The Sexual Landscape 2009
Two items have caught my attention in the past couple of days. The first was a statistic from the Gardasil website (www.gardasil.com). As you will probably remember, Gardasil is the new drug said to protect against four types of human papillomavirus (HPV). Two of these types of HPV reportedly cause 70% of cervical cancer and two more types cause 90% of genital warts. All are spread by sexual contact.
The stat that caught my attention is that claim that 80% of women will have had HPV by the time they’re 50.* (For the record, this statistic includes more than 30 genital HPV types, not just the four Gardasil is said to protect against.) For most women the virus will clear on its own, but when it doesn’t, cervical cancer can develop. Because of these stats, the manufacturers are recommending that all girls be given Gardasil as a protective measure.
What strikes me afresh is the fact that sexually transmitted disease continues to grow rampantly in our culture. One writer, Carolyn Hax, has said STDs are not that big of a deal. You take a pill and they go away. Like many, she doesn’t see the threat of STDs as a reason to practice abstinence until marriage.
The other item that interested me was the news report I saw yesterday in which Bristol Palin (Sarah Palin’s daughter who is now an unwed mother) is quoted as saying abstinence was “not realistic at all.” Of course, those words have gotten a lot of air time, in spite of the fact that Bristol took a strong stand against teen pregnancy.
I’ve said all that to say this: The sexual landscape in 2009 is something we need to face squarely. The fact is that abstinence before marriage and fidelity in marriage, if universally practiced, would stop the spread of STDs and the occurence of teen pregnancy in its tracks. The reality, however, is that our culture is moving further and further away from a biblical view of sexuality.
As Christians, we must hold high the standard of sex belonging within the confines of heterosexual marriage. However, we must face the reality that non-Christians, and even many professing Christians, will not consent to such a view. We cannot expect those outside the body of Christ to abide by biblical morality. It would be nice, but man’s sinful nature assures us it will never be so. So parents, youth workers, and pastors must teach the truth to the young people under their influence and set the expectation that they will obey, but I’m convinced we cannot ignore the issue of “safer sex” in the world at large.
I want no one to sin. I will urge them, plead with them, and encourage them not to do so. But for those who set their hearts against God and His truth and are determined to ignore His command, I hope they will at least sin “wisely” (if there is such a thing) and protect themselves, their future spouses, their children, and the culture at large from the ravages of sexually transmitted disease.