Parents are soon to face yet another choice that will involve a serious moral dilemma. A vaccination for the human papilloma virus is expected to be available in late 2006 from Merck & Company. The virus called HPV causes genital warts and cervical cancer. It can also be passed to babies and can cause serious life threatening problems. The American Academy of Pediatrics is pushing for a nationwide vaccination program among teens to fight the virus. At first glance, protecting our children from disease seems like a good thing. However, it’s worth looking at it from a different angle. Any vaccination has risks associated with it. By inoculating every child, we are assuming that every teenager will be immoral and therefore must be vaccinated. Isn’t there way to protect our children from HPV that doesn’t involve a risk? Wait a minute, there is! It is teaching, encouraging and promoting abstinence on the grounds that it can and will save your life.
Our awesome God has set moral limits because He loves us and wants us to live full and meaningful lives. Honesty and candor concerning sexual decisions have never been more necessary among parents and teenagers.
The brave thing is taking the time to talk and inform our kids, not taking a chance on a vaccination. If we continue to assume animal-like behavior, our children will not know the power they have to
choose to live moral lives. They will miss an essential struggle in
the human growth process called maturity.
- Reference: Wall Street Journal, November 30, 2005
2 comments:
I agree with the minister 100%. All of us know that if you talk to good kids about abstinence you can be absolutely certain that they will be able to overcome incredible biological urges and peer pressure. It is well worth the gamble to not have our girls take this shot and risk disease because we know they listen to our pleas for abstinence and fully comply.
In response to the "tongue in cheek" issued by anonymous. I do not for a moment believe that all of the "good" kids will adhere to the concept of abstinence, just as I do not believe all of the "bad" kids won't. I also do not ascribe to the concept that Pastor Ed was making any claims such as those. I believe he was stating that we should not "jump on the vaccination" bandwagon quickly and blindly like a bunch of lemmings. If we have faith in our belief structure and the strength to use it as we should, then we can impart that to our children and avoid exposing them to yet another "miracle of science" which may or may not be a viable physical alternative for everyone. Just take a look at Vioxx .......
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