from the Viewpoint column of the Christian Research Journal, Winter 1992, page 29. The Editor-in-Chief of the Christian Research Journal is Elliot Miller.
Quite a few years have passed since the advent of the sexual revolution in the 1960s, with its promise of "open relationships" and "free love." And, though the revolution continues to rage on many fronts, we now stand in a position to assess accurately and evaluate critically the battle casualties. Consider these alarming national figures:
- One out of four new mothers is unmarried.
- 1.5 million abortions are performed each year in the U.S. alone.
- Presently, one million teenagers become pregnant every year. Teenage births have reached their highest level in fifteen years.
- 54 percent of High School youths have had sex, and there are a reported 2.5 million cases of sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers every year.
- 500,000 cases of incurable genital herpes are reported every year, along with 1.4 million cases of gonorrhea, 130,000 cases of syphilis, 4 million cases of chlamydia, and 300,000 cases of hepatitis B.
As shocking as these statistics are, the situation becomes even more alarming when the crisis of AIDS is brought into the picture. For example, there are approximately one million Americans and eleven million individuals worldwide infected with the AIDS virus. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that "the number of infected people will soar to 40 million, including 10 million children, by the end of the decade."[1] In the United States alone, the current accumulative death toll from AIDS -- about 120,000 -- is higher than the number of lives claimed by the Korean and Vietnam wars combined.
It is projected that "more Americans will die of AIDS in the next two years than have died in the past 10," as the disease's rate of spread continues to accelerate.[2] It's no wonder why Dr. Ward Cates, formerly of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), said the following about AIDS: "Anyone who has the least ability to look into the future can already see that the potential for this disease is worse than anything mankind has seen before."[3]
The greatest tragedy, however, is that while tens of millions worldwide are dying from this dreaded pandemic, we continue to run from the God who holds the solution. Rather than facing squarely the root problem of sin (the underlying moral disease), we continue instead to gaze helplessly at its ripened fruit. Instead of "repent and return to biblical morality," "safe sex" is chosen as the slogan for the campaign against AIDS, a campaign humankind cannot afford to lose. Consequently, the public marches onward -- misguidedly believing that its catchy rhetoric and latex solutions can more than adequately thwart the danger at hand.
While abstinence is conveniently written off as a mere pipe dream, condoms are vigorously championed as the best "realistic" line of defense against AIDS -- despite an estimated failure rate ranging from 1.5 to 10 percent (with some placing the figure as high as 36 percent). It is noteworthy that a recently released CDC study conducted at New York clinics reports that "21 percent of females with sexually transmitted diseases said that their partners used condoms regularly."[4] It is thus not surprising to find one journalist concluding that "fighting AIDS with condoms is like fighting lung cancer with filter tips."[5]
Worse still, as we witness the steady collapse of our health care system, many are attempting to transform AIDS from the species-threatening pandemic that it is to a civil rights issue. Looking downward rather than upward, they point to education and economic resources as "the solution" -- which is the rationale behind turning our schools into condom distribution centers. And all the while, they continue to perpetuate the myth that homosexuality is a viable alternative lifestyle.
Is there a solution to the AIDS crisis, this deadly fruit of the sexual revolution? As unwilling as the secularists may be to hear it, the answer is Jesus Christ. Only He can transform the human heart and thus save humankind from hedonism and HIV, and, more importantly, from humankind's greater moral disease of sin (Isa. 53:4-6; 1 Pet. 2:24). Only by returning to biblical morality can Americans hope to reverse the spiraling statistics cited above.
As followers of Christ, we ought to fall on our knees and intercede for America and the world, as Abraham did for Sodom and Gomorrah. Now is the time for Christians to become equipped to expose the farce of the sexual revolution and communicate the truth of a Creator God who wrote the manual on life and living -- the Bible. Now is the time to look at AIDS patients as a mission field, people for whom Christ died. It is time to realize that the very future of our nation (and planet) depends upon our willingness to cooperate with the Great Physician, Jesus Christ.
The big push for safe sex and condoms is but an illusory placebo for a very real and dangerous threat. And unless a sober plea for a permanent solution is voiced, we can only expect the situation to worsen. As Christians, it is incumbent upon us to shake the world from its fanciful complacency and turn its attention back to the One who offers the only true and lasting answer. With 12 million cases of sexually transmitted diseases occurring every year in the U.S. alone, commentator Cal Thomas's conclusion, reflecting biblical morality, is right on target: "Free love is a free ride to destruction."[6]
Lawrence K. Altman, "Tests of AIDS Vaccine Scheduled to Begin in
Two Years in Four Countries," New York Times, 11 November 1991,
A5.
2 Jerry Adler, "Safer Sex," Newsweek, 9 December 1991, 58.
3 Cited in David Chilton, Power in the Blood (Brentwood, TN:
Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, 1987), 5.
4 EP News Service, 29 November 1991, 6.
5 Joseph Sobran, "Virtue Is Practical and Desirable," Conservative
Chronicle, 27 November 1991, 1.
6 Cal Thomas, "Free Love Is a Free Ride to Destruction," Los
Angeles Times, 11 November 1991, B11.
End of document, CRJ0130A.TXT (original CRI file name),
"AIDS: The Ripened Fruit of the Sexual Revolution"
release A, July 31, 1994
R. Poll, CRI
A special note of thanks to Bob and Pat Hunter for their help in the preparation of this ASCII file for BBS circulation.
Copyright 1994 by the Christian Research Institute.
COPYRIGHT/REPRODUCTION LIMITATIONS:
If you desire to reproduce less than 500 words of this data file
for resale or the enhancement of any other product for resale,
please give the following source credit: Copyright 1994 by the
Christian Research Institute, P.O. Box 7000, Rancho Santa
Margarita, CA 92688-7000.
This data file is the sole property of the Christian Research
Institute. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may
be reproduced only in its entirety for circulation as "freeware,"
without charge. All reproductions of this data file must contain
the copyright notice (i.e., "Copyright 1994 by the Christian
Research Institute"). This data file may not be used without the
permission of the Christian Research Institute for resale or the
enhancement of any other product sold. This includes all of its
content with the exception of a few brief quotations not to
exceed more than 500 words.
P.O. Box 7000
Rancho Santa Margarita
California 92688-7000
Visit CRI International Official Web Site:
