I Have a Voice

                   I asked myself, "why share an out-dated message? What purpose does it serve?  Why do you try to live a holy life?  What are your goals and motivations?"  Most people just think, Oh that's different, or that's cute that you want to stay pure, but that's not for me.  The other day I woke up with a heavy realization of the need for purity to be talked about pressing upon my heart.  Why?  Because if no one does how will people ever hear an idea contrary to the message of pleasure taught by the world?  Many times I feel like a voice just crying out in the wilderness, but what if John never spoke of a man, Jesus who was coming?  How would that have changed the lives of many who were hearing Johns words, " Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"  I'm willing to bet that there was at least one, if not hundreds or even thousands to which this message reached and caused hearts to turn and repent.  That message still reaches millions today as they read Johns words now recorded in the Bible.  What if John never opened his mouth?  Many would have never heard or realized that they needed to repent.  
                 Purity?  Where can you find that message being spoken?  Is it at school?  Is it on t.v, or in in your favorite magazine?  Not likely!  Sure you can go to church and typically hear a message about staying pure and being holy,  but this message needs to be spoken in public, by leaders, by politicians, by teachers, by peers; talked about in high schools, middle schools, colleges.  I want to hear it on t.v, see it displayed in Ads, performed on stages, seen on the Big screen!  Maybe you're saying, well thats not reality...sex sells!  Sex sells that's for sure, but it accumulates a lot more than money; it takes souls, it takes decency away, and steals self-confidence from young women and men.  It breaks apart families, and makes many feel ashamed and unworthy.  It degrades and demoralizes our entire society as a whole.  What did America once have that's gone missing?  Common values and self respect.  We've twisted our consciences so much that we can't even discern what's right from wrong anymore.  We are driven by our senses; I feel good so it must be good.    
               I went to my friends house recently and saw a porn magazine atop the toilet, which is basically saying I've got nothing to hide, this is normal.  I cringed a little bit inside, and that's only the most minor of things I have seen and heard happening in everyday life.  Earlier this month I went to a poetry slam and heard two teenage boys about 16 or 17 recite a poem about the joys of masturbation.  The crowd went wild, the judges scored them very high and I may have been the only one in the building that didn't clap.  That is a sick picture of society, and what we accept as good entertainment.  I am not disgusted with the people just the ideas and values they were talking about, and I am provoked to wonder where did they get these ideas in the first place?  Where or who did they originate from?  Who taught us that this was okay...and who will stand up and say, IT'S NOT!  I have a voice, you have a voice, will you use it?