Evolution and Creation in Your School

On a recent drive to Baltimore this week for a conference I am attending, I almost came to believe in evolution. The way some people drive on 95, I could believe that we are descended from apes! But once I arrived safely I realized that it was just a fleeting moment of scienfic stupidity, came to my senses, and am now proud to declare again that I am still a creationist. Too bad we can't let kids in our schools hear both sides of the debate. A new Zogby poll shows 78 percent of U.S. voters want both sides of the evolution debate discussed in the classroom. This is up nine points from a similar poll three years ago. The poll, commissioned by the Discovery Institute, found both Democrats and Republicans overwhelmingly support discussion for and against evolution. "Many Darwinists are trying to paint supporters of academic freedom as some kind of crazy, fringe element," said Candi Cushman, education analyst at Focus on the Family Action. "The truth is, the majority of parents want their kids to examine all the scientific evidence, to engage in critical thinking and to have classrooms that are academically challenging — not controlled by political correctness."
If that isn't enough, a new poll just released shows that only 4 in 10 Americans believe in evolution. A Gallup poll released this week shows that 39 percent of Americans say they "believe in the theory of evolution," while a quarter say they do not. Another 36 percent don't have an opinion either way, CNN reported. An earlier Gallup poll on this issue, that was conducted in May 2008, found that 44 percent believe God created human beings within the past 10,000 years.
So what do you think?
Blessings,
Dr. Paul

Teens and the Internet

A new research study conducted by CyberSentinel reveals that the average teenager spend an average of up to 40 hours a week online. Think about that for a minute. That is as much time as a full time job! One hour and 40 minutes is spent looking at pornography, which adds up to 87 hours a year. The study also identified other major time blocks in that 40 hour total:
-90 minutes looking at dieting and weight loss websites.
-68 minutes is spent exploring cosmetic surgery websites.
-3 hours and 10 minutes researching homework assignments.
-100 minutes downloading music.
-122 minutes looking at clips on YouTube.
-82 minutes looking at health websites for information on illness, puberty, growing pains, pregnancy, and contraceptives.
While I would expect to find teenagers exploring all of this on the web, for good and for bad, the amount of time is what I find so disturbing. Many kids are going to find some topics hard to talk to Mom and Dad about, and so they turn to the internet. But it also points to the need for parents to take the initiative to talk about these topics with their teens. In a survey just conducted by my church's youth ministry, teens almost unanimously indicated that the least likely source of information on sex was their own parents.
The CyberSentinel study also found students will spend up to 9 hours a week on social networkings sites like Facebook, chatrooms, and forums. One in four teenagers regularly talk to strangers online and think it is harmless. While talking to friends they know can be fun for your teens, seeking out new friends can be frought with danger.
Do you know how much time your teen is spending on line? How closely do you monitor the amount of time and where they are going online? The teens in this study said that they are left alone with the computer for up to 2 hours a day. Also a concern is that a third of teens said their most common place for surfing is in their bedroom.
The news was not all bad in this study. Two thirds of teens said their parents have spoken to them about what they should and shouln't look at online. And 45% of teens said they will talk to their parents if they are worried about anything they may have accidently accessed, such as self-harm, drugs, crime, or sex. But a third also admitted to hiding some fo the websites they ahve been visiting.
This study is a clear warning shot for every parent to pay attention to what their teens are doing online and to be involved in their lives.
Blessings,
Dr. Paul

Love is in the Air

As we approach Valentine's Day, the marriage counselor in me has mixed feelings about this day. On the one hand, love is a beautiful thing, and letting that special person in your life know that you love them is a great thing to do. On the other hand, the way our society looks at love is pretty pathetic. The media (and a lot of men I work with) have a difficult time distinguishing between love and sex. Popular culture talks about love as a feeling, or something you fall into. You don't fall in love, you fall in ditches, potholes, and open manhole covers. Love is an action, a choice, something you grow into with another person. Check out 1 Corinthians 13 in the Bible, the greatest description of love in my opinion, and notice how much involves feelings and how much involves commitment, action, and attitude.
So do we scrap Valentine's Day because our culture is so warped? No, I think we need to transform it and how we talk about love. Celebrate the day with your spouse or sweetheart if you have one. But put more of your time, effort, and prayer into what you do to love your spouse or sweetheart on a daily basis.
Let me also suggest that you rent or buy a copy of the movie Fireproof. If your marriage is doing well, it will encourage you. If your marriage is struggling, it will give you practical suggestions and insights on how to get your marriage back on track.
Blessings,
Dr. Paul

Teen Sexting

No, the title of this post is not a misspelling. It is the latest example of how kids are using technology to get into serious trouble that would be unheard of just a few years ago. Sexting is when people send nude self-portraits of themselves to others over their cell phone. Sometimes it is done to get attention, others do it as a way to flirt. Beside the obvious issue of immorality in the actual taking of the picture and sending it out into cyberspace, there are a lot of other problems of this. One is the fact taht once these images are sent out, there is no bringing them back. It is like the advice I often give to people who use emails to send a message, once you put it in writing, there is no taking it back. Then there is the issue of how others can use these pictures to harass the sender or others. Sexually explicit text messages and pictures are often used after a break-up to hurt the person who sent them. Prosecuters have charged a teenage boy with felony obscenity charges for sending a photo of his private parst to several female classmates. Another boy was charged with child pornography in a similar case. In Greensburg, Pa., three high school girls who sent semi-nude pictures and the four male students who recieved them were all charged with child-pornography crimes.
So what should you do as a parent? Make sure you let your children know that you will be looking at their phones, unannounced, on a regular basis to see what texts they have sent and received. It should be considered part of the contract for having phone in the first place. Talk to you kids about this problem and let them know some of the consequences they can face if they send or receive these kinds of texts and photos. If you find explicit material, written, or photographic, don't freak out. Sit down and talk to your child, enforce meaningful consequences, and seek out a counselor.
Blessings,
Dr. Paul