Each year, around April and May, High Schools typically hold a dance called Prom. Traditionally, this dance features boys and girls of the school decked out in gowns and tuxedos. Historically, the dance oft represented the first celebratory steps into adulthood. Families work together with their young folks to make the event memorable.
Typically, young men escort their female “Prom date” from home, to the dance, and back again. While the “Prom date” is still the most prevalent feature, increasingly young people opt instead to come in groups of boys and girls instead. Sometimes the young people will be escorted by a prominent actor or actress as a publicity stunt. Recently, one girl decided not to come with a young man, but instead arrived with a cardboard cutout of famous NFL quarterback Tim Tebow. Everyone at the dance embraced the cutout with great humor.
The other day I went to the local “mom and pop” store. The store sits about three blocks from the local High School. Gathered around the store counter, the store owner and some of his clientele stood talking. The topic of the hour happened to be Prom. The adults talked of the alcohol they consumed at their proms and the same alcohol consumption they see surrounding prom every year. They talked not with disappointment about how the students would make foolish decisions during the evening, but with resigned chuckles. The store owner pointed out how young folks come in for condoms so they can have sex with their dates. When they don’t have the change, he just hands the condoms over for free. “We don’t want them to have any accidents.” As I overheard him, I commented, “The decision to have sex doesn’t happen by accident.” More chuckles rose from the group with affirmative “yups”.
The store owner and the others around him accepted without any religious bias the fact that prom is an event surrounded by lust (James 1:15), lasciviousness (Matthew 7:21-23), premarital sex (I Corinthians 10:8), alcohol (I Thessalonians 5:8), and other worldly actions. Many Christian parents refuse to accept the reality of this sinful event or at least they choose to ignore its reality. Prom exposes their children to a stumbling block (Matthew 18:6) and temptation (2 Timothy 2:22). All of these activities find condemnation in scripture.
The girls at the events typically dress quite immodestly. There attire often exposes most or part of their thighs, stomachs, backs, breasts, and shoulders. God identified this as nakedness and covered those areas completely in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). Young men should be ashamed for such girls and blush at the sight of them. However, their lusts drive them forward and they no longer know how to blush (Jeremiah 8:12). The girls’ thoughts dwell on the grand event. The boys’ thoughts dwell on the bodies of the young women. The girls in their foolishness defraud the boys (I Thessalonians 4:3-6). The boys acting as willing accomplices pursue the girls (Proverbs 5). Prom and promiscuity walk hand in hand.
At many proms, open homosexuality now displays itself along with the other sins. The pit gets deeper and deeper, the mire thicker and thicker. Parents with common sense, most Christian parents and some parents with no religion at all, refuse to allow their children to participate in prom. They understand prom endangers the purity of their child (Proverbs 6:27). They want their children to be good examples, not bad. They desire their children to focus on purity not evil (Philippians 4:8). This year as the opportunity arises, encourage grandparents, parents, friends, and young people to give prom a big thumb down. Just say “No” to Prom.
Galatians 5:16 – “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”