds like more John Rosemond verbal diarrhea to me. (My parents subscribed to his magazine for about 2 years before he got so bad he even put them off, and I swear it was the scariest stuff I ever read; I was in middle school at the time, and he was advocating spanking...)

The only thing that ever made me think twice about supporting the abstinence debate was reading the Planned Parenthood website. Which is pretty ironic, since the supporters of abstinence don't want us teenagers to see such things as the Planned Parenthood website, because it has information about sex-related issues. Which put me off the abstinence debate, since anything that defensive must be hiding something pretty good.

Then again, I'm apparently going to hell.

Radorth

Personally I was unable to abstain after riding down an alley one night on a go-kart at age 14. One of the hard rubber wheels had a flat on it from a skid.

My dad told me about the dangers of having sex with females once, but his advice went unheeded. The best birth control devices I ever had was bad breath and my pocket liner containing various engineering implements.

It's a different world now though, and information is essential. When the time comes, I intend to show my model-gorgeous daughter videos of childbirth before permitting her to leave the house, and to let her read PP websites.

Rad

Radorth

I must confess I am mystified as to why some Christians make such a big deal out of masturbation, since the NT is, wisely, silent on the subject.

Rad

DMB

Masturbation is often equated (though incorrectly) with the "sin of Onan".

The RC take on contraception and masturbation is summed up by the Monty Python song Every Sperm is Sacred.

lpetrich

As is the Old Testament. And for the record, Onan had not masturbated; he had pulled out in order to avoid becoming a surrogate father.

This was part of a custom called the Levirate, in which a man whose brother had died without having any sons would try to make that brother's wife get pregnant in hopes of producing a son who would then be counted as that brother's son.

In effect, surrogate fatherhood.

And I suspect that the story of Onan was invented to get men to perform that task -- if you don't, you could get struck by lightning.

yelyos

The OT does complain about masturbation; Leviticus 15 is an entire explanation of how long people will be "unclean" if their "seed of copulation" leaves their body.

Just a clarification.

Toto

Every Sperm is Sacred

===

Lev 16 " 'When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean till evening. 17 Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening. 18 When a man lies with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both must bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

This NIV translation appears to refer to masturbation (The KJV is subtly different), but mere ritual uncleanliness is not a complaint. Regular sex also leads to ritual uncleanliness; lots of normal activities that are good or required would lead to ritual uncleanliness. The only effect of this uncleanliness was that the person could not do certain religious rituals until the uncleanliness had been purged.

Toto

Sex Education Classes Make Parent Uneasy

A stealth anti-abortion group has taken over teaching sex-ed in Contra Costa public schools, and is pumping misinformation into the kids heads, while denying that it is anti-abortion (although its founder has a stated goal of eliminating abortion.)

Dark Jedi

What's to say he hasn't already?

A politician's public face is not necessarily his private face.
Shrubya seems too dumb to carry two sets of beliefs... but who really knows?

Strawberry

Sigh. My mum is xtian and she used to teach sex ed classes the right way. Why is this all of a sudden so dangerous? When I read the statistics on pregnancy and STD rates, birth control effectiveness, etc., I sure didn't want to run out and have promiscuous sex right away based on those numbers. In fact, the pictures I saw of advanced syphilis made me want to vomit. Do these abstinence-only types not realize that the facts can actually support their case here? Why not use them and protect kids while they're at it? My generation is being robbed...

IMHO, just because certain members of my parents' generation are scared that their teenagers will do as much Woodstock-style acid and free-lovin' as their generation did does NOT mean we should be denied the information necessary to protect ourselves from pregnancy and disease. Grrrr.