My Sunday Thought for 06122016: Redefining Moral Decline?

“This country is in moral decline. I just wish we would return to our Christian values and turn back to God.” 

I came across this comment on a social media thread tonight, and as a Christian it made me more than a bit nauseous. I hear this sentiment from fellow believers often, and whenever I do I always wonder just what “Christian values” they’d like America to return to: 

To women not being able to vote?

To people owning slaves?

To segregation?

To street pistol duels and packs of vigilantes meting out justice in the town square?

To organized crime running urban police forces?

To women being marital property? 

Are these the “ol’ time religion” days these folks openly pine for; the days when America was apparently so much more reverent, so much more righteous, so much more Godly than it is today?

-- John Pavlovitz, The Christian Myth of America's Moral Decay

John Pavlovitz, states he is a pastor and a writer. I'd be willing to bet he's also progressive since his view of today's societal sewer seems to be rosier than that of yesteryears. I think, as far as moral decay goes, the only change is that the corpse of morality has progressed to full putrefaction that even maggots shy away from. Let's run down my thoughts on the examples he offered, above:

Yes, women can vote!  They get to worry over which pile of political smelly fecal matter is better than the next so they can also vote to continue the country's decline into even worse moral decay.  Women can now supervise, manage and own corporations, lose their asses in the stock market, cheat on their husbands with their secretary, become alcoholics, chain smoke their way to lung cancer, get high blood pressure, and have massive heart attacks and strokes as they work themselves to death.  Woo hoo!  Welcome to the world of men; we willingly surrender it to you, with our condolences.

There is still slavery; the only difference is the color of the master has changed. Now blacks are the new slave owners, beating their own people into submission so they can be used for political and monetary power during our continued decline. Black leadership discovered what white leadership has known for some time, if you can offer poor, uneducated people what they want to hear, give them a taster, make them believe in bullshit like "hope and change," you will have a voter you can lie to forever. Our leaders have become so good at this even educated folks of all races get caught up in their BS and start believing all the hype. Non-minorities don’t get a free pass; they are also slaves, indentured servants to the banks and credit card companies of which many will never learn to get out from under.

Integration is so wonderful! Been to an inner city school? Education and "hope and change" are the victims of our new moral decay. Integration was the right thing to do, but let's not paint a rosy face on it as though it accomplished anything for the education of our students that providing a safe place to learn, with quality teachers, wouldn't have done. A failed program we followed up with the other failed program, "Affirmative Action." We have progressed nowhere through "integration," and minorities, those that haven't given up, are still fighting to for an education so they can escape the inner city hoods.

When did duels and vigilantism stop?  It's just another anachronism which simply changed color.  Now, only black lives matter and we've upped the ante with minority cop assassinations by cowardly black terrorists shooting their victims while they're sitting in their squad car like sitting ducks.  We've also added looting, rioting, and burning down neighborhoods to their vigilante repertoire... oh, wait, these were also part of yesterday's moral decay, as well.  I guess burning down your own house comes with the territory?

I think we can all agree that urban police forces operate at the whim of political winds, so if politicians are in control, the cops are still being run by organized crime.  I mean, really... right?

Women are no longer marital property. Women get the elevator of today's marriages, and men get the shaft. As for equality, ask the men, the fathers, who have to surrender their children to immoral, irresponsible, or crackhead mothers because of our screwed up judicial system.  Let's look at the statistics of fathers wanting to be fathers and have been prevented from fully enjoying the lives of their children.  There are enough deadbeat dads to go around and the judicial systems compounds the problems incurred by fatherless families. Is there equality in marriage?  Prenups, divorce, alimony and child support would evidence the big resounding "NO!" The pendulum swings like a pendulum do, only too damned far, too damned often.

If things haven't gotten worse they've certainly swung way too far to the other end of the spectrum, in most cases.  But I think Pastor John misses the point behind the statement, “This country is in moral decline. I just wish we would return to our Christian values and turn back to God.”  Where he seems to have locked onto the negative, I immediately thought of the positive of my childhood and yesteryear.

