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There's far too much sex and violence available to our
children today. Appropriate steps must be taken to shield our
young ones from these dangerous influences. Fortunately Congress
and the President have signed into legislation a bill allowing
parents to block sex and violence from their television sets.
It's called the V-Chip, and it lets parents put an electronic
lock on the tube.
Unfortunately the V-Chip doesn't go far enough. For sex
and violence permeate much more than our TV sets. It's in our
schools, our libraries, our homes, and even in our churches. And
not only is it available in all these places, it comes to our
kids through the very books we want our children to read. And
even more unfortunate is the fact that one of the worst offenders
is our beloved Bible.
It's hard to believe that the same book from which our
parents read us bedtime stories could hold such damaging
contents. The very book used in churches and Sunday school
classes around the world includes some of the worst cases of sex
and violence in written form.
But it's true. It's also rather amazing that this source
of negative influence on our children has been overlooked for so
long. A considerable amount of effort has gone into banning such
books as "The Diary of Anne Frank" for its author's sexual
comments, and the "To Kill a Mockingbird" for its discussion of
violent rape. Many other books have rightfully been banned or
exposed for their violence, murder, and cruelty -- all things we
must keep from youthful eyes. And yet the Bible, full of the very
same demented activity, has yet to be exposed.
Consider the following examples:
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"Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of
your youth, as a long hind and a graceful doe, let her
breasts satisfy you at all times."
- Proverbs 5:18-19
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"Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like
its clusters. I said, 'I will climb the palm tree. I will
take hold of its fruit stalks.' Oh may your breasts be like
clusters of the vine and the fragrance of your breath like
apples."
- Song of Solomon 7:7-8
Here we have blatant sexuality. The author, in both cases
Solomon, talks about the delight of grabbing a woman's breasts,
and not just grabbing, but being continually satisfied by them.
But this is mild compared to these following verses.
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"Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked
around on the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he
saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in
appearance. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And
one said, 'Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the
wife of Uriah the Hittite?' And David sent messengers and
took her, and when she came to him, he lay with her; and
when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she
returned to her house. And the woman conceived, and she sent
and told David, and said, 'I am pregnant.'"
- 2 Samuel 11:1-5
This is outrageous. In it we find nudity, covetousness,
forced sex and illegitimate pregnancy. No one in their right mind
would expose their children to these disgusting activities, and
yet we can find even more despicable sexual activity if we look a
bit further.
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"There were two women, the daughters of one mother; and they
played the harlot in Egypt. They played the harlot in their
youth; there their breasts were pressed, and there their
virgin bosom was handled.... she lusted after her lovers...
and she bestowed her harlotries on them, all of whom were
the choicest men of Assyria.... for in her youth men had
lain with her, and they handled her virgin bosom and poured
out their lust on her.... And she lusted after their
paramours, whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys and
whose issue is like the issue of horses."
- Ezekiel 23:1-20
Frivolous sex. Blatant lust. Prostitution. And a very
risque description of some rather "large" men pouring
out horse-like qantities of their "lust" on these women. Do we want our
children
reading this kind of trashy material? I should think not, seeing how so
much energy has gone into keeping this type of degenerate
material out of our schools. And yet the Bible is rife with
crazed women who blatantly ask for sex. Take a look.
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"And it came about after these events that his master's wife
looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, 'Lie with me.'
But he refused.... And she caught him by his garment,
saying, 'Lie with me!' And he left his garment in her hand
and fled, and went outside. When she saw he had left his
garment in her hand and had fled outside, she called to the
men of her household, and said to them, 'See, he has brought
in a Hebrew to us to make sport of us; he came in to me to
lie with me, and I screamed, And it came about when he heard
that I raised my voice and screamed, that he left his
garment beside me and fled, and went outside.'"
- Genesis 39:7-15
Not only does this married woman outright ask for extra-
marital sex, she accuses an innocent man of rape when he refuses.
Disgusting. But not as disgusting as what happened to Lot.
