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 A Baby Boomer Speaks to Today's Teenagers

         Probably the most powerful force mankind has harnessed is nuclear energy. It can be used for both good and bad purposes. Nuclear energy is used to generate electricity for cities or for powering submarines or space ships. It is also used as a weapon to destroy. It sustains life and it destroys life. 

     Sex is like nuclear power. It can be used for both good and bad purposes. It can produce life and it can destroy life. There’s a lot of power in how our sexual relationships impact us. But just like nuclear power, if you use it wrongly or carelessly, it can destroy you. It can destroy you physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It can ruin your life. Such power must be given great respect and used very carefully.

     There’s a lot of voices in the world saying all kinds of things about sexual morality. But you alone control this aspect of your life. You alone will reap the consequences. No matter what people say, this is not fun and games. This is life and death.

     Think about what you are doing when you engage in sexual relations with another human being. Think about what you are exposing your body to when engaging in certain sexual practices and behavior. If you listen to some voices out there, you would think you could do anything without having to worry about any consequences. All that has to be done is to use a condom and you’ll be safe. And if there is a “problem”, like an unwanted pregnancy, just get an abortion and everything will be OK.

     But is this the truth? Is it safe? Is it smart to do whatever you want? 

     Some of you might be thinking, “Mike, don’t be such a prude! What’s wrong with having a little fun? A little fun never hurt anybody.”

     Think about this. Is it smart to have a little “fun” with a nuclear bomb?

     If you had access to a nuclear weapon, would you set it off, just for kicks? If you’re smart you’d stay clear. You’d at least learn to use such things wisely and for what they are designed.

     But what about sex? There’s nothing wrong with having a little fun! Right?

     Use your heads! Playing with sex is like playing with a bomb. You can die if

you’re not careful.

The Nelsons and the Hefners

     When my generation (the baby boomers) was growing up there were only two—only two sexually transmitted diseases you could contract by “not being careful.” Now there is over two dozen. Two dozen! Some of which are life threatening.

     Our present society is giving you the shaft. We baby boomers were not raised like you are being raised. We were raised with restrictions on our sexual behavior. Restrictions that promoted safety and life, not sickness and death. The WW II generation regarded sexual activity as something very important. Something reserved for a husband and a wife. Sex was designed to be a part of the foundation of the family. It was not designed to be a recreational activity practiced outside the family.

     Consequently we were raised on the social standards which were reflected by the TV shows of the 50’s and 60’s: Ozzie and Harriet, Leave it to Beaver, I Love Lucy, Father Knows Best.

     These television shows reflect the moral standards of that time. The moral standards of the Bible, of Jesus Christ, of Moses. These standards are sometimes called Judeo-Christian. We were raised on these standards, that’s what our culture taught us back then. We were taught how to keep sex in its place. How to use it wisely. What to do and what not to do. How to keep from destroying ourselves. Just like those who work with nuclear power, they have to be careful so they don’t blow themselves up.

     When our generation came into our own in the 1960’s we had a choice to make. Would we continue with what we were taught by those who loved us or would we go for something else?     

     In the book of Proverbs King Solomon describes the two moral options everyone has when they are first on their own. The first moral option is wisdom. The second moral option is folly. They both call out to the naïve in the streets and beckon them to come in and sit at their tables and eat. At the table of wisdom is goodness and life. At the table of folly is stolen food and adulterous relationships. The young and naïve don’t know—to sit at the table of folly is to sit at the table of death. 

     When we baby boomers “came of age” we decided to eat at the table of folly, not the table of wisdom. We didn’t want to practice the restrictions on sex our parents raised us up on. We didn’t want to wait. We had Hugh Hefner and the pornographers telling us that we didn’t have to be married to have sex. That there was nothing wrong with looking at women, fantasizing about them, and having casual sexual relationships without a commitment.

     “Have your fun!” They told us. “Why listen to all the fuddy duddys of the world? Why let them control your life?”    

