My opinion is as good as yours. Or is it?
Most of the people of the world simply follow the culture of their birth 'Everybody does it'. Or, 'The government says'. Or, 'My church or religion teaches'. So - it must be right. This notion tolerated the Inquisition in medieval Christianity, the burning alive of widows in Hinduism, hatred of the Jews by Palestinians. In the West especially, however, there is a creeping individualism: 'I can decide what's right, what's wrong'. We make up our own personal standards.
Within the family - whatever its form - each of us takes in a hodge-podge of pre-conceived ideas and prejudices. And as we mature we modify our beliefs according to the 'spirit of the times' - novel attitudes forged by a remote elite and spread by a tame media. So ideas once taboo become acceptable: 'living in sin', welfarism, the blame culture, lying (even at the heart of government, business, religion). Out go marriage and personal responsibility and upright character.
Crumbling Foundations
We do, of course, have the standard of the law of the land. But that, too, now chips away at age-old standards. Those standards were hewn from the solid rock of observed human behavior, designed to encourage the good and curb the base - as outlined in the Scriptures.
Sadly, the foundations of morality have been undermined in recent years. (Not that we have ever had perfect government.) Inevitably we have surging lawlessness. Prisons bulge at the expense of the tax-payer. Office-bearers at all levels, with absolute control of the public purse, are consumed with greed and the perverted notion that they are above the law. The commitment at the heart of marriage has been jettisoned in favor of wimpish co-habitation - with the resultant upsurge in foul sexually transmitted diseases, abandoned partners and failing children. With no moral compass, unwise government inflicts bad laws based on whim - 'try it and see if it works', 'if it's 'old' it must be wrong'. Having demolished ancient standards, government abandons its leadership role and now bows to the public opinion they have themselves debased.
Overturned Values
Have we reached the place where black is perceived as white? As the prophet Isaiah wrote: "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter" (Isaiah 5:20). Little has changed since he penned those words. What is 'good'? Is there a norm?
No-one knows human nature and all its foibles better than the one who created it - God. (If you are gullible enough to believe in the fiction of evolution, then assume that our present moral stance is the pinnacle of millions of years of trial and error.) Like any finely-tuned instrument we function best when we conform to the manufacturer's instructions and guidance. Deviate and we mess up.
So when God tells us to respect those older than ourselves, and not to kill or steal or covet or perjure or have sex outside marriage it's because they hurt. When He reveals a specific form of worship it's because all other forms hurt. And when He prescribes specific penalties for those who give in to such behavior it's because the application of those penalties is essential to an orderly society.
When our ruling elite unwisely imagine they can do better than God (or 'evolution') then chaos results. If someone close to us is murdered, for example, our inborn sense of justice is not satisfied until the killer is dead. Postpone that death - by 'life' in prison and early release - and bitterness and the desire for revenge remains like a cancer that affects all of society. Tolerate and allow to go unpunished communication with the dead - in reality, with demons - as in the British Royal House and with Western government leaders - and the nation is on a downhill spiral. Fail to discourage adultery and co-habitation and unnatural sex and we have infertility and AIDS and rampant venereal disease and burgeoning divorce. Allow rapists and pedophiles to live - and women and children will continue to suffer. Every deviation from the divine order, in other words, is a burden on society and unchecked leads to its decline and fall.
Buck the Trend
Most of us are caught up in the general culture that envelops us. Some are not - and certainly Christians should not. The sixth century BC prophet Ezekiel looked down the years to our time and to our societies and noted God's instruction: "...set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in Jerusalem [symbolic of all Israel]" (ch 9:4). It was a protective mark. God's avengers are to "come not near any man upon whom is the mark" (v.6). His warning to ancient Israel applies no less to our own nations.
Christian Nations?
The Bible is a handbook of good government. In its abandonment our leaders are bringing upon us national destruction. The notion that your nation is 'Christian' is a deceptive fiction. If it were there would be little need for police or tax inspectors or STD clinics or prisons or welfare or divorce courts or drug rehabilitation. For true Christians, the divine laws are internal - written in our minds, a guiding light to our daily behavior. It is that divine and immutable Law which determines what's right and what's wrong.
Definition
The 'apostle of love', John, defines right and wrong: "Sin is the transgression of the law", he wrote (I John 3:4). Not many who occupy a pew on Sundays believe him. Most despise and ignore the divine law, think it is obsolete. The other ninety percent (in Britain) who never darken the door of a church have swallowed the perverse idea of individualism: "I decide what's right and wrong - for me". Our leaders, despite parading their Christianity, are intent on erasing God from our national life by side-lining the Maker's Manual - His Law.
The result? Corruption festers at the heart of government and of our nations. Wrote one of the wisest of national leaders: "Righteousness [good behavior by God's standards - His commandments] exalts a nation - but sin is a reproach to nations" (Proverbs 14:34).
Our Western nations are on the slippery slope to disaster. Only, as with the ancient city of Nineveh, a turning to God's righteous laws will save us nationally - and personally. Challenged by God's prophet Jonah, Nineveh's king and his nobles commanded his citizens: "...turn every one from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands" (Jonah 3:5-10). They did, and disaster was averted.
The definition of right and wrong is not in our hands. Your Creator decides that - and will hold you to His definition.
To comment on this article or request more information, please contact James McBride by e-mail at the comment form below.
For PDF or mailed copy, see CGOM. Excerpt from New Horizons Issue 37, January/February 2003. Edited by James McBride of the Churches of God, United Kingdom.
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