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"And Lot went up to Zoar, and stayed in the mountains, and
his two daughters with him.... Then the firstborn said to
the younger, 'Our father is old, and there is not a man on
earth to come in to us after the manner of the earth. Come,
let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him,
that we may preserve our family through our father.' So they
made their father drink wine that night, and the first-born
went in and lay with her father; and he did not know when
she lay down or when she arose. And it came about on the
morrow, that the first-born said to the younger, 'Behold, I
lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine
tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, that we may
preserve our family through our father.' So they made their
father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and
lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when
she arose. Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by
their father."
- Genesis 19:30-36
These women don't just ask for sex. They take it. Through
a form of rape, these women get their own father drunk and then
sleep with him. Their own father. With so much sexual abuse
within families these days, why would we ever let our children be
exposed to such incestuous debauchery. And yet sad to say, there
are even worse activities described in this most easily
accessible book:
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"Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of
Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the
people from every quarter; and they called to Lot and said
to him, 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring
them out to us that we may have intercourse with them.' But
Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door
behind him, and said, 'Please, my brothers, do not act
wickedly. Now behold, I have two daughters who have not had
relations with a man; please let me bring them out to you,
and do to them whatever you like...'"
- Genesis 19:4-8
Do we really want our young to get their hands on such a
story? Here we find a city full of homosexual men bent on raping
two male visitors. And what's worse, in order to stave off their
advances, the host of the two visitors offers his virgin
daughters to be raped and abused by these disgusting men.
But as despicable as that is, it's nothing compared to this next story, found right inside the Bible where any unsuspecting child might accidentally stumble across it, and read it:
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"While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, 'Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him.' The owner of the house went outside and said to them, 'No, my friends, don't be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don't do this disgraceful thing. Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But to this man, don't do such a disgraceful thing.' But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight. When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. He said to her, 'Get up; let's go.' But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home. When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel."
- Judges 19:22-29
What kind of lesson is being taught here? What kind of good can be derived from this filth? A man who is afraid to stand up for himself hands over his female servant to a gang of rapists, who abuse her all night, and in the morning he then takes her home and cuts her into pieces with a knife? Later in the story the man states he cut her up because she had been defiled. Of course she was defiled! He gave her over to rapists to save his own butt, literally. And this is the kind of role models we want our children to follow?
We must not let our children be exposed to such blatant
sexual material as listed above. But as we've just seen, this is only half the
problem.
The amount of violence that permeates the Bible is
astonishing. Verse after verse we find murder, torture and
dismemberment. Why only four chapters into the book our children
are exposed to such influences:
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"And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain
rose up against Abel his brother and killed him... Then the
Lord said to Cain, 'Where is Abel your brother?' And he
said, 'I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?' And He
said, 'What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood
is crying to Me from the ground. And now you are cursed from
the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your
brother's blood from your hand.'"
- Genesis 4:8-11
But describing this bloodletting in Genesis is nothing
compared to the gruesome events in King David's life:
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"Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a
stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him; but
there was no sword in David's hand. Then David ran and stood
over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of
its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it."
- 1 Samuel 17:50-51
Using the V-Chip, programs like Highlander -- where the
bad guys get their heads cut off -- would be blocked from the
innocent eyes of our children. And yet the same explicit violence
springs forth from the pages of our Bibles. What's worse, the
Bible describes how people reveled in the killings. Consider this
verse that describes why the people wanted David, rather than
Saul, to be their king:
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"Is this not David, of whom they sing in the dances saying,
'Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten
thousands'?"
- 1 Samuel 29:5
What kind of message does this send to our kids, where
people glorify killing, and crown as their king the person
responsible for the most violence. In yet another part of the
Bible we see David again resort to violence to further his
schemes:
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"Now it came about in the morning that David wrote a letter
to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he had
written in the letter, saying 'Place Uriah at the front line
of the fiercest battle and withdraw from him, so that he may
be struck down and die.' So it was as Joab kept watch on the
city, that he put Uriah at the place where he knew there
were valiant men. And the men of the city went out and
fought against Joab and some of the people among David's
servants fell; and Uriah the Hittite also died."
- 2 Samuel 11:14-17
As we remember, David had raped another man's wife and got
her pregnant. But rather than rectify the situation, David
instead has her husband deliberately killed.
