A Near-100% Guarantee on Preventing STDs

Despite being sexually active for over two decades,—I know, “TMI,” but you can hardly discuss sex and not have a little “TMI”—my wife and I have never spent even five seconds worrying about, or one dime preventing or treating an STD. This is chiefly due to the fact that our sexual activity exactly corresponds to our marriage years. We’re teaching our four children—ages 9, 12, 14, and 16—that if they conduct themselves similarly, they too will never have to ponder preventing or treating an STD.

For us, “conducting themselves similarly” means adhering to what God has said about sexual behavior. Namely, that the only rightful place for sex is within marriage. And marriage (How tragic that this even has to be said!) is ONLY the lifetime union of one man and one woman. That either of these statements is shocking or controversial—or even revealing—only goes to show how corrupt our culture has become when it comes to sexual morality.

Among other tragic outcomes, this corruption has led to an STD epidemic in the U.S. As I noted recently (more than once), according to The New York Times, a shocking 110 million Americans—more than one-third of our population—has an STD. A recent Drudge headline declared “STDs run rampant in USA.” The headline linked to a piece that reported on the “incredibly alarming numbers” of STDs in California.

Those were not the words of a reporter, but of Heidi Bauer, chief of the STD control branch of the California Department of Public Health. She added that the STD numbers in California amounted to “an epidemic.” Of course, Bauer’s solutions to their STD problem are the typical liberal California claptrap—i.e. condoms and cash.

According to Dr. Bauer—as is virtually always the case in these sad situations with those corrupted by liberalism—the solution to what ails us involves more money and bigger government. Along with blaming a lack of funding for public health programs for California’s rise in STDs, Dr. Bauer also blamed “the funneling of patients away from public health services toward primary care physicians.”

Of course, teaching kids the proper use of a condom is standard operating procedure for liberals when it involves anything dangerous in the sexual realm. According to The Daily Californian,

The STD Control Branch is approaching intervention through three different avenues: mandating sexual education in public schools, working with medical providers to ensure comprehensive STI testing and encouraging local health departments to ensure treatment for patients who test positive, according to Bauer.

The type of sex education The People’s Republic of Kalifornia would like to “mandate”—among other perverse things—provides a “sexual health toolkit” that is funded in part by the George Soros-connected Tides Center. According to Life Site News, this “toolkit”—among many other perverse things—“offers kids tips on using sex toys and anal lubricant. It defines ‘anal intercourse, ‘phone sex,’ and more as ‘common sexual behaviors’” and even has a section entitled “Wetter Makes It Better.”

In line with those who believe we have the right to rule our own world, the toolkit—or more aptly, “foolkit”—also tell kids that they may “[Have] Sex on Your Own Terms.” To clarify what this means, youngsters are provided with a “Relationship Bill of Rights.” This tells kids—kids!—that they have the “right” to:

• Trust my feelings. 
• Be with who I want, when I want, and how I want. 
• Have sex when my partner AND I both want to. 

Is there any doubt that California’s—as well as the rest of America’s—STD epidemic is the result of such immoral information? Dr. Bauer also ignorantly concluded that California’s STD epidemic is “not confined to any particular group,” and she emphasized that the increases are across the board.

I can almost guarantee you that this is not true. As is the case across the rest of the world, there’s one group of Californians that are virtually STD free: monogamous, married (again: one man and one woman), early-committed Christians. In other words, those who decided—almost certainly because this was taught to them and modeled for them by their loving parents (a mother and a father)—prior to, or early in their teenage years, to follow Jesus and adhere to His teachings on sex.

This means celibacy unless married, and once married, complete sexual faithfulness to one’s spouse. If you live your life in such a way, it is nearly impossible to get an STD. This is not an easy path—especially in our sex-saturated culture—but as you’ve often heard, few things worthwhile are easy.

An STD-free life is just another peaceful and healthy benefit of the Christian lifestyle. And yes, Christians are generally healthier. This is a guiding principle behind the increasingly popular and growing number of Christian-based health insurance alternatives. These “health-care sharing groups” (my wife’s sister and her husband recently joined one) are marketed to “committed Christians” who must commit to, among other wise things, refraining from homosexual activity and extramarital sex.

As the left continues to force its immorality on the rest of us, don’t be surprised to see these types of healthcare alternatives grow even more popular. Thus, as almost always is the case in these situations, don’t be a bit surprised to see the left target these organizations. After all, remember, part of the goal of the left is complete acceptance of their perverse sexual agenda and vengeance upon all of those who resist.