     That was all new back then. Up until then pornography was hidden away in sleazy back alleys and in the filthiest parts of big cities. Hugh Hefner brought to America (and eventually to the world), a pornography that was more acceptable, that was dressed up, wrapped in a flashy looking upscale magazine. At first it was dismissed as harmless. But to us Boomers it was our license to throw away the restrictions of the Bible, the Judeo-Christian morality. Here was a new philosophy, the Playboy Philosophy, that if it felt good, do it. If the girl next door was willing and able, then, go for it. Nothing’s wrong if you have two consenting adults.

     Our generation chose to turn away from the way we were raised and as a society chose to embrace the pornographers as our new moral guides. At the time we didn’t understand the value of the morality we were raised in. We didn’t realize what it was it was protecting us from. And in so doing we took away from ourselves, and from you who would follow after us a safe, moral society. A society that would teach its children to be sexually responsible and how to keep from destroying themselves.

The Life you Live Today Determines your Future

     We baby boomers have given to you a pornographic society. You are being told that if you want to be sexually active and use sex recreationally, “Go for it! We’ll supply you with condoms and abortions so you can have your fun and you don’t have to worry about anything.”

     But what you are not being told, is that condoms aren’t 100 % effective. An abortion is not the cure-all to a “problem” pregnancy. A sexually promiscuous lifestyle breeds physical, relational, and emotional disaster and lays the foundation for an unhealthy and unstable life.                                              

     The health dangers that go with a sexually promiscuous lifestyle continue to grow. Besides the smorgasbord of sexually transmitted disease that is rampant today there is the HIV virus which leads to Aids which kills.

     There is another death that comes with a life style of using sex in a

recreational manner—the death of your soul.

     Ask yourself these questions:

     In your family experience wasn’t it nice to have both your mom and dad there for you while you were being raised as a child? Or if you didn’t have them there

when you were growing up, wouldn’t it have been nice if they were? To have them both there for you in a loving manner, to go to, when you needed them?

     The way you handle your sexual relationship(s) makes up one of the most important foundations upon which your life is built. The decisions you are making today about sex will directly impact you for the rest of your life. 

     The decisions you’re making today, will determine whether or not you will have someone to share your life with. Whether or not you will have someone to love.

     The decisions you’re making today, will determine whether or not you will have a family. Whether or not you will have children.

     The decisions you’re making today, about sex, will determine that if you do have children, how they will be raised.

     Will your children have a loving father and a loving mother there for them while they are growing up?

     Will they be brought up by a single mom or a single dad?

     Will they grow up at all?

     Will your children ever see the light of day?

     Will they be aborted?

     When you get to that point in life where you want to find someone to spend your life with—what will you be bringing to such a relationship?

     How stable will you be?

     What our present society is not telling you, is that sex is one of the main                                         

foundations that any relationship is built on

—that any family is built on

— that any life is built on.

     When you find someone you really care for and want to spend your life with, what will you offer that person? What will you bring to the relationship?

     If you have a history of using sex in a recreational manner, you make                                         

yourself an unlikely candidate for being a faithful partner. That person you want to be with probably will not want to be with you.

     We are designed to live with each other, to love each other. Not to go from                                          

person to person for our next sexual fix. Spouses and especially children should not

have to fear that their wife or husband or mommy or daddy will up and leave them at any given time. But if you’re using sex in a recreational manner, you will not be                                                                                               

able to switch gears when the time comes. You will not be able to focus all your love and attention on the one you care for. You will not be able to be there for your spouse or your children. You will not be able to “settle down”. You will be too busy                                        

looking for your next sexual conquest, your next sexual high.   

     When you use sex recreationally and ignore the lasting impact sexual relationships have on your life, you’re setting yourself up for disaster. You’re setting yourself up for a relational nightmare, a nuclear explosion. Every sexual relationship you have goes with you. The impact stays with you. Whether it’s good or bad, it goes with you. And if you’re developing a habit of being sexually promiscuous, it becomes harder and harder to commit yourself to being there for the one you love.

     There will come a time in your life when you will want more than anything:

—someone to share your life with

—someone to come home to

—someone to be there for you

—someone to love and to love you back, not just for sexual recreation, but for who you are.

     But if you’re following Hugh Hefner. If you’re following the pornographic society we live in and you’re using sex in a recreational manner, it’s not going to happen.

