Eroding Standards?
Have you ever seen an area in a landslide, or an avalanche? Suppose you were to get all the eroded material back up to the top? Daunting task, you say.
Well, it's equally frightening when some moral changes take place.
Look at the following news headline:
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Take the situation of prayer in school, for example. Not long ago this was no problem - it was acceptable, and normal. No one was offended, but not so today.
This is NOT an argument for the union of church and state. Water and oil are both necessary commodities, but they are immiscible! The concern is the message we leave our children concerning the importance of religion or better, relationship with our Creator.
Joe Crews called this moral landslide a "creeping compromise." An apt term for a slow "gotcha-before-you-know-it" kind of phenomenon.
Even prayer in school has become offensive. But why does society keep undergoing this shift?
Possible Causes
Comparison to the wrong standard
Have you ever heard someone made the excuse that they weren't too bad after all because so and so did worse?
Think what happens when the issue has to do with moral values, behavior, or some standard of conduct. Does the athlete in the high jump stop raising the bar because all the other competitors failed to jump 5 feet?
If the world record is 7 feet 11½ inches, why lower the standard because others fail to make it?
But this is what we're doing when we use the argument that we would not cheat on our taxes as other folks do, but it is alright to keep the extra change mistakenly given to us at the local grocery.
When other people's behavior becomes our standard we may seriously lower our standards, sliding to a lower level of moral 'fitness'.
Acceptability by Consensus
Too many times the determination of whether an issue is right or wrong is put to the popular vote. Even the government often determines moral acceptability by consensus.
Voters get to decide whether the lottery or the running of casinos or bars are good for a community. If the majority of people say they want a strip club or a casino in the area, the majority vote determines the moral issue.
Influence from Fiction
Often the media and entertainment industries help to erode the boundary between the sacred and the secular. Making mockery of God or godliness is dangerous.
The same danger exists in not making distinction between sacred and secular. When God becomes the subject of laughter by stand-up comics it a serious situation.
Desensitization by repeated exposure
Then the more we are bombarded repeatedly by these influences, the more we become de-sensitized to the seriousness of the issue. "By beholding, we become changed."
Eternal Standard
There is an eternal standard of right and wrong. It never changes. It is the same for all generations, the same for the whole universe, and the same for heaven. Why?
There is one Creator of the universe, and His standard is the same unchangeable and perfect statute in all of creation. It is God's 10-commandment perfect law.