Of course, one can be celibate, faithfully monogamous, STD-free, and otherwise healthy without being a Christian. However, outside of a faithful walk with our Creator, the immoral and dangerous sexual lifestyle of those corrupted by liberalism looms as a nearly irresistible temptation. In addition, no moral code has proved better than Christianity at producing a healthy, productive, responsible, and moral individual and society.

(See this column at American Thinker and The Black Sphere.)

Copyright 2018, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Hugh Hefner’s Real Legacy: Disease, Despair, and Death

A timely and stunning statistic befitting the recent death of America’s patriarch of pornography: a shocking 110 million Americans—over one-third of our population—are saddled with a sexually transmitted disease. According to The New York Times,

The incidence of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis is increasing, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An estimated 110 million Americans now are infected with a sexually transmitted disease. 

Chlamydia is the most common S.T.D., and the number of cases rose 4.7 percent from 2015 to 2016… Adolescents and young adult women have the highest rates of chlamydia: one survey found that 9.2 percent of girls aged 15 to 19 were infected… The rate of primary and secondary syphilis in 2016 is the highest it has been since 1993, and it increased among both men and women from 2015 to 2016. Men account for almost 90 percent of cases, and most are among men who have sex with men. 

Rates of syphilis increased in every age group and all races, and they were highest among people in their twenties.

Additionally, more than one out of every six people aged 14 to 49 has genital herpes. (Thus the rise of all of the Valtrex commercials on TV.) Among many other tragic outcomes, the rampant rate of STDs in America is the real legacy of notorious sexual provocateur, Hugh Hefner. Thanks to the desire to make our own rules when it comes to sex, following the lead of Hefner and his like-minded moral deviants, we find ourselves with STD rates in the U.S. at an all-time high. According to the CDC, there are more than 20 million new cases of STDs in the United States every year. As CNN recently reported,

“STDs are out of control with enormous health implications for Americans,” said David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors. The coalition represents state, local and territorial health departments who focus on preventing STDs. 

“If not treated, gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis can have serious consequences, such as infertility, neurological issues, and an increased risk for HIV,” said Harvey.

Also among the “serious consequences” of many of these STDs: cancer. In addition to cervical cancer, which is caused by certain types of the STD, Human Papilloma Virus, just days ago, the Los Angeles Times reported on (surprise!) the “anal cancer epidemic” that exists among homosexual and bisexual men. The article notes that men who engage in homosexual activity are 100 times more likely to contract anal cancer than HIV-negative men “who exclusively have sex with women.” The article also declares that, “Some in the medical community have identified anal cancer as the next big crisis among HIV-infected gay and bisexual men.” I have breaking news for the medical community: there will always be a “next big crisis” looming for men who treat the human septic canal as a vagina.

Nevertheless, and no-doubt taking their cues from perverts like Hefner, this past July, Teen Vogue—a magazine whose target audience is teenage girls—took it upon themselves to instruct their young readers on the finer points of sodomy. The article, entitled “Anal Sex: What You Need to Know” and subtitled, “How to do it the RIGHT way,” declares itself to be “anal 101, for teens, beginners, and all inquisitive folk.” The garbage piece ends with this shocking admission:

That being said, yes, you will come in contact with some fecal matter. You are entering a butthole. It is where poop comes out. Expecting to do anal play and see zero poop isn’t particularly realistic. It’s NOT a big deal. Everyone poops. Everyone has a butt.

This, from a member of the “party of science.” Forgetting to floss one’s teeth every now and then is “NOT a big deal.” Hillary’s choice of pant suits is “NOT a big deal.” Global climate change is “NOT a big deal.” Choosing to engage in sodomy—even once—can have horrific life-changing—even deadly—consequences. Of course, “anal 101” neglects to mention the rampant disease associated with such disgusting behavior. In other words, like Hefner’s Playboy magazine, Teen Vogue is an accomplice in the shocking rise of STDs among America’s youth.

In a sick attempt to justify promoting evil and dangerous sexual activity, just as they have with killing children in the womb, the left has now stooped to “normalizing” (an STD is “pretty bad*ss; it’s like a sex wound”) and even celebrating (with a “#ShoutYourStatus”) STDs. The perverse gotta pervert, I suppose. As Matt Barber concluded, political correctness needs to be declared an STD.

