Using a condom as the only safeguard against HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STD'S) is an extremely dangerous practice.
When public school systems and health clinics display their posters promoting condom use, they are contributing to the spread of deadly illnesses.
Relying on a condom alone is highly risky.
The real truth is that there is no such thing as safe sex.
While it may be true that a condom is better than no protection, it is far from reliable.
A condom can be put in place too late, leaving the pre-ejaculate unguarded.
It can leak, although rarely, and it can slip off.
One size does not fit all.
Frequently it allows seepage through the outer sleeve after the deposit is made, sometimes before.
And in all cases, when the penis shrinks after erection, the loaded condom becomes the equivalent of a loose cannon.
The safety factor, however, is multiplied many times over when a spermicide is used in conjunction with a condom.
Spermicides, such as K-Y Jelly, kill the AIDS virus as well as other infecting agents.
This fact is not mentioned on the posters and is rarely mentioned in sex education classes.
The promotion of condom use has amounted to the promotion of sexual freedom and has placed untold numbers of young people in grave danger.
It is tragic that public health authorities have not spoken out on this issue.
The U.
S.
Secretary of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, and local officials must begin to provide thorough sex education for our young people in order to safeguard their very lives.
Teens are most at risk, because this age group is typified by the attitude that nothing will harm them.
It is already in their nature to take risks of all kinds.
They feel they know everything they need to know and that nothing will harm them.
When they see a poster in the nurse's office or in the locker room, they conclude that it's time to have some fun.
In recent years I was teaching honors anatomy and physiology at a private academy to juniors and seniors.
I resolved to cover the reproductive system as one of the first subject areas because I knew they lacked most any kind of sex education.
I was amazed at how naïve and ignorant they were.
As a result, I devoted a full three months to the subject, and they still had more questions.
I was scolded by one parent for spending so much time on reproduction.
Later, a male student confided in me that several of the most wholesome-looking and outwardly religious girls in the class were performing sodomy on some members of the football team during weekend parties.
These girls actually believed that what they were doing was safe because it was not intercourse.
The lack of education that young people need just to stay alive in this society is alarming, to say the least.
The time is long overdue for parents to talk to their children, to educators, and to legislators as well.
This message is brought to you courtesy of St.
James the Elder Theological Seminary online.