Catching up on some blogs

Here are some blogs of interest from the past few days —

In the past two days, Al Mohler has written two articles that all parents ought to read. Yesterday he wrote, "The Death Culture Strikes Again," addressing the role of the internet in increasing suicide rates among teens, concluding with yet another admonition to parents to be wary of what their children are consuming digitally.

And this morning he wrote, "Are We Teaching Our Children to Lie?" addressing not only the issue that our children lie (they do — "In the end, 98 percent of the teens admitted lying to parents. At the same time, 98 percent of the same teens said that lying is wrong. Add to this the fact that many of these kids admitted lying a great deal. It turns out that children begin to lie very early. As a skill, lying seems tied to intelligence. The smarter kids lie earlier and more skillfully. Really smart kids can lie at 2 or 3."), but that they may be learning to lie from their parents! As people of the truth, this is an issue worth considering some honest self-evaluation.

And Terry Mattingly writes an interesting column on adultery, offering some data that hopefully suggests adultery may not be as pervasive as is commonly reported, but still concluding with this disheartening comment: "When it comes to matters of infidelity, Christian Americans act more like Americans than they do like Christians."

The high cost of sexual sin

In preparation for Sunday's sermon, I came across this statement by Derek Kidner about the Biblical reality of what sexual sin is. [All the references are from Proverbs.]

…sexual sin is presented in the darkest colours. It is a squandering of powers that were designed for the founding of a true family that should be one’s own, and close-knit, and divinely blessed (5:9-23). It is an exchange of true intimacy for its parody (5:19, 20), a parting with one’s honour (5:9, 6:33) and liberty (23:27, 28). It is to throw away one’s best years (5:9, 11) and possibly one’s last possessions (29:3; 6:26…). It is to court physical danger and social disgrace (6:26, 32-35); and this is not all. Those who think to explore life this way are flirting with death. It is no mere detour from the best path but, in the fullest sense, a dead-end: ‘for her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the shades; none who go to her come back nor do they regain the paths of life’ (2:18, 19, RSV). To change the figure, it is a sin which sears the sinner inescapably: ‘Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk upon hot coals, and his feet not be scorched?’ (see 6:27-29, 33b).

This is a sobering reminder — another of the kinds of truths that must be our meditation and preoccupation of our hearts as we battle against temptation in its many forms.