BARBARA'S

Looking back

When I began my doctoral studies in 1991 HIV/AIDS was still poorly understood. Most of those afflicted were men who were having sex with men, so AIDS was still considered a a gay disease. The folder containing my research on this issue was labelled “Homosexuality/AIDS.” At  the international school our sons attended an  HIV-positive woman was invited to speak at a student assembly to dispel this belief. AIDS-related deaths and hospitalizations in developed countries began to decline in 1995 but by 1999 AIDS was the fourth biggest cause of death in the world and the leading cause of death in Africa. Uganda, Congo, and South Africa were most seriously afflicted. In  Uganda the epidemic was brought under control with the promotion of the ABC strategy, personally promoted and led by the President and his wife:

         A Abstain from sex outside marriage

        B Be faithful in marriage

        C Condom use in risky relationships, as in marriage with an infected spouse

In South Africa, by contrast, the belief was promoted that one could be cured of HIV/AIDS by having sex with a virgin. 

No . . .

When I told my professor that I would like to write my thesis on teen sexuality he suggested that I focus on HIV/AIDS. I declined. I had a deep concern for the teaching on sexuality that young people were receiving — in school sex education programs and in the media, and as far as I could see the church was not providing a biblical view of sexuality and challenging teens to follow God’s design. Nor was the church helping parents to do so.  On a questionnaire completed by 100 teenagers I asked “Which of the following ten topics do you feel your church is not teaching you well enough?” All 100 teens checked two of the topics listed: evolution, and sex. I  wanted to focus on healthy sexuality, based on God’s design for sex and what that meant for teens.

Cape Town 2004

In 2004 i held a seminar at a bible school in Cape Town, South Africa. It was attended by church leaders, untrained pastors in a preaching program by extension, youth leaders, and Sunday School teachers. The bible school was located in the  Cape Flats area of the city of Cape Town, an area  marked by poverty, where in most families both parents needed to work outside the home to make ends meet. Children were left on their own. Planned Parenthood South Africa had initiated LoveLife, a campaign intended to promote responsible sexuality. With its very suggestive bill boards it became just the opposite. Girls in that area didn’t want to be known as virgins, because  of the risk of being raped as a cure for AIDS. The HIV/AIDS infection rate in this area was the highest in South Africa.

From the window of my hotel room (how many floors up?) I had a panoramic view of the Cape Flats.  As I looked out the window the evening before the seminar I prayed that God would do something big for these young people. At the end of the seminar next day I challenged the participants to covenant together to share resources and ideas to help the young people in this area see sex as a beautiful gift from God and help them to save this gift for marriage.

Two years later my husband visited this bible school. He brought back with him a letter from the professor who had organized that seminar, telling me of its continuing impact.  He wrote of the healthy relationships and partnerships that had developed because of the seminar. Most of the attendees had not previously known each other, although they came from the same community, but in coming together they recognized a common plight and ministry need among the churches.  Partnerships were formed between the church leaders, youth leaders, and Sunday School teachers. In cooperation with several other youth agencies and the seminar participants the bible school organized fourteen weeks of bible studies on sexuality for the teens of the Cape Flats.

The result, in the professor’s own words:

This culminated in a huge celebration, with 800 signing a pledge card committing themselves to celibacy until marriage and being adopted by an adult discipler who would “walk” with them, pray with them, and support them until they married.

What next?

I never intended to    write 14 consecutive blog posts on Transgender. But I couldn’t ignore the flood of emails pouring into my Inbox about the astronomical increase in the nunber of teens, especially teen girls, seeking “affirmation health care” for their self-diagnosed gender dysphoria; the eagerness of health care professionals to start them on the pathway to social, medical, and often surgical transition; the videos of detransitioners who had begun  transitioning and were now stuck for the rest of their lives with physical characteristics of the opposite sex and may never be able to have their own biological child. I was learning that personal friends who were counselors were being required to undergo “reeducation” to approve of all this, and of  acquaintances whose children were transitioning. And I was astounded at how many people I know are totally unaware of what is happening. So I kept writing post after post.

As I kept writing, however, I was remembering my initial goal: to promote healthy sexuality according to God’s design, instead of focusing on HIV/AIDS. And I remembered how my daring prayer in Cape Town and my challenge to a group o concerned leaders of widely varied backgrounds who did not even know each other. God wonderfully blessed by multiplying their offerings, as in the miracle of the lloaves and fishes when they were offered to Jesus (Matthew 14:13-21).

It’s time now to focus again on teaching children and teens the biblical truth about their bodies, about God’s beautiful gift of sex and what it is for, and how much God loves them, while at the same time learning how to walk alongside and help those who are struggling with gender confusion and other serious problems.

What part is the Holy Spirit prompting you to play in this task?