Parents, are you aware that the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation is warning parents, educators, caregivers, teens, and children about the growing tide of online dangers that they say may lead to the solicitation and enticement of minors to engage in sexual acts. Known as “sextortion”, this danger involves a perpetrator coercing a minor to create and send sexually explicit material. If the perpetrator gets the sexually explicit material, they will then threaten to release those pictures online unless the victim produces more of the same, or unless the victim sends a payment often in gift cards, wire transfers, mobile payment services, or cryptocurrency. Sextortion victims are most often males between the ages of fourteen and seventeen, but anyone of any age or gender can become a victim. Parents, teach your kids to never engage in online communication with someone they don’t know, and teach them God’s good design for the sacred gift of their sexuality.

One of the most beautiful and telling aspects of the Genesis Creation narrative relates to the importance of relationships. In Genesis one twenty-six we read these words, “Then God said, ‘Let US make man in OUR image.” The God who created human beings as the crowning point of creation is a trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And out of that divine relationship comes the creation of those who God said later in Genesis 2:18, “It is not good that the man should be alone.” Relationships are a key part of our humanity. We are made for them, and it is reasonable to assume that without them, our flourishing and well-being are undermined. Because of that, it’s not surprising that scientists at the University of Cambridge have discovered that teens who spend time alone in their rooms, even while relating to others online, are actually isolated in ways that lead to excessive worry, feeling unsafe, and lonely. Your kids need flesh and blood social interaction. They’ve been made for it.

Russell Kirk was a twentieth century social critic who back in 1992 said something very important regarding the changes taking place in culture as it slides further and further into secularism, and what needs to take place. Kirk said, “If a culture is to survive and flourish, it must not be severed from the religious vision out of which it arose. The high necessity of reflective man and women, then, is to labor for the restoration of religious teachings as a credible body of doctrine. America as we know it cannot survive without biblical Christianity. The rights we cherish, the freedoms we enjoy, the ideals we all love together – all are rooted in and sustained by the tradition of the Bible. Christianity is the electric current of our national life. Turn it off, and the light will fade.” Parents and youth workers, it begins with all of us studying and knowing the truths of God’s Word. Then, we must be committed to teaching and telling the truth to our kids, all the time!