Dr.
Fred Schab from the University of Georgia recently published the results of a
20-year study on America's changing attitudes regarding ethics. While not
surprising, the data is revealing and can help us understand how far our
nation's moral base has eroded since the social revolution of the 1960's. Some
of the statistics are as follows:
1.
Honesty is the best policy. -
1969-82% agreed
1989-60% agreed
2.
Crime does not pay. -
1969-82% agreed
1989-65% agreed
3.
People who cheat cannot be trusted. - 1969-61% agreed
1989-41% agreed
4.
All people cheat sometimes. -
1969-23% agreed 1989-38% agreed
5. Most people in the
United
States
are honest. -
1969-49% agreed
1989-24% agreed
What
this survey says about our society is that we are losing our standards of right
and wrong. It says that we are more tolerant of previously unacceptable
behavior. It says that we now expect people to break the rules and that doing so
is not necessarily wrong, depending on the circumstances. Such a system of
beliefs is called humanism and this "religion" embraces many other
philosophies - liberalism, evolution, situational ethics, mysticism and
astrology, to name a few. Humanism is taught in our schools. It is espoused on
TV and in the movies. It pervades the religious world and it attacks
Christianity in subtle ways we may not even recognize. It is an outlook on life
and a pattern of behavior that places self and temporal gratification above all
else. God, in His infinite wisdom, predicted such a society. Read II Timothy
3:1-7 and it will amaze you how closely Paul describes the United States of the
1990's.
Of
course, we, as Christians, are not be to caught up in humanism and its' cleverly
devised snares. We are to be in the world, but not of the world. (I John
2:15-16) But are we? Are we doing
our part to combat declining ethical standards by the way we live our lives and
the choices we make? When we buy expensive houses, fancy vehicles, boats,
computers, the latest in electronic and video equipment, new clothes and shoes
(just to stay in style when the ones we have look and fit just fine), pretty
collectibles and gadgets (just to possess them), take cruises and expensive
vacations, eat out rather than cook at home, and on and on and on, can we truly
say that we are not "of the world"? Will we be able to face our Lord
on judgment day and say we used our talents and resources to the best of our
abilities to spread His gospel and enhance His kingdom? I fear that some of the
choices I have made have been as self-serving as those of any non-Christian. I
fear that I profess to abhor humanism and its' accompanying belief-systems, but
my actions may speak differently. I John 1:6 says, "If we say that we have
fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the
truth." How many times do we "walk in the darkness" with our
choices over how to spend our money and our time? It is a thought that bothers
me and should bother any Christian living in present-day America.
Richard Bartholomew