Secrets

This is a CBC: The Passionate Eye documentary, originally aired March 21. Based on and inspired by Health Canada's 2002 Canadian Youth, Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Study, it explores today's Canadian teenagers' sexuality through several case studies.

The three primary case studies included: 1) Two girls, 14 and 13, who are close friends and in grade 8 together; 2) 15-year-old bisexual boy and his girlfriend; and 3) a boy and a girl, both 17, who dated for six months before giving each other their virginity.

I found the documentary both tragic and disturbing. Here are these teenagers talking about sex not only outside of marriage, but outside of an emotionally-involved relationship altogether. Young people who no longer value their own virginity, who no longer respect their bodies, or their partners, or future spouse. The sanctity of sex, along with the institution of marriage, has been desecrated in this country.

Two questions are posed to the Christian church: 1) What can we do to reach out to teens who've already sinned sexually, to guide them to Christ, and to help them lead pure, holy Christian lives, without fear of judgment and shame? And 2) What can we do to protect our own teens, to prevent them from sinning sexually and defiling God's temple that is their bodies? Because, believe you me, these problems are much, much closer to home than you might think.

P.S. I guess Wilson put it best in a 7th Heaven episode ("Who Knew?"), when he said, "Some mistakes are like jumping out of a plane: Once you do it you can never take it back. It stays with you forever."

Originally Posted: 15:34 April 25, 2005