Middle school. Those were the days right? Some people consider middle school to be some of the greatest days of their lives! In middle school, many teenagers find themselves to be “maturing” in mind and body but with all these new found feelings and thoughts just what exactly are the results of them?
As we [hopefully] know, the world in which we live in today is not the world it was 80 years or so ago. In the 1920’s, for the average person, the conclusion can be drawn that self-respect, morality, and modesty were some very focused on issues. People took pride in the fact that their skirts came down to their ankles, or that they were waiting for marriage to have sex; but now we look at the world today and these things are hardly seen! Marketing thrives off of the immodesty of the body and its lasciviousness. Just driving down the highway to work you’re sure to see a billboard, sign, or other advertisement with some sort of sensually perverse image or phrase; and as we are thinking about this, what has happened to self respect? Does it even exist? What self-respecting person would dress in shorts (that might as well be underwear), low-cut or see-through shirts, or (more commonly seen now) nude and take pictures that they know are going to be posted for millions of people to see? God made the body as a temple; and how are you respecting God’s temple if you are portraying it for the whole world to see? Our bodies are gifts from God and they are being treated like absolute garbage and being plastered on billboards for everyone to see.
Another issue today is sex; and thanks to many producers it is everywhere. You can turn on the TV and watch sex, turn on the radio and listen to sex, go on the internet and look at sex, and that is just the beginning. What happened to sex being a special, intimate bond between two married people. Sex is for marriage. That is the way it was intended by God, it is His gift to married couples and it is not something to be done just for “pleasure” or “entertainment”, yet that is what it has been turned into. Going back to the topic of middle school, sex has even invaded our schools. You can walk into a middle school with 12-14 year olds, take a survey, and there will be at least 10 people who have had/ or committed sexual acts. That’s sad isn’t? 12-14? Merely children. How would they even know what love is? But then again children these days think they know everything. Love is something that cannot be understood until one has reached an age of maturity that is definitely not acquired in middle school; and here we are today with teenagers having sex left and right. And sadder still, most of the world doesn’t frown upon it. How can you not frown upon such an act? What happened to striving for purity and virginity? Personally, I intend to stick to the plan God has designed. Not to mention all the risks people take when they have sex before marriage…STDs, pregnancy, depression, etc. Why not eliminate the risks all together? Why not wait until marriage and commit this act of true love as God intended it?
Too many people today are soiling their bodies. They wear immodest clothing to attract unnecessary attention, they have lost respect for their bodies, they have no wish for purity and morality. What has the world come to? In order to fit in we must violate ourselves and grow up too fast? And not to mention disobey God in all this…I think I’ll sit this one out and “go against the flow” because if I have to dishonor myself to be with the “in crowd” I would much rather be in the “out crowd” and live a more pleasing life to God.
-Laura Jane.