     The odds that you will find a person who will love you or that you will be capable of loving decreases each time you use sex in a recreational manner. Sure, you’ll always be able to find someone that will want you for a one night stand. There will always be someone who will want you sexually—for a time—then want to move on to their next future ex-lover. But imagine how lonely and how dark such a life becomes. There’s never really anyone there for you, someone who wants to be there just for you. Because the same is true for you. If you are living such a lifestyle you are incapable of really being there for someone else. You won’t be there for them when they need you because you will be getting ready to move on. This is a lonely and desperate lifestyle which ends up in self destruction. It’s no different than setting off a nuclear bomb in the middle of your life.

     To those of you who aren’t buying this. You feel like I’m off my rocker and don’t know anything about anything. You’re going to have your fun.  You’re not going to give it up.

     This is for you:

     Mark my words, just as sure as you’re reading this, there will come a time when you will wake up in the middle of the night. You won’t be able to sleep. You’ll be

staring at the ceiling and wondering, where is everybody? All your friends are Gone—you’re alone—and you’re dying on the inside. And believe me if this hasn’t already happened to you—that day is coming! You’ll be crying from deep within your heart for someone to love and to love you back, but there will be no one.

     The lyrics of this song describe this quite well:

                                                     All By Myself Lyrics
                                                   Artist(Band):Tom Jones

                                   When I was young, I never needed anyone
                                   And making love was just for fun
                                   Those days are gone

                                   Living alone, I think of all the friends I've known
                                   But when I dial the telephone
                                   Nobody's home

                                   All by myself, I don't want to be
                                   All by myself...anymore

     If you’re using sex in a recreational way, because it’s fun, you like it, it makes you feel good. It makes you feel like you are somebody, somebody important, somebody cool. You feel right about it because “everybody” is doing it—you’re playing with a nuclear bomb and it’s going to go off.

Jesus

     You might be saying at this point, “That’s me. You’re describing me. I’ve already screwed up. I’m into these things. I live a life of folly and death, not wisdom and life. What can I do? Is there a way out of this? Is there anyone who can help?

     There is.

     The word of God gives us this promise:

                   Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you

                   and you shall glorify Me (Psalm 50:15).

     Jesus will be there for you! And you’re not the only one who’s screwed up—join the club! Everyone of us who believe in Jesus have come from the same place. We realized we needed Christ. We realized we’ve messed up, that in and of ourselves—we’re alone—we’re lost. We all started our lives down the road to destruction. Nobody can say they’ve had it all together. We are descendents of Adam and Eve who messed up from the beginning and we are their offspring. Jesus came to give everyone of us the power to climb up out of the mess we’ve made and to make something of ourselves. He came to give us a future. But the kicker is, we have to do it His way, not ours. But His way is the only way.    

     Jesus wants what’s good for us and He came to make it happen. He is the way to this life that we all so desperately need and want.

     Using sex, using people, using relationships recreationally will not get it. It is a lie to believe that there are no consequences to such behavior. These lies are being perpetuated by those who benefit richly from businesses catering to such lifestyles. 

We are Created in the Image of God!

     The reason why it’s important to respect one another sexually is not only to foster healthy family relationships. But our earthly relationships, especially our marriage relationships, prepare us for a far more important heavenly relationship with God.

     Jesus didn’t come just to die for our sins and straighten us out. He also came to enter into a relationship with us. A friendship. A friendship that begins here and lasts forever.

     But what does this mean that God wants to be our friend?

     I believe it has to do with the fact that we are created in God’s image and likeness. We have the potential, no, it’s more than just potential, we are designed, we are meant to grow fully into the image of God. It’s the most natural thing for us to enter into. It’s what God made us for!

     Think about it. Look at nature. There are all kinds of living beings living in their own social circles, with those of their own kind. All getting meaning and purpose out of living their lives with one another. Birds sing together. Dogs chase each other. Dolphins jump out of the water together. Horses run. Cows graze. Bees swarm. All drawn together, living together, experiencing the joys of life with each other of their own kind.

     What about God? Who does God want to be with? Who does God want to spend eternity with? Does He want to be with birds? Does He want to be with dogs? Does He want to be with cats? Does He want to be with pigs or goats? Of course not. He                                         

wants to be with you! He wants to be with me! He wants to be with us! We’re created in His image!

