What was the headline in the news when I turned on the computer this evening? Britney Spears' 16-year-old sister Jamie Lynn's havin' a baby.
I have to admit, my first thought was, "what is this world coming to?" and my second, like unto it, "what is all of these young famous single people having babies saying to our youth?" But I'm kinda thinking that's the response of the stereo-typical hand wringing, hole yourself up until Jesus comes back or you die kind of Christian I'm really trying not to be.
Purity was not "in" in my day, but the lack of it was still referred to as "promiscuity" and in general, we hid our exploits from parents and friends. Now close encounters are expected if not encouraged by friends and parents alike. We live in a different world, and no amount of bemoaning will change that. So how do we bring the gospel to the kids (and their parents) in our neighborhoods who see these types of extracurricular activity as no different than a game of ping pong? Do we see them as moral pariahs or ripe for the good news?
On the bright side, all these pregnant celebs are, despite many of their political views, practicing pro-lifers. And I guess if it takes Jamie Lynn Spears, Jessica Alba, and Nichole Richie (to name just a few) to reduce the traffic at Planned Parenthood, so be it. Do I think that they're suddenly turning into responsible, self-sacrificing people? Not for a moment. But the obvious search for the next best thing among our idols, be it finding new love or creating new life, seems to be a wide open door for the gospel. We need to be asking Diana Ross's famous question, "do you know where you're going to, do you like the things that life is showing you, where are you going to, do you know?" And we need to have the answer, not only with Bible verses, but with our lives. We can't impart what we don't possess. Christ fills the void that people have tried to fill with love and are now trying to fill with offspring because He restores our broken relationship with our Heavenly Father. I've got the answer, now who'm I gonna tell?
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You know, Saralyn, the church we used to belong to, many years ago, had some kind of epidemic of teen pregnancies. It seemed to go on and on, I could hardly believe it. And it wasn't smiled upon, but it did not stop. It was a difficult issue for me to deal with, I mean wanting to help the girls, but not condone what they did, etc. I'm not sure which is harder to deal with, pregnancy out of wedlock, or gay family members....but love is the same...and that's where you have to start...
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