"And You Fathers…”

by Raymond Elliott⁽⁶¹⁾

The apostle Paul, guided by the Holy Spirit, wrote: “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). Thus, the basic responsibility of rearing children is laid squarely on the shoulders of the fathers. My remarks in this article are therefore addressed to fathers, especially fathers of teenage girls. So ladies, if you don’t mind, please just hand this article to your husband and go ahead with your other important responsibilities while I talk with them.

My wife joined Facebook several months ago and I got interested in communicating with many of my friends and reading what others had to say on various subjects, some very childish and other comments were most enjoyable. It is amazing what individuals will say about very personal happenings in their lives. I am astonished at the slang language that some Christians will use in their comments.

But what disturbs me most are some of the pictures of the teenaged girls. One senior high school girl had a picture of herself in her prom dress. Not only were her breasts very revealing but the back of her dress exposed her back down to her waist. Another teenaged girl had pictures of herself in her bikini bathing suit. This teenager’s profile photo exposed most of one of her breasts. Some pictures revealed nearly 90 percent of the girl’s body when pictured in a bikini.

Now, Dad, what are you thinking? Your daughter will most likely put on more clothing when she retires at night. You would not think of allowing men to see your daughter in her nighties, would you? You were once a teenager and you know that your testosterone level was very high. Oh, I know that there are some evil minded men whose “eyes are full of adultery ” (2 Peter 2:14) but I am not talking about them. I am speaking about teenage boys who have enough problems with their sex drive without seeing teenage girls in clothing (or lack of clothing) that reveals so much of the erotic parts of their bodies.

Jesus taught that men can commit adultery in their hearts by lusting after women (Matthew 5:28). When a young man is dancing with a girl and her body is against his and he feels the nakedness of her back, don’t you think that he just may be having a real problem with his emotions?

Or when a young man is looking at your daughter who is revealing most of her body in a bikini, don’t you know he may be having difficulty with his inner thoughts? As fathers, you have an important role in deciding what clothing your daughter will wear. This is a real challenge in this modern secular society in which we live. Worldly designers have no concern about modesty when it comes to what women wear. To most people today, modesty is a forgotten word (1Timothy 2:9).

Consider helping our teenage boys by taking more control as to what your teenage daughter wears when in public. The fact is it is your responsibility as her father.

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are PURE , whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things (Emphasis, mine, RE, Philippians 4:8, NKJV).

Article submitted Wednesday, July 14, 2010 & read 130 times.

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