A recent ruling in Indiana held that sexually graphic pictures posted by school girls on Facebook are considered constitutionally protected speech. As a result, their school could not submit them to discipline for the photos.
The case was decided in court because the ACLU represented the girls to appeal the discipline that he school implemented in 2009. I assume that the parents of the two plaintiffs were in support of the ACLU bringing the case to court.
This morning I read Jeremiah 8:12, where God says through the prophet,
“Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed, Nor did they know how to blush.” The Israelites had lost their sense of shame when they committed indecencies.
Rather than teach the girls that the pictures posted were inappropriate and allowing the girls to face the consequences of a poor choice, seemingly the parents supported the poor choice by electing to go to court. Rather than blushing over their daughters’ indecent behavior, they endorsed it.
The point of this post is not to participate in hang-wringing and finger pointing. The church has done enough of that through the years with little good effect.
The point is that we as Christians need to stop and think about how we contribute to the moral decline in our country. We contribute to the moral decline by not living as if we are created in the image of God and every human life is sacred.
The fact that human life is sacred should play itself out in every aspect of our behavior, not just with regard to procreation and sexuality.
When we think that anyone is beyond God’s redemption we devalue human life. When we ignore injustice we devalue human life. When we support film, television and the arts that depict indecencies and gratuitous violence, we devalue human life. When we think more about our own comfort than the mission God has given us to make disciples, we devalue human life.
What these girls did was wrong and their parents are wrong for supporting them in that behavior. But before we get too exercised about what they have done, we, as the Church, had better make sure that our own house is in order.
I am reminded of a proverb that I first heard from Chuck Colson, “it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
Shine on!