When I watch local news broadcast or read some of the articles in the local newspapers or on the internet, and I learn of some of the horrific things that are taking place in our world today, I cannot help but wonder if we are rapidly returning to the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, or are we already there?
When I was a young boy growing up it seemed that such words as honesty, integrity, morality, decency, and family all had special meaning. My parents did not have to worry about what I was watching on television because the programs that were shown had the same values that they taught us in the home. A family show was exactly that - a family show, with emphasis on family.
Today even the "family shows" contain sexual undertones in their scripts. What was once considered taboo and would have never been shown on live television is now the highlight of a lot of television shows. At any time of the day or night one can turn on their television and see programs that undermine the sanctity of the family unit by supporting such things as premarital relationships, alternative lifestyle relationships, and sexual innuendos that leave nothing to the imagination. All the while these things are being portrayed as if they are or should be accepted as the social norm, and those who oppose such things are the ones who are branded as social misfits or socially abnormal.
Television; however, is not the only media that has become grossly infected by the immorality of our society. Notice how many ratings we have on movies today in an effort to filter the appropriate age group that should be allowed to see the movies that are produced. With that, there are some of us with inquiring minds who would like to know how Hollywood can justify putting a child in a movie that the child is not allowed to go to the theater and watch because he is underage. There appears to be some double standards involved. One could suppose that the child actor helps to bring in the ratings and cash flow for the movie that is being produced, and so it is alright to have him on the set to shoot certain scenes and then have him leave when other scenes are being shot. It is like putting the child into a pit full of poisonous snakes and snatching him out just as one of them is about to strike and inject its deadly venom. The attitude is that the child did not get bit so all is well.
The music industry has also contributed to the immoral behaviors that are taking place in our society today. I personally believe that parents need to be a little more proactive and pay stricter attention to some of the lyrics that their children listen to and the messages that certain songs send out. I am not advocating that we should only listen to Church hymns, but certainly we should be a little more discerning in our music selection.
We have fast become a society of people that lives by the philosophy that, “Everyone is doing it so it must be alright.” With that mentality, one could assume that if everyone were jumping off a high tower into freezing cold water, and there was a person who was afraid of heights or did not know how to swim; in order to be a part of the “normal” crowd they should just jump anyway and hope for the best. How insane is that?
We are living in a day when what was once considered undeniably wrong is now considered totally acceptable, and that which has always been considered acceptable is now considered something to do only if it feels right, or even in some cases is considered an insane way of thinking or doing things. The things that once seared our conscience have become things that we tend to overlook or dismiss completely. Is it any wonder that our world is in the shape that it is in?
When I was a young boy, couples on TV never slept together in the same bed, and the idea of walking around half-clothed or totally nude, or having open sex acts would have never been heard of. Now, you can turn on the TV to almost any channel and almost expect to see such things. The sad thing is that parents allow their children to watch those things without realizing the impression that it makes on their young minds. Do parents not realize that whatever a young child sees, or hears for that matter, is what he will try to imitate?
And it is not only what children watch on television, see in movies, or learn from lyrics of a song that influences them, but the behaviors that they observe in their own homes also have a very strong influence on them. My parents would have never walked around the house half-dressed or totally nude in front of their children, and we were not allowed to run around half-dressed or nude either. We were taught to have respect for our bodies, and also to have respect for others. Yet there are some families in the world that believe living the nudist lifestyle is a lifestyle that should be accepted by society. These days you can also walk into the local grocery store and see more than one should, or just look at some of the kids that walk down the street and the way their parents allow them to dress.
Is it any wonder that sex crimes are on the rise today? Is it any wonder that the number of unwed teenage pregnancies is higher than it has ever been? Is it any wonder that it seems with each passing generation, our children are becoming more sexually active at younger ages, and are "experimenting" with sex with people of the opposite and/or same gender - of the same age group, or sometimes even older? Is it any wonder?
Scriptures teach us that we are to be in the world, but not of the world. That does not mean that we should hibernate or go and bury our heads in the sand to avoid being influenced by the wickedness of the world, rather we need to be beacons of shining light to be the most positive influence that we can be on the world. There is indeed a vast difference in being influenced by the world, and influencing the world. We have to live in the world, but we do not have to frolic and play on its dangerous playgrounds and entertain its foolish follies.
In so many ways we are heading back to the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is no wonder that God said that He would never destroy the world again by a flood, but next time the fire!
I leave these thoughts with you humbly in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
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