And what about other violent activity? Should we not be
banning dismemberment along with murder? And yet right here we
clearly see dismemberment displayed in its gory detail before our
children's eyes:
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"And I will set My jealousy against you, that they may deal
with you in wrath. They will remove your nose and your ears;
and your survivors will fall by the sword. They will take
your sons and your daughters; and your survivors will be
consumed by the fire."
- Ezekiel 23:25
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"And behold, one of those where were with Jesus reached and
drew out his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest,
and cut off his ear."
- Matthew 26:51
How can we sit by and allow our children to be exposed to
this violence? How can we agree to turn our backs while our young
read of ears and noses violently being cut off? Think of the
nightmares we might cause them if this material gets into their
hands. And what horrendous nightmares indeed might plague our
kids if they got a hold of the following verses?
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"And when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he
became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children
who were in Bethlehem and in all its environs, from two
years old and under...."
- Matthew 2:16
Consider the impact on our very young upon reading about
all the boys under the age of two being systematically murdered.
The thought is unimaginable. It should be banned outright, kept
far away from the eyes of innocent children. But no, it's out
there, in our homes, churches, and even given away for free in
hotel rooms across the nation. Stories like this are blatantly
lying around waiting for our young to stumble across them:
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"And when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and
danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests; and the
king said to the girl, 'Ask me for whatever you want and I
will give it to you...' And she came in haste before the
king and asked, saying, 'I want you to give me right away
the head of John the Baptist on a platter....' And
immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded him
to bring back his head. And he went and beheaded him in the
prison, and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to
the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother."
- Mark 6:22-29
I would never let my child watch such disgusting material
on TV, and yet here it is, a young woman asking for and receiving
a man's severed head on a plate so she can give it as a present
to her mother. I would never let my child watch gang violence
either, and yet we find it in the pages of the New Testament:
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"And when they had driven him out of the city, they began
stoning him, and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the
feet of a young man named Saul. And they went on stoning
Stephen as he called up the Lord and said, 'Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit!'"
- Acts 7:58-59
Such street brutality -- where an innocent man is
violently killed as others either participate or casually watch -
- is causing our kids to become desensitized to the dangers of
violence. This type of material is damaging the very fabric of
our nation. It is tearing apart our families and our communities.
We must do everything possible to remove this offensive writing
from our children's eyes. Since we know that viewing violence
causes kids to become violent themselves, why on earth would we
want them to read the following?
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"And they dressed Him up in purple and after weaving a crown
of thorns, they put it on Him....And they kept beating His
head with a reed, and spitting at Him.... And they led Him
out to crucify Him."
- Mark 15:16-17
Do we really need to read such graphic details? Do we
really need to have the image of someone being beaten, spit on,
mocked, and killed presented to our young people? What possible
purpose does reading such graphic material serve? What possible
good could come from exposing ourselves and our kids to this
violence?
Finally, in support of my earlier assertion that the Bible
is one of the most violent books ever written, consider this last
quote:
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"And all flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and
cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarmed upon
the earth, and all mankind; of all that was on the dry land,
all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life,
died. Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon
the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things
and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the
earth..."
- Genesis 7:21-23
Move over Terminator and Natural Born Killers. You're
nothing compared to the amount of destruction in the Bible. In
this verse God kills just about every living thing, going so far
as to describe the outright murder of those in "whose nostrils
was the breath of the spirit of life."
It's time to remove this sexually explicit and violent
material from our kids' eyes. What the V-Chip does for TV, we
must do for the material our children read. And this one book, as
we've clearly seen from the above quotes, is one of the worst
offenders, not only because of the level of sexually deviant and
violent activity, but because it is so widespread.
We must eradicate this sex and violence from our
bookshelves. We must be diligent in keeping the influence of such
unwholesomeness from getting into the hands of our children. We
must ask ourselves what possible good this debase material might
have. In light of all the research indicating that exposure to
such imagery can damage our children and tear apart the fabric of
our families and our nation, we should be doing everything
possible to save our children from its despicable influence.
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