Today's Society

Think back to the 1950's. When I look for a time when morality was upheld and family values reigned supreme, it would have to be the 50's. Now, I am under no illusion that there has ever been a period of time in our history when we, as a society, have been completely pure and innocent, but if there was one decade that was even close, it would have to be that one. That being said, I believe we have slipped further away from Mayberry and have transformed more into the Babylon that John speaks of. “Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth (Rev. 17:5). Today, anything goes: homosexuality, abortion, rampant promiscuity, divorce, and any kind of sexual deviation that one can dream up is common place, natural. These things do not seem to bother us. We have become numb to much sin and vice. “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment” (Isa. 1:4-6).

This country has been allowed to flounder morally and the politicians who govern it enjoy a free reign over all with little or no accountability. Our government, I believe, is the greatest that has ever been thought up by man. The thing that has made it great in the past, has now been trampled and spat upon and is no longer allowed in public life. What I am speaking of is the fear of the Lord or even God in general. The Lord and Master of all has been relegated to the church building and is considered an antiquated crutch for ‘the weak of mind’ by the ‘learned’ of our age. This Democratic Republic was founded through the perspective of a Christian. It was founded on a belief in God. Once upon a time, politicians were not only concerned about what their constituency thought, they were concerned with what God thought. We can see from our original state constitutions that a belief in God was not only important but essential in running for office (see original state constitutions below). When politicians are not only worried about losing elections but their very souls, they will govern with more care for those they represent.

All we have to do is turn on the TV to discover that we are living in a sex crazed world. It is all too easy for youth these days to get their hands on pornographic material, and with the internet, it is only a click away. Premarital sex is not only condoned, but it is encouraged in many cases. The prevailing thought is, “Well, they are going to do it anyway.” For many kids, trying to get them to understand that sex before marriage is wrong is next to impossible.  It is hard for them to understand because they have grown up in houses, where deciding who to have sex with tonight is like deciding what television show to watch. Marriage is no longer the sacred institute that it once was. A show that I was watching recently showed this clearly. There was a woman who sent in a request for a wedding cake into a bakery. The note that she had written said that she wanted this cake to be very special because, “This is going to be my first wedding.” Even though it may have been a mere slip of the tongue, this seems to be the way most people think. “This is going to be my first wedding but it will probably not be my last.” No wonder our children have such a distorted view on sex.

Also, crime and the punishment thereof are not looked on in the same way as they once were. I am somewhat of a history buff and enjoy watching programs about how things were done in years past. One thing that I find interesting is that the commentators who speak about the punishments for crimes say how barbaric and inhumane they were. The punishments never seemed to be justified, or if they were, they were just too severe.  Now, I do not condone torturing someone to death for jay walking, but where there is no punishment, there is no correction. A certain amount of corporal punishment can go a long way toward the rehabilitation of miscreants (Prov. 10:13). Punishment should be swift and effective.  It should be equal to the crime that was committed. When Jesus said that we are “not to resist an evil person” and “turn the other cheek” (Mat. 5:39), He was not encouraging justice to be ignored. He was wanting His audience to not take justice into their own hands. “An eye for an eye,” as spoken of in the Law of Moses (Deut. 19:21), was another way of saying, “Let the punishment fit the crime.” The ruling authority is to do the judging, not the victim. People have a tendency to want to out do one another. “If you kick my dog, I am going to shoot yours.” That is why we are not to take vengeance for ourselves. The whole point of the punishment is as it says in Deuteronomy 19:20, “those who remain shall not again commit such evil among you.”

Why has our country seen such a moral decline? Why does justice seem to no longer prevail and the wicked go unpunished? The only answer is that God has been pushed out of this country. So what is there for us to do? We must “preach the word, be ready in season and out of season.” We must “not be ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation.” We have an obligation to spread the word of God far and wide. There is nothing else that will turn this country around and there is no one else to do it but us.

Appendix: Excerpts from Original State Constitutions

CHAPTER VI ARTICLE I OF THE CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS

Article I. Any person chosen governor, lieutenant governor, councilor, senator or representative, and accepting the trust, shall before he proceed to execute the duties of his place or office, make and subscribe the following declaration, viz.--
“I, A. B., do declare, that I believe the Christian religion, and have a firm persuasion of its truth; and that I am seized and possessed, in my own right, of the property required by the constitution as one qualification for the office or place to which I am elected.”

ARTICLE XXXII OF THE 1776 CONSTITUTION OF NORTH CAROLINA.

That no person, who shall deny the being of God or the truth of the Protestant religion, or the divine authority either of the Old or New Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the State, shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in the civil department within this State.”

The N.C. state constitution was amended in 1836 and no longer made the profession of the Christian faith mandatory. Oddly enough, when they took Christianity out of the constitution, they also took the right to vote from anyone who was not white. (“No free negro, free mulatto, or free person of mixed blood, descended from negro ancestors to the fourth generation inclusive, (though one ancestor of each generation may have been a white person,) shall vote for members of the Senate or House of Commons.” amendment to original constitution that allowed all free men to vote).

ARTICLE XXXV OF THE 1776 CONSTITUTION OF MARYLAND

That no other test or qualification ought to be required, on admission to any office of trust or profit, than such oath of support and fidelity to this State, and such oath of office, as shall be directed by this Convention or the Legislature of this State, and a declaration of a belief in the Christian religion.

Notice, the only thing that the state requires as an oath of office is fidelity to the state and a belief in the Christian religion. This has also been amended out of the original Maryland State Constitution.