"The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Sex Education in Public Schools, Part II" by Dr. Patti Amsden
Scripture declares that children are the heritage of the Lord (PS. 127:3); therefore, parents have the responsibility to nurture and to train their children in self-governance and personal maturity to enable them to serve the Lord and their fellowman. Training children in personal liability and cultural responsibility in the fear of the Lord should be the goal of the parental oversight. Mature people who function in society to assist in building the culture is a calling known to Christians as the dominion mandate. Reformation lens #1 – Parents are entrusted to bring their children from infancy to maturity, which is the state of full development that enables then to exercise responsible self-government and cultural stewardship.
Everyone is born as a baby. Feeding, protecting, nurturing, training – these and other such jobs are the duties of the caregivers, who are usually the parents of the baby. Releasing the potential within the child is the goal of the development process. Education and training are imparted as is age appropriate. God has hard-wired stages of cognitive development, which means the development of the brain, intelligence, conscious thought, and problem-solving ability, within each child; and that process enables the child to learn and become progressively proficient. That which is learned must be applied, so the parents or their appointed surrogates must also oversee of age-appropriate application of the information. Reformation lens #2 – Age-appropriate information must be put in and drawn out if the education is to be thorough and produce maturity.
If information is given prematurely, it can be harmful to the child. For example, a knife is very useful in the hands of a craftsman or a cook, but that some tool is dangerous to a young child. Parents guard access to instruments, devices, and knowledge until age appropriate. Scripture reveals that the devil and fallen spirits offer information prematurely in an attempt to destroy humanity. The serpent enticed Eve to partake of the Tree of Knowledge while she was immature and inexperienced by suggesting that she should eat and instantly be like god, which indicated that she could avoid the maturation process (Gen. 3:5). The fallen elohim offered sons from the lineage of Cain secret knowledge by which they were enabled to perform pagan worship practices and build destructive practices into culture (Gen. 4:19-24). Reformation lens #3 – The goal of the devil is to kill, steal, and destroy (Jn. 10:10); and some of his tactics to accomplish that goal include giving forbidden, occult knowledge to people or giving information before men have matured and gained wisdom to handle the revealed mystery.
When parents, caregivers, or any child development surrogate presents adult-level information to children who have not yet reached the age-appropriate level to comprehend and apply the information, child abuse occurs. If parents were creating an environment where children could be sexually exploited, subjected to pedophilia, or abused by trafficking, the civil would intervene to protect the child from the inappropriate and damaging actions of the adults who were exploiting the immature. For the civil realm to override the consent of parents or to build sex education materials that are not age-appropriate is intrusive of parental rights and abusive to children’s innocence. Reformation lens #4 –Premature sexualization of prepubescent children is contrary to God’s design and fits within the parameters of the works of the evil one.
As reformers, we must protect the God-given rights of the family to be responsible for the education of their children. We must speak out against the tyranny or overreach of the civil realm whenever the rights of the parents are denied or the indoctrination of the children is contrary to biblical standards. True reformation can not be accomplished in a culture when any sector of the culture is abused by the powerful or the elite. God requires assistance to those in need and protection to those who are vulnerable. No sector of the culture is more vulnerable then the young.
