Noteworthy News. . .Even If It Infuriates You

This is one of those days where I already have a headache, but then when I look in the news, I find these infuriating stories:

NIH Spends $178,000 to Study Why Prostitutes in Thailand Have High HIV Risk

My retirement money is being spent to study transgendered prostitutes in Thailand who, because of their Buddhist faith, are particularly unphased by the possibility of contracting HIV (which they do). . .and the government wants to spend your tax dollars to figure out why.

Red Hot Lies About Global Warming (”How Global Warming Alarmists Use Threats, Fraud, and Deception to Keep You Misinformed”)

More and more well-researched people are coming forward and telling the public that global warming is not only a myth and hoax, but a strategic effort on the part of many to expand government and take more of your money (and in some cases, pay these global warming alarmist quite well).

Priceless

I’m reading of a 22 year old woman who is auctioning off her virginity in Nevada, only one of two states in the U.S. where prostitution is legal.  And isn’t that really what this is?  Prostitution. Apparently, the online bidding is up to $3.7 million. 

Let me begin with the obvious.  Who are these people that are eager to corrupt something that should be kept special?  What about the fact that this money could be put to much better use in this economy—charity, church, or a woman’s shelter?  Can I get past my fury at this woman for cheapening something so sacred in order to be even more outraged at what this says about our culture?

Actually, this is no surprise to me.  We have numbed ourselves to sin.  We instinctively want to run from taking responsibility for our choices so we simply call it something else.  With regards to this particular woman, or other prostitutes, we say, “Oh, she is just wounded from her childhood.  Her father must not have been around.“  Or about the men who seek what she offers?  “Well, they have a sex addiction and they need help.”  This is not to throw away compassionate care of those who truly need guidance, but aren’t we also a bit desensitized to what the Bible clearly calls sin?

We have numbed ourselves to what tears apart the human spirit, morality, and the family.  We are overexposed to those things and we are not protecting ourselves from what infiltrates and corrupts our mind.  The fact that our culture is becoming increasingly more accepting of this young woman’s proposition is disheartening.  We laugh it off.  We see it as a joke.  But do we see it as an indication of just how far this world has turned from biblical values and virtues?

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death”  (Proverbs 14:12).  Our culture thinks that there is little sacred about intimacy anymore.  God’s design is considered prudish and out-dated.  Immorality is the essential ingredient in all the sitcoms and dramas on television lately.  When was the last time you saw a show that didn’t have sexual immorality, or the suggestion of it, woven throughout?  We believe that we are obligated to feed our feelings what they desire regardless of right or wrong.  (Whatever you do, do not exercise self-control.)  We’ve bought into the world system of belief that only the things that are wrong for you are immoral.  And as we follow that way “that seems right to a man,” we are blinded to the fact (or maybe we see it clearly) that it will lead to death—emotional, spiritual, and sometimes, even physical.  Aren’t we just living for the moment, with no regard for the future?

“They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.  Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more” (Ephesians 4:18-19).  These are the end days.  This Nevada virgin does not realize that what she is auctioning off is a gift from God, to be treasured and not cheapened.  It is priceless, doesn’t she care?

Or maybe she’s just reflecting the world we live in.