On Friday, a Kentucky County Chairman was arrested for indecent exposure and resisting arrest. On top of this, he belongs to the GOP, the party of family values, traditional marriage, and a belief that abortion is wrong.
While the GOP party says they campaign for family values, a lot of which stem from the Christian faith and thus leads to ideas of abstinence teaching, not being overtly sexual, the Billy Graham rule, and various ideas that could be taken as archaic, yet we consistently see them tied up in such sexual scandals. Is it exclusive to GOP party members, by know means *gives Bill Clinton the side eye* However, in recent years, it seems that over and over again, champions of family values are caught in scandals. See here, here, and here.
It makes me wonder, does making certain things off limits set one up for failure? Growing up, I come from a very conservative, evangelical Christian background. For a while, it seemed like everything was off limits. I couldn’t watch R rated movies, listen to certain kinds of music, no sex before marriage, with kissing being frowned upon, and even be alone with someone from the opposite gender (though that worked out in my favor).
The thing was, with all of these things off limits, and sometimes even off limits to have a conversation on, it may it all that more desirable. Who doesn’t love breaking the rules? And while watching an R-rated movie as a teen didn’t have the same consequences as indecent exposure, it still set up the mentality of wanting to have that fruit that was oh so forbidden.
We are all human, and we are going to make mistakes. Wouldn’t it be better if we started having open dialogue with people, without bringing shame and condemnation in on someone. Rather than keeping things a secret and making topics off limits, what about starting the conversations where you can talk freely, rather than opening a can of worms that ends in divorce, jail, or a ruined reputation.
I’m not saying this will be easy, but if we start having conversations with those in our orbit and work to tackle things in an open and honest manner, maybe these headlines will start to disappear.