Page 109 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 8
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Christian Psychology alive
is easily accessible and is often presented to 4. Cyberbullying is becoming a definite threat
them with falsely innocuous promises that to the psychological health of adolescents
it will not have any negative side-effects. as technology advances and becomes more
The attraction to drugs and alcohol is also readily available. The nature of cyberbul-
linked to status. It is assumed that those lying is often complicated because it can be
adolescents who can afford high quantities performed in an anonymous fashion. The
of those substances are of a higher socio- identity of the bully, unless you request a
economic status than those who cannot. criminal investigation, is not easily uncove-
Thankfully, due to the ethos of the school red or proven. The basic biblical foundation
and their substantial drive towards educa- of how we treat one another is something
ting the learners holistically, these myths that becomes blurred in some adolescents’
have been dispelled amongst them. Howe- minds when they are under the impression
ver, the communities from which some of that their actions cannot be traced back to
the learners come still attach status to sub- them. Much of the discussion around this
stance use. There were many discussions theme centred on biblical exhortations to
around the body being the temple of the treat one another in a spirit of love, hono-
Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19) and how ur, respect, and humility. On a more practi-
this translates into practice. The learners cal level, however, there are many laws that
were also shown the neuropsychological exist in South Africa that provide protection
effects of drug use on the brain as well as for the victims of cyberbullying, as well as
how this impacts their behaviour. The long legal consequences for those that chose to
term consequences of substance abuse were victimise others. This section of the semi-
shown to them, but the emotional fall-out nar was a more educational one where we
of substance addiction was just as impor- presented the learners with a synopsis of the
tant as the physical side effects in how we legal limitations of ‘free speech’. This educa-
addressed this topic with the learners. tional section of the seminar will actually
3. Another interesting theme was the obser- be expanded on in the next few months as
vation of how some more postmodern type we host a social media attorney who will be
thinking has infiltrated the learners’ percep- presenting a seminar to educators, learners,
tions of emotions. Many of them were con- and parents on social media and law.
fused about thoughts such as: 5. Responsible sexual behaviour and sexually
transmitted diseases is a pertinent theme
• My decisions and my behaviour should for adolescents. Most national and interna-
always be guided primarily through my tional school curricula focus education on
emotions ‘safe sex’. This would include birth control
• My life should be only about my own options, the risks around sexual promiscui-
happiness ty, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV/
• I am entitled to feel whatever I want AIDS. However, Cornerstone College, as
to feel, whenever I want to feel it, and is the case with most church organisations
wherever I want to feel it. and Christian schools, has added to this
curriculum by emphasising the motto of
Although an academic discussion is beyond the ‘safe sex is no sex’. This is an ‘abstinence be-
scope of this article, it is this above theme that fore marriage’ teaching that uses the biblical
perhaps highlights some of the differences that explanation and model of sex to explain the
we see between some traditional westernised sacred nature of sexual intercourse. Added
models of psychology, versus Christian psycho- to this, we showed the learners snippets
logy literature and research. Therefore, we took from DVDs of respected Christian sexual
much time here to discuss the value and gift of education experts discussing STDs, and se-
understanding one’s emotions, while seeing that xuality in general.
emotions do not always have to be determini-
stic and enslaving.
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