We live at a time when moral standards are rapidly declining, a fact that is probably more apparent to the older generation than to the younger.
Drug taking, theft, cheating, violence, unchastity, adultery, pornography, child abuse and homosexuality are on the increase, and are regarded by many people as quite normal.
Young people wishing to live clean and Christian lives are daily subjected to more temptations than the older generation ever experienced. Many young children have far more freedom than ever before and loving parental restraint is often entirely lacking, leading sooner or later to antisocial behaviour, delinquency and even serious crime. Freedom has become licence: it is well said that we live in a permissive society -described in the Bible as “every man doing that which is right in his own eyes”.
But it is not for us to lay down our own moral standards - as the Bible says: “It is not in man that walketh to direct his ways.” The standards we should follow were given to us by God Himself in the Ten Commandments, and by Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount. Failure to teach these, both in the home and at school has been one of the causes of our moral decline. What can we, as individuals do about this decline? We can strive to follow Jesus’ commandment to love God with all our heart and our neighbour as ourself.. And as parents, we can instil the same attitude in our children. But this will not improve the overall moral standards of society. They won’t be changed until the kingdom of God is set up here on earth. Then the prayer of Jesus will be fulfilled “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.
We believe that Jesus will return soon and that the improvement in moral standards is not far away. Very soon the legal, social and moral code of the world will be based on the standards set by God. This is a prospect well worth following up!