Is there no one in New Zealand who is a good influence? I feel quite alone here currently, for I have met very few souls that share in the joy of knowing God. The population of people who seek truth must be quite small here. Every person I ask is not seeking to know God or even slightly interested in the notion as far as I can tell.
There was one boy who told me about his church, but it was far too distant for walking. Even the Christians on campus have their theology a bit off. I’m not sure how far off they are from the Truth; all I can tell is they definitely don’t have it pinpointed.
The moral code slacks in a number of ways. Pre-marital sex is taught everywhere. I was required to attend a long meeting today with 200 18-year-olds, centered around familiarizing yourself with sex, sexuality and your alcohol tolerance level.
At the end of the lecture, the woman leading it said, “It is ok to not experiment if you don’t want to.” But then she said, “I only say that because your parents pay me to.” And then she laughed, along with the rest of the group.
What is even more ironic to me is that the beginning of the lecture started with a quote from a bicentennial scholar that said something like (and I am stretching here to paraphrase) “Where is our youth heading? When I was young, we respected our elders. But today – the youth is impatient with obedience and lacks in knowledge and wisdom.” I just thought it quite odd to talk about youth as being ignorant and reckless and then to teach them about their sexuality out of a right and good context.
For the leaders of this country, I would suspect it a red flag that they have one of the highest rates of teen pregnancies as well as STD’s (especially Chlamydia). Can they not see that their sex-education is faulty? I think a big part of the problem is that they focus on it too much. I mean…a two-hour lecture. Really? Can they not see that the more they talk about it, the more these young adults get interested and want to experiment? Whereas American schools don’t teach sex-ed at all – New Zealand schools teach about it too much. I don’t know which one is worse. New Zealand, thus far, has proven to be a pleasure-seeking culture and not a God-seeking culture.
I am not so sure everyone buys into this backwards “pleasure first” teaching though: one of the girls sitting next to me told me that at least three of her good friends (who are no older than 18) have had abortions. I told her that truly broke my heart for her friends and their unborn children and she just looked at me and said, “I know. Me too.”
Abortions are actually part of the medical insurance plan here at the University of Waikato. Yes, you read that correctly – abortions here are FREE. Encouraged rather. Think of all those lives that will never see the light of day. Stripped of the chance to know the light here on earth.
I am truly crushed by everything that is surrounding me right now. But God gives me hope – and I pray that He can use me as a tool to reveal Himself to others as well as continue to reveal Himself to me. I pray all this in your name God. Bring your truth and your light to this culture. Expose the emptiness of these faulty teachings, my Lord. And use me all you want to do it – I could not be happier to serve you. I cannot wait to see what you have in mind…
Amen.
There was one boy who told me about his church, but it was far too distant for walking. Even the Christians on campus have their theology a bit off. I’m not sure how far off they are from the Truth; all I can tell is they definitely don’t have it pinpointed.
The moral code slacks in a number of ways. Pre-marital sex is taught everywhere. I was required to attend a long meeting today with 200 18-year-olds, centered around familiarizing yourself with sex, sexuality and your alcohol tolerance level.
At the end of the lecture, the woman leading it said, “It is ok to not experiment if you don’t want to.” But then she said, “I only say that because your parents pay me to.” And then she laughed, along with the rest of the group.
What is even more ironic to me is that the beginning of the lecture started with a quote from a bicentennial scholar that said something like (and I am stretching here to paraphrase) “Where is our youth heading? When I was young, we respected our elders. But today – the youth is impatient with obedience and lacks in knowledge and wisdom.” I just thought it quite odd to talk about youth as being ignorant and reckless and then to teach them about their sexuality out of a right and good context.
For the leaders of this country, I would suspect it a red flag that they have one of the highest rates of teen pregnancies as well as STD’s (especially Chlamydia). Can they not see that their sex-education is faulty? I think a big part of the problem is that they focus on it too much. I mean…a two-hour lecture. Really? Can they not see that the more they talk about it, the more these young adults get interested and want to experiment? Whereas American schools don’t teach sex-ed at all – New Zealand schools teach about it too much. I don’t know which one is worse. New Zealand, thus far, has proven to be a pleasure-seeking culture and not a God-seeking culture.
I am not so sure everyone buys into this backwards “pleasure first” teaching though: one of the girls sitting next to me told me that at least three of her good friends (who are no older than 18) have had abortions. I told her that truly broke my heart for her friends and their unborn children and she just looked at me and said, “I know. Me too.”
Abortions are actually part of the medical insurance plan here at the University of Waikato. Yes, you read that correctly – abortions here are FREE. Encouraged rather. Think of all those lives that will never see the light of day. Stripped of the chance to know the light here on earth.
I am truly crushed by everything that is surrounding me right now. But God gives me hope – and I pray that He can use me as a tool to reveal Himself to others as well as continue to reveal Himself to me. I pray all this in your name God. Bring your truth and your light to this culture. Expose the emptiness of these faulty teachings, my Lord. And use me all you want to do it – I could not be happier to serve you. I cannot wait to see what you have in mind…
Amen.
1 comments:
As I have read your blog posts numerous times....I am amazed at Satan's pull on youth. I find myself wondering over and over again WHY? Why free abortions? Why the lack of moral code? Why the lack of Truth? WHY?!
Oh my, Lise....this just breaks my heart. My heart just weeps for the people there that don't even know what destruction is. Ya know? It's like drug addicts...where everyone can see the outward display of the wretchedness of drugs in their lives, but the drug addict doesn't see, nor does he/she care to notice. The sin here with drug addicts, as well as the people down there, is not negligence, but APATHY.
I think that this sin particularly is a prime tool of the enemy against God. If God is a God of care, concern, love, justice....then the opposite of God would be something that fails to care at all. The lack of care, concern, love, justice...etc. Does that make sense?
To think....that our generation could be apathetic to Truth....there's nothing more that breaks my heart.
I was told not too long ago that if you were confused about what to do with your life the answer to your problem is simple. Ask yourself this one question: what breaks your heart? What breaks your heart, Lise?
Apathy breaks my heart....but WHO is apathetic? Our generation (as well as teenagers). And you wonder why the Lord gave me a love for teens.... they break my heart. Everything in me breaks over their lack of knowledge, lack of concern, the lies they believe, but most importantly....that what they seek/the wrong answers to their problems are not real solutions....that Jesus Christ is the only solution. So, Lord willing....I want to tell them all about Jesus.
Tell those Kiwis about Jesus, Lise.
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