     God doesn’t want to spend eternity with dogs or cats. He wants to spend eternity with you! He’s prepared Heaven for you! That’s why He made you. He loves you. He wants to be with you!

     The Bible says that you, you, are created in God’s image and likeness, you. Not dogs, not cats, not monkeys or fish, you.

     We are all His sons and His daughters.

     Look around. Every person you see, no matter how plain, how shy, or unimpressive looking, is created in the image of God! We all have the potential to become fully molded and fashioned into God’s image and likeness—to take on His nature, to become like Him. That’s why He sent His Son to die for us, to prepare the way for us. He created this universe for us so that He could share it with us!

     Think of all the time and effort it took God to create you! Think of all the talent and creative power God put to bear to bring you into existence.

     And to think we’re being told by our “wonderful” scientific community and today’s “politically correct” crowd that we are just accidents of nature. That somehow we originated in an explosion, a Big Bang.

     Does anybody know of an explosion set off in a deserted area that leaves behind an organized anything? Will such an explosion leave behind a Buick? Will it leave behind a golf course? Will it leave behind a library or a frying pan? Of course not. Explosions destroy—they don’t create. And not only are we being told that this Big Bang, this Big Explosion, brought forth organization, we are being told it brought forth life. It brought forth you and me. That after the Big Bang we came out of the primordial soup as fish and for no good reason crawled out of the water onto dry land. Then we just happened to evolve into apes and then into human beings. We are supposed to believe we are byproducts of billions of years of evolutionary mutation and retardation first put into motion by an explosion. That there is no purpose or meaning behind our existence—we are just byproducts of chance. We just happened!

     If that isn’t pure insanity I don’t know what is. Don’t listen to that garbage! You take all the scientists on our planet and all their technology and they can’t even create a seed to plant in the ground to spring up as a plant. Let alone create a human being with all the thoughts, emotions and intricacies we have. We’re not products of chance!

     God created you. God designed you. He’s your heavenly Father. You’re His son. You’re His daughter. The word of God says you are fearfully and wonderfully made! Each one of you is designed to fulfill a specific purpose that only you can fill. No one else can do this. Only you. We need you to find out what it is that God has                                         

placed in your heart for us. If you don’t enter into it and fulfill it, it will never happen. We will never experience what it is that God has given to you, to give to us. But, it’s up to you. You decide!

     Do you want to do your own thing and blindly follow the Hugh Hefners and the pornographers of the world? Do you want to end up alone, full of disappointment, heartache, and emptiness? Or do you want to use your head and be wise. Let God guide you into becoming His son, or His daughter! Then you will have someone to share your life with, someone to care for, forever! It’s the greatest thing there is. Nothing’s better. The choice is yours.

     Right now, Jesus is waiting for you with arms wide open to give you all His love and all you have to do is say, “Yes.” He will come into your heart and be with you forever. You don’t need to come to an altar or raise your hand in a church revival. All you have to do is say yes to Him quietly in your heart and He will hear you. It’s between you and Him. Don’t worry about what anybody else thinks. It’s your decision. You get to choose if you want Him or not. You decide. Life or death. You choose.

     God is saying the words of this song—just to you:

                    If you need me, call me.

                    No matter where you are, no matter how far.

                    Just call my name. I’ll be there in a hurry.

                    On that you can depend and never worry.

                              No wind, no rain,
                              Nor winter’s cold
                              Can stop me,

                              If you’re my goal.

 

                    I know you must follow the sun.

                    Wherever it leads.

                    But remember if you should fall short of your

                    desires, remember life holds for you one guarantee.

                    You’ll always have me.

                    And if you should miss my love

                    one of these old days.

                    Just remember what I told you

                    the day I set you free.

 

                             Ain’t no mountain high enough
                             Ain’t no valley low enough

                             Ain’t no river wild enough
                             To keep me from you.

 

                             Nothing can keep me
                             To keep me from you

 

     (Ain’t No Mountain High Enough by Nickolas Ashford/Valerie Simpson)

     Jesus will always be there for you—all you have to do is call.

©copyright 2007 Michael J. Silberg