Well after my post “Coming of Age” the Feds logged my IP and that led them to my compound in Texas.
Ok, not really, but I didn’t want the point I was trying to make to get blurred with the Warren Jeffs craziness that is happening in Texas. For the record, I don’t advocate teenagers having sex although to some degree it should be expected. I also don’t advocate pre-marital sex, so unless I’m advocating marrying teens and preteens, you can’t make the connection.
Which leads me to Jeffs. What they’re doing is wrong. My point about teenagers being mature enough to be held accountable spiritually also means they’re mature enough to be held accountable sexually, but our culture has drawn an artificial line on what is considered sexually appropriate. Now we have to be careful in defining what is acceptable based on social norms, especially with the growing acceptance of homosexuality. But as Christians, we are also required to follow the law of the land unless it violates God’s sovereign will. And presently, that means there are age limitations on when consensual sex is acceptable and also how marriage is defined.
The Fundamental Church of Latter Day Saints is outdated and anathema to the Mormon church. But are their First Amendment rights to worship as they please being infringed upon by their children being taken away? Maybe. You could argue that we still have to follow the law of the land as stated above, but the courts have allowed peyote to be used in Native American worship and there are some “churches” out there who are trying to use that argument to justify smoking pot. How is this different? Technically it’s not. But sex is more taboo in our culture than drug use, despite its glorification in our media. But that taboo is becoming less and less so as our culture advances.
The First Century Church was considered a cult because they didn’t follow the social norms of Rome with regards to monogamy and child rearing. But the Church didn’t change and the culture eventually did. We can only hope and pray the same comes true today, but we’re up against long odds. We need to define our behavior, not by the culture but by the Bible. And in Jeffs‘ case, there’s no Biblical justification for their lifestyle. So for that, they should be shunned both by the mainstream culture and by the mainstream christian church.