Of course, one need not contract an STD to suffer as a result of the plague of pornography. A 2015 UK Telegraph article on porn use among British youth contains a shocking revelation from a general practitioner (Sue):

“I’m afraid things are much worse than people suspect.” In recent years, Sue had treated growing numbers of teenage girls with internal injuries caused by frequent anal sex; not, as Sue found out, because she wanted to, or because she enjoyed it – on the contrary – but because a boy expected her to. “I’ll spare you the gruesome details,” said Sue, “but these girls are very young and slight and their bodies are simply not designed for that.”

Yeah, no one’s body is “designed for that.” The boys were “expecting” such from their young girlfriends because they had bought into one of the many lies of porn. Instead of worrying over the condition of their skin or what earrings went with their new outfit, many of the young girls Sue was treating found themselves battling incontinence. Imagine the shame of a youth—because they bought a favorite and common lie of the left (sex without consequences), the muscles of their rectum are stretched out such that they must live in daily fear of soiling themselves.

Furthermore, the porn saturation of America, along with most of the rest of the Western world, has resulted in longtime and widespread devastation that extends far beyond the physical. If you think “saturation” too strong, consider:

People watched 4,392,486,580 hours of porn on PornHub in 2015. Just to put that in perspective, that means that in one year, people around the world spent 501,425 years watching pornography—on one porn site. 

On PornHub, people watched 87,849,731,608 porn videos. As the porn site hastened to point out, that’s 12 porn videos viewed for every single person on the planet.

That, my friends, is the sad math of porn addiction. As a result, tens of millions of teens and adults worldwide have little to no idea what is a healthy sexual relationship, or, in many cases, how to have any type of a healthy relationship with those who share the gender of the objects of their sexual fantasies. Any notion of self-sacrifice and service to another is abandoned, and sex becomes an end unto itself. Regular porn consumers (especially men) literally lust after porn-like encounters in order to be sexually satisfied. In the minds of many men, porn has reduced women to a commodity to be consumed and an object to be abused (e.g., 50 Shades of Grey Dismay).

Breaking the bonds of trust between husbands and wives, porn has destroyed millions of American marriages. Porn use within a marriage leads to a long list of troubling issues. A recent study revealed that once porn enters a marriage, the chances of divorce double. Driven by lust that was born of porn consumption, millions of young adult Americans are shunning marriage in favor of the hook-up culture.

Thus, whether born out of wedlock, killed in the womb, or forced to witness the destruction of the most important human relationship in their lives, over the last six-plus decades, tens of millions of American children have suffered because of their parents’ selfish sexual desires. As I’ve noted before, if these children survive the womb, they face a wide array of difficulties.

Hugh Hefner was prince of the pimps. He was a destroyer of lives and cultures. The level of his destruction is so wide and deep that it will only be fully known in the light of eternity. If you are trapped in his world, turn and flee now. There is hope and healing, and there are those who can help.

(See this article at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2017, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Recent Study Reveals Significant Health Disparities for Homosexual Teens

A recent (and first of its kind) study verifies again what many Christians have long warned about the homosexual lifestyle. Published in August of 2016 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the study—Sexual Identity, Sex of Sexual Contacts, and Health Related Behaviors Among Students in Grades 9-12—looked at a wide variety of risky behaviors among U.S. high school students.

The study monitored six categories of “priority health-related behaviors among youth and young adults: 1.) behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence; 2.) tobacco use; 3.) alcohol and other drug use; 4.) sexual behaviors related to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections; 5.) unhealthy dietary behaviors; 6.) physical inactivity.”

The study used two questions to measure a student’s sexual status: “Which of the following best describes you?” The response options were, “heterosexual (straight),” “gay or lesbian,” “bisexual,” and “not sure.” The sexual activity of students surveyed was determined by asking: “During your life, with whom have you had sexual contact?” The response options were, “I have never had sexual contact,” “females,” “males,” and “females and males.” In analyzing the results, researchers grouped students who identified as “gay or lesbian” and “bisexual” into the same group (which I will describe here as: “teenagers (or students) engaging in homosexual activity”).

In almost every instance, the risky behavior measured—especially behaviors that are often linked to a moral decision—was much more prevalent among teenagers engaging in homosexual activity. In addition, and unsurprisingly, those students with the healthiest outcomes were those who refrained from sexual activity. In most of the risky behaviors measured, the outcomes are not even close.

