“You and these treasures have been set apart as holy to the LORD. This silver and gold is a voluntary offering to the LORD, the God of our ancestors. Guard these treasures well until you present them to the leading priests, the Levites, and the leaders of Israel, who will weigh them at the storerooms of the LORD’s Temple in Jerusalem.” Ezra 8:28-29
This past Sunday at church I had a come to Jesus moment. The pastor was talking about Sins of Commission and Sins of Omission. Sins of Commission are sins that we commit by doing things God has told us not to do. Sins of Omission are sins that we commit by NOT doing the things God has told us to do. Immediately my brain went into rewind, had I not done anything God had told me to do? Instantly the cover of True Intimacy flashed in my mind.
I’ve not done anything with it in eons. Things evolved this week that I’m not ready to talk to you about yet that led me to spend some serious time researching today. I feel another book coming along to follow up on True Intimacy, but we’ll see how it goes.
Our children are the greatest treasure we could be given on this earth. And as parents it’s our job to guard these treasures from the thieves that would try and steal their innocence and their future. It was this very treasure combined with the research I was doing today that prompted this Facebook status update:
“PSA: If you knew that your child was dabbling in heroine wouldn’t you do everything in your power to help them get away from it as quickly as possible? KEEP YOUR KIDS AWAY FROM ALL NAKED PICTURES! One article I read today mentioned that brain researchers had to coin a new term to explain the chemical effects that pornography has on the brain: erototoxins (sex poisons). “Pornography causes a rewiring of the neural circuits” [of the brain]. “Like cigarettes, pornography is a delivery system that has a distinct and powerful effect upon the human brain and nervous system. Exactly like cigarettes, this effect is to cause a powerful addiction. Like any other addiction, the addiction is both to the delivery system itself – the pornography – and to the chemicals that the delivery system delivers.” “Modern science allows us to understand that the underlying nature of an addiction to pornography is chemically *nearly identical* to a heroin addiction.” And therefore equally addictive and difficult to kick. Just like cigarettes and marijuana are “gateway” drugs that lead to harder and more devastatingly damaging substances, those “harmless” naked photos that your child finds on the internet are NOT HARMLESS. That are gateway images that WILL lead to harder and more devastatingly damaging substances. Keep your kids safe out here online, it’s a much more dangerous place than we would like to believe. And a horrifyingly dangerous addiction CAN be stopped with parental vigilance. It’s not spying, it’s called parenting! It’s your job – DO IT!”
Of course, after throwing something like this out there into the piranha pit that is Facebook there were going to be some responders! I was pleased with this particular fishing expedition. It turned up many different viewpoints on the subject and another article that I found amusing in its author’s life experiences with children and her viewpoints on honesty similar to my own. If you have a Facebook account you should be able to view all the comments here.
I’m putting you all on alert, from this point forward, if I’m acting faithfully to my mission and ministry I will be talking about these types of things more often so be prepared. 😉 As much as I wanted to shy away from the potentially embarrassing subject of sex and everything that goes with it, I can’t deny the subject that I’ve been called to talk about. (As much as I would like to.) God has taught me too much for me to ignore the very thing He saved in my life. He’s opened my eyes to the atrocities of this world and the mutilation of the beautiful gift that God has given us in sex. I need to become His advocate on this front, even though it’s a tough one. Last night I asked Him, “why me?” and He said, “Because you could handle this”. I thank you in advance for your prayers in this matter. We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength! Even talk to our kids about something as private as sex and the dangers of pornography use. Our kids will certainly find SOMEONE to talk to about these things, who that will be, well, that’s up to us now isn’t it. Guard those treasures well! Their eyes and brains are precious!!!!!
Tamar Knochel 