What Has Our Society Come To?

I just finished pulling my old high school year book off the shelf. It is amazing how quickly hair styles change. As I thumbed through the pictures of my old classmates, I thought about their parents. Of all those that I graduated with, as far as I know, none of their parents were divorced. Sure, it was a small public school in a rural area, but that is still amazing. Sadly, as we look at our society, now 20 years later, we realize that hair styles were not the only thing that changed. Today, not only are divorces common, but so are out of wedlock births. The whole family structure has deteriorated to the point that we now have a debate over the very definition of marriage.
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Evil has become acceptable in our society. For example, sex outside of marriage is considered the norm by the world, even though it is clearly a sin. Wickedness is all around us. Even though we are blessed with so much, people are envious of what others have and want it for themselves. Some even kill to get it. People fight and lie. They have a hatred for God and His standards. Their bad character is displayed with pride as they brag about their sin. The children disobey their parents, the grown ups don’t keep their word, godly love is a foreign concept, and so many care about no one but themselves. (see Romans 29-31)
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No doubt, we have always lived in a sin cursed world, but it seems to be getting much worse. So, I must ask, “how did we get here?”
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The answer is clear. We are here because man has rejected God and His standards. Instead of worshipping God, the people of this nation have put their desires on other things. It sounds a lot like what we can read of in Romans 1:21, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” You see, when man rejects God so blatantly, He punishes them by giving them over to their sin. The natural consequences of sin are severe punishment all by themselves. “Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.” (Romans 1:24-25)
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Not only did God give them up to uncleanness of the heart, but he gave them over to vile affections and reprobate minds. Romans 1:26-31 says, “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:”
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The characteristics of our society that were listed in the second paragraph of this column came from these verses. They should be a wake up call that we live in a society that has rejected God. As I said, the consequences of sin are a punishment themselves, but we know as well that the wages of sin is death, and this first chapter in Romans ends by telling us that both those who do those things and those who take pleasure in them are worthy of death. By trusting in Christ’s gift of eternal life, you can escape eternal death, and by following His standards of right and wrong, you can escape the consequences of sin in this life. If you have no desire to follow His standards though, it is obvious that you have rejected Him and thus He will reject you.
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Folks the sins listed in the Romans 1 passage are disgusting, but let us not forget that they are actually only a symptom of an even bigger problem. A rejection of God, because when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God. Let me be clear here, a rejection of God’s standard of right and wrong is a rejection of Him. It is time for us to repent and turn to the true God.