Childhood Immunizations

There has been a lot of concern in recent years over childhood immunizations. Are they actually causing problems when they're supposed to prevent them? Are they the cause of such horrors as autism and the like? Do they actually work? The medical sciences assure us that our children are safe and there's nothing to fear. But, like the faulty belief that sugar makes children hyper, it's not a concern that goes away merely on the basis of facts.

I'm not nearly as concerned that inoculating our kids against mumps, measles, and rubella can cause autism as I am about all the other means we are using boldly to immunize our children in much more dangerous ways. I'd like to think that parents and the rest of society responsible for caring for children don't realize it, but ignorance doesn't make it less true or less dangerous.

Look, for example, at the way parents are dressing their little girls. Little girls. These youngsters, barely school age, are donning what on adult women would be the most provocative clothing available. Cut down to here and up to there, they parade around innocently in what would be seductive and even scandalous. "Now," we say, "only a pervert would see those cute little girls like that," and I'm sure that's fairly true, but what I'm talking about is immunization. We expect that, as they grow older when just such attire would be seductive, even vulgar, that they will know the difference. As it turns out, by indulging the mode of dress early in life, we've inoculated them against modesty and they will likely never see it.

Take, for instance, our little boys. "Boys will be boys," we say and let them have their way. They don't learn self-control. They don't learn delayed gratification. They don't learn appropriate or inappropriate behavior. And, having thoroughly immunized them while they are boys against these things, why are we surprised that they don't ever seem to become mature, responsible adults? Why would we be surprised that we can't get them to pursue these good qualities later?

Of course, today's problem is a generation or two of vaccinated parents who are immune to such things. They were raised with it; how could it not be normal? Divorce, sexual immorality, the pursuit of pleasure, and more become not merely acceptable, but recommended. Mothers were immunized as little girls against modesty and fathers were vaccinated as boys against self-control, so how would they even recognize the lack in their own children?

These are just examples. Worst of all, I think, is the immunity we impart to our children against Christ. "Come to Jesus," we tell them. We take them to church and put them in Sunday School and take them to youth group. And we inoculate them against a genuine relationship with God. We do it by not practicing what we preach. We do it by not living Monday through Saturday what we hope our churches are telling them on Sunday. We do it by mechanizing Christianity. "Do these things and not those and you'll be a good Christian." We do it by failing to repent ourselves when we ask them to do the same. We say the right things, but we don't do them. We don't live Christ in front of them. And this "second generation", this next line of little church people to come along, are horribly and sadly immunized against a real Christianity. Try to tell this group about Jesus. "Oh, yeah, I've heard all about that," they'll tell you. Even, "Yeah, I've already accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior" while they happily sin in front of your very eyes. More often these days they "see the light" and jettison the church entirely. Not because they're falling away, but because "they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us." (1 John 2:19). This particular group is the hardest to reach because they think they already know and "It didn't work for me." These kids have been immunized against heaven.

We do it all the time as parents. We allow them total immersion in our world to be blinded by the god of this world, full of television and music, the sin-sick value system offered by the prince of the power of the air. We don't filter or block this stuff; we invite it in. We fail to speak the truth in front of our kids. We give away the responsibility to educate and disciple and train and teach them "to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matt 28:20). "Give that to school teachers and Sunday school teachers and youth group leaders; it's not our job." We fail to think about what we're doing and what we're doing to them, or to get them to think about what they're doing. We try to be their friend instead of loving them enough to be perceived as their enemy. We fail to repent ourselves, to live Christ in front of our kids. And then we wonder why they are immune to Christ.

Autism is a bad thing. The connection of childhood immunizations isn't clear. The medical profession denies it. But caring parents aren't convinced and even prevent their children from risking it. And yet these same caring parents mindlessly and continually inoculate their children against far more important things. Are you that parent?