The Intellectual Explosion and the Moral Implosion
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There is a force, a pattern that is altering the minds of masses of our youth to where the learning, learning that should be coupled with the capacity for true moral judgments, is fading. Without question we are seeing a situation in our nation where the public educational establishment together with the political correctness movement and the basic thrust of the mass media seek to alter the thinking patterns in our society away from a Judeo-Christian culture to what ultimately will result in chaos.
We who are Christians find echoing in our minds the message of II Timothy 3:1-5, 7 as it says: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away….Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” The word “explosion” concerns the outward expansion, where “implosion” regards the action of bursting inwardly. The quoted scripture can well point to, I feel, the intellectual explosion that taking place in our land as well as the moral implosion that is accompanying it!
In the days of the founding of our nation, the Bible was the basic education book, but beginning in the 1960’s that changed. It is worth noting that church membership and attendance reached the greatest percentage of Americans before the decline began at that time, particularly in the Protestant churches. It is also worth note that our nation was at the top of all the nations in academic achievement before this time. But the thinking of the 1960’s that unfolded into secularism and social morality, eventually degenerating into gross immorality, started a negative pattern that in every sense has increasingly attacked the fabric of our land.
Our nation was very much influenced in its formation from the Protestant Reformation, beginning with Wycliffe and Huss in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, to Martin Luther’s posting of the Ninety-Five Theses in 1517, then to Melanchthon, Zwingli, Calvin and Knox. It can be argued that the Westminster Confession of1646 became the basis for education in the New World as well as Europe. It was the basic education thrust in the establishment of our land.
The Larger Catechism of the Westminster Standards asks in question seven, “What is God?” with the answer: “God is a Spirit, in and of himself infinite in being, glory, blessedness, and perfection; all-sufficient, eternal, unchangeable, almighty, knowing all things, most wise, most holy, most just, most merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.” This understanding of the ultimacy of God serves as a springboard from which to learn and to which to learn his truth—truth spiritually, emotionally, and empirically.
However, following the Reformation the development of various philosophical perspectives began to change much of the thinking in the Western world. There is the thinking of the 18th Century Age of Enlightenment, the 19th Century Age of Ideology, and on to the 20th Century Age of Analysis, with all in varying degrees and emphases seeking to attack or alter our Judeo-Christian moral foundation. We are seeing the result of this thinking as we are beginning to see many in our land calling for an inclusive culture that supposedly is committed to everything, yet nothing.
T. M. Moore’s insights into Scripture and the Celtic Christian tradition posted in The Christian Observer on May 19, 2012 in a devotional called “Turning from Truth” observes: “Powerful forces of deception are at work in our secular age, espousing worldviews which deny the Truth of God and encourage men to make up their own approaches to such matters as right and wrong, good and evil, truth and lies.” This very much speaks to the situation!
Every generation seems to be taken more away from the basic faith that made our nation great. Exodus 20:5 says: “…I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;” The sins of our forefathers, as they, and in turn we have left our Judeo-Christian moral codes and value system, are now being manifest in a youth culture that seemingly has lost its way.
The publication, America’s Inevitable Moral Implosionby Dave Miller & Brad Harrub (Apologetics Press) traces the promotion of the homosexual lifestyle in the political realm and in our public schools. The authors state that the “effect will ultimately end in the moral implosion of America. Indeed, America is being held captive by moral and judicial terrorism. Those at the forefront of the attempt to coerce the country into altering its long-standing code of moral values are activist judges. Their tortured ‘interpretation’ of constitutional law demonstrates that they have no respect for existing laws.”
“Instead, they apparently see themselves as the appropriate architects of social change by usurping their constitutional role and legislating from the bench. They have placed themselves at odds with the history of Western civilization. With no regard for American legal history and the body of constitutional law that has remained largely intact from the beginning of the nation until the 1950s and 1960s, they essentially have swept away over 150 years of American judicial precedent with a flippant wave of the hand.”
Dr. Miller and Dr. Harrub also state: “There was a time when children were told not to lie, cheat, swear, fornicate and steal because such things were against God’s moral law (the Ten Commandments). People were told that such activities offended a holy, righteous God. They were told that good was good because God said so in His Word, and likewise bad was bad because God said so. People were warned that a day was coming in which God would judge all men according to their deeds.” But contemporary American public education has junked this basic framework, and although there is a knowledge explosion there is also a moral implosion that ultimately is not only negating it, but moving our land toward a chaotic end.
Brian Schwertley in an article called, “Secular Humanism” points out that:
American society is in decay. Violent crime has grown so much in the last thirty years that many people are afraid to go into our cities after dark. Sexual immorality has exploded in our culture since the 1960s. There was a time only a generation ago when premarital sex was the exception not the rule. Now teenagers are having sex at a younger and younger age. Many are even sexually active in junior high school. Young men and women who desire to maintain their virginity until marriage are considered freaks. In the last thirty years American families have been disintegrating. The divorce rate hovers near fifty percent. It is common knowledge that children from broken homes often have more problems functioning in society than children from traditional two-parent families. Adultery is both common and accepted by many in our land. Premarital sex, drunkenness, drug abuse, theft, murder, abortion, lying, cheating, fraud, homosexuality, rape, cruelty and pornography are now a normal part of the American societal landscape.
Yes, we have problems in our society, but we have a solution in the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the April 2012 issue of Kids Health, there is an article that states: “Recent medical studies indicate that spiritual people exhibit fewer self-destructive behaviors (suicide, smoking, and drug and alcohol abuse, for example), less stress, and a greater total life satisfaction. Elderly people who regularly attended religious services had healthier immune systems than those who didn’t. They were also more likely to have consistently lower blood pressure.” (Spunout—By: John Dunphy) Most all of the studies regarding the effects of religious commitment have been done on adults, but the effects are evident in the youth as well.
Children reared in environments that teach moral values and responsible behavior generally achieve much higher academic scores, as it particularly evidenced in looking at the achievement test scores from private, most often religious institutions, than those from the public schools. Likewise, these students have fewer addiction problems and generally have much healthier life styles than others. The Bible says to “Train up a child in the way that he should go, and in the end he will not depart from it.” The problem is that now in America we have so many negative trainers that it makes it difficult. But we have the promise from God that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” May God help us as the Church and as Christians to see the light and to make the right responses to alter the course of our nation!
It is the ideal to have high intellectual achievement and strong moral aptitude together. It is our prayer that this negative direction will be changed. Realizing a Christocentric learning environment would effect this change!
by Joe Renfro, Ed.D., Educational Columnist, Radio Evangelist, Retired Teacher and Pastor, 5931 West Avenue, Lavonia, Georgia 30553, 706-356-4173, joerenfro@windstream.net
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