I entered my pubescent years in the late 90s. Just before the real technological revolution occurred. Before Google. Before Napster. Before Ellen came out. My childhood took place in a bubble that no longer exists.

As an 8-year old, if I had a question, I asked my 8-year old peer and blindly accepted whatever garbage was spat out. Today, an 8-year old asks Google.

My father never had "the talk" with me. Well, that's not exactly true. One day when I was 12 years old, we were pulling into our subdivision when he finally sputtered out (after acting extremely awkward the first 20 minutes of our car ride), "Do you know what a scrotum is?" in the same tone of voice Mr. Rogers used to ask children if they know how crackers are made before the video transition to the cracker factory.

As a young Christian boy, I grew up thinking sex was bad. I probably wasn't specifically taught that. But, it was the impression I was left with hearing lots of warnings and nary a positive example of sex. Even in college, I remember a period of time when I argued that sex may have been divinely designed strictly for procreation purposes. Now, as a married man, I still struggle reconciling my confidence in the design of sexual enjoyment with my ingrained negative impressions as a child that "sex is bad".

Recently, I had to ask my wife anatomical questions about my new daughter. I wasn't quite certain exactly what was what.

I am a product of my environment. I am sexually screwed up. And even with my awareness of this, it's probably permanent.

Exodus 2:11-15

¹¹ One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. ¹² Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³ The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” ¹⁴ The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”

So to recap, Moses was a murderer! In fact, if you look at the black marks on most of the historical figures we deem "good" or at least "good leaders", doesn't it seem as if the majority of them were murdering adulterers?

So, why is it that when I watch the news, I see a mug shot of a 21-year old kid arrested for murder and think to myself, "He is pure evil." Yet, as a Christian, I absolutely believe in the rehabilitation and restoration of man.

Am I simply a product of our culture who doesn't even try to rehabilitate those in our prison system? Or do I simply not believe in the restoration of murderers despite thousands of years of evidence to the contrary?