The Test of Morals

Many Americans have been concerned for some time over the apparent decline in morality in our nation. Groups have been formed to fight drunk driving, drug abuse, pornography, pedophiles on the Internet, strip joints and Hollywood. But the problem seems to grow.

Some of us have observed that we are now in the second, or even third generation since the moral influence of the teacher-led Bible reading and prayer opening the school day was ended and the old McGuffey Reader with its moral portrayals was replaced by Dick, and Jane and Spot.

Some have suggested that we get back to some set of standards for moral conduct. That raises the question of what set, to be imposed by whom and with what degree of authority to impose them. Some react by declaring in no uncertain terms that no one has any right to impose any set of standards upon anyone else, least of all, ME! "You have no right to tell me how to behave," they say. Maybe I don't, but Someone does.

God has always had a standard of conduct by which He has judged the actions of men. In the garden of Eden He had but one restriction upon our first parents: they were not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden. The penalty for disobedience was death - separation from God (Genesis 2:16, 17). They ate, and were separated from God, for they hid themselves from Him.

God expanded His standards of conduct in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17). He covered man's relationships with God and with one another. They were to have no other gods but the true God, they were not to make graven images of Him and they were not to take His name in vain. They were to remember the sabbath day to keep it holy, and they were to honor their parents. They were not to kill, commit adultery, steal or lie. And they were not to covet the properties or spouses of their neighbors. Admit it, or not, folks, but that set of standards covers just about every fault that can be found in any society.

Believe it or not, that set of standards was not given to enable us to live righteously, but to show us how far we come short of the standard because of our sinful nature. And that failure to measure up is the basis for God's eventual judgment of all mankind. Then what is a person to do? What hope does a person have? How can morality and righteousness be restored to an individual and to a nation?

A nations is restored when its citizens who comprise it are restored. The citizen is restored when he is made righteous by faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 4:5, 6). His moral conduct is made acceptable when he lives by God's standards: "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God" (Romans 6:13).