For example, students engaging in homosexual activity were about three times more likely to feel “sad or hopeless” than students who had no sexual contact. In addition, students engaging in homosexual activity were nearly four times more likely to have seriously considered attempting suicide than students who had no sexual contact, and they were six-and-a-half times more likely to have actually attempted suicide.

Comparing the same two groups (students engaging in homosexual activity vs. students with no sexual contact), students engaging in homosexual activity were:

• Eight times more likely to smoke
• 47 times more likely to smoke frequently (20 or more cigarettes in the month prior to the survey)
• Nearly 3 times as likely to have tried alcohol prior to age 13
• Three-and-a-half times as likely to be currently using alcohol
• More than 11 times as likely to binge drink (10 or more drinks in a row)
• Nearly six times as likely to be currently using marijuana
• More than 16 times as likely ever to have used hallucinogenic drugs 
• More than 18 times as likely ever to have used cocaine 
• 30 times as likely ever to have used heroin
• And 23 times as likely ever to have used methamphetamines 

Likewise, compared to students who had no sexual contact, sexually active heterosexual students were:

• Five times more likely to smoke
• Nearly 17 times more likely to smoke frequently (20 or more cigarettes in the month prior to the survey)
• Nearly twice as likely to have tried alcohol prior to age 13
• Three times as likely to be currently using alcohol
• More than nine times as likely to binge drink (10 or more drinks in a row)
• More than four times as likely to be currently using marijuana
• Nearly nine times as likely ever to have used hallucinogenic drugs 
• Nine times as likely ever to have used cocaine 
• More than seven times as likely ever to have used heroin
• And seven times as likely ever to have used methamphetamines

In other words, the teenagers least likely to put their health and lives in danger (along with the health and lives of others) by engaging in risky behaviors are those who are choosing to follow the moral precepts of their Creator.

None of this should come as a surprise. As I implied at the beginning of this piece, the unhealthy and unsafe behaviors of those who have decided to go their own way sexually is well documented. Of course, it’s not the homosexuality or the fornication itself that leads to other immoral behavior, but the rebellious spirit that lies at the root of such behavior. As Dr. Jeffrey Satinover puts it, “[O]nce people begin to ‘walk on the wild side,’ they have effectively broken one of societies strongest taboos. Other taboos then fall away easily and rapidly.” This is especially true of men who engage in homosexual behavior.

Satinover notes in his seminal book, Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth, homosexuality often (if not always) leads to:

• A 25- to 30-year decrease in life expectancy.
• Chronic, potentially fatal, liver disease—infectious hepatitis, which increases the risk of liver cancer.
• Inevitably fatal immune disease including associated cancers.
• Frequently fatal rectal cancer.
• Multiple bowel and other infectious diseases.
• A much higher than usual incidence of suicide.

Men having sex with men (MSM) account for the vast majority (over 75 percent in 2014) of all cases of syphilis. According to the CDC in 2014, MSM were much more likely to contract virtually every sexually transmitted disease (STD) known, including syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea.

The CDC reported last year that rates for sexually transmitted diseases have reached record highs in the U.S. In a news release, Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, declared, “We have reached a decisive moment for the nation.” According to the report, those at greatest risk for STDs in the U.S. are young people ages 15-24, and homosexual men.

The CDC also reports that though they are only about 2 percent of the population, men engaging in homosexual behavior make up 55 percent of all people living with HIV in the U.S. In 2014, homosexual men made up more than two-thirds of all new HIV diagnoses in the United States.

Again, none of this is new information. For as long as there have been organizations willing and able to measure such data, or wherever common sense and sound morality reign, it has been well understood that those engaging in sexually immoral behavior—especially homosexuality—are much less healthy than the general population. Or, as Dr. Satinover put it, “The correlation between male homosexuality and disease has been recognized for at least two thousand years.” Of course, what is relatively new is the desire to ignore or deceive when it comes to one of the most significant health risks a culture could face.

In the name of “sexual freedom,” instead of talking about these behaviors in terms of the real problems that they are (and teaching people to avoid such behaviors), decades of liberal rot has led to meaningless and ineffective campaigns of “awareness, education, and tolerance.” Even the CDC itself—whose stated mission is to protect Americans from “health, safety, and security threats”—will say nothing to discourage homosexual behavior. All the while, as the science reveals again, American kids are suffering and dying.

(See this column at American Thinker.)

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the brand new book The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com