First of all, I find it odd that a member of Christian clergy would take umbrage with Christian values.  Right off the bat I have to struggle with the hypocrisy of it all.  Having said this, I also agree that we need to return to a system of moral values, and they don't necessarily have to be Christian.  The decay in our society is due to our own bad decision making which has led to the collapse of good, moral, values.

When I was growing up in the fifties and sixties, my parents practiced parenting.  What a concept!  They taught me about respect, honesty and an honest day's wage for an honest day's work, the benefit of education and being a law abiding citizen, and the benefits of staying out of debt through saving and layaway (if you can't afford to buy it, you shouldn't).  I was also taught about patriotism, the Constitution; love of country and of flag.  Mom also made sure I got three square meals a day; early on that meant leftovers.

I went to a school where race wasn't an issue.  Black, Asian, Latino, we all got along and had fun.  California in the sixties was already embracing alternate lifestyles of the gays and inter-racial relationships. I had no real experience about racism until I joined the military.  So, when some minority tells me how bad life is, my points of reference are the hard working minority kids I grew up with, all of which graduated with a real education. 

Most importantly I was taught that, through hard work and determination, I could be anything I wanted to be and not to let anyone tell me different.  There is no such thing as a free lunch and if it sounds to good too be true, it probably is.  I also learned about choices and consequences, punishment and praise, and about survival.

When a police officer tells you to stop, you try not to wet yourself, and you stop.  When a soldier goes into battle and returns, you don't spit on them; you shake their hand and thank them for their selfless sacrifice and bravery.

Society is a system of rules and laws put in place for our benefit.  If you have a complaint, you voice it; you don't burn down your own house, you certainly don't burn down your own neighborhood, nor do you randomly kill your neighbors just because things are bad.  You get off your dead ass, take legal action or fire those in charge, and change your reality.  Peaceful demonstration and freedom of speech is guaranteed, but burning, looting, and rioting is criminal mob behavior that should be quelled with a track mounted, chain fed, fifty caliber weapon positioned at the end of the block and firing liberal amounts of ammo into the crowd until the rioting ceases.  The atrocity will be plastered and decried all over the liberal news, but it will only have to happen one time.  Next time the fifty cal rolls up, everyone will simply run away, peacefully go home, or find out that God truly has a plan for weeding out the stupid.  Just saying...

Were things better back in the day?  Certainly, but it wasn't perfect, nothing ever is.  There were some serious issues which needed to be addressed to ensure we all have an equal shot, through equal effort.  That didn't happen because equal effort was not an expectation, and superior effort, well... why bother.  Today, the liberals have decided that effort is still not an expectation, and being the best has been relegated to participation awards.  Affirmative action ensured that quotas were much more important than ability.  Moral decay has become more decadent in its definition, and maybe that's because it's the least of our worries. 

The only constant in the universe is change.  Unfortunately yesterday's pendulum swung way too far in the other direction today, or flew off into left field somewhere inflicting more damage than good, proving the highway to hell really is paved with the best of misdirected intentions.  The lists of good and bad from yesterday and today has certainly changed; the bad is a different kind of bad and the good is not necessarily a better kind of good.  

“This country is in moral decline. I just wish we would return to our Christian values and turn back to God.”  The statement is still valid.  It is valid because things aren't any better than they were in yesteryear, just different.  Moral values, Christian or not, are on life support.  Parenting is, for the most part, a forgotten talent our parents forgot to pass on, probably because divorce is more popular than marriage and children are left to be educated by the government.  Hell, public education was a joke when I was in school during the 60's; it hasn't gotten any better, and the national education programs again rely on quotas instead of quality.  If the kids can't pass the curriculum, make the tests easier.  We need to ensure no child gets left behind, right?  Is it any wonder the death from surgery at hospitals is the leading cause of death in the country?  Parenting, eating dinner around the table as a family, family outings, assisting with homework, monitoring bedtimes and television, and striving to be the best you can be are all values that have gone away and we, as a country, are poorer for it.

Editor's Note 

(re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card) 

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider another viewpoint. 

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.

Pastor Tony spent 22 years with Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, and instructor. He is founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance and author/editor of the Congregation's official blog site, "The Path," which offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination.