History has shown us that the stronger and more affluent an empire or nation becomes, the farther it recedes from those virtues mentioned in our title. It has also shown that such an empire cannot long stand under such conditions. The age of this author eliminates being heavily concerned over this because of personal welfare, yet I have progeny and younger friends, plus the love of this nation, that causes me deep concern. Questions arise, why is this happening? Where is it taking us? And where are we at the present time?
First we need to determine why those diminishing virtues are so important, where they came from and why they are vanishing. Man is unlike any other creature on the earth. The Holy Bible tells us that God created man in His image (Genesis 1:26). How so? God is a Sprit so our likeness to Him cannot be physical, but rather, He gave man a spirit which is non-physical and never dies. He also gave man directions on how he must conduct himself, and although much of that is not spelled out for us in the Holy Bible in the beginning, it becomes obvious that he had given these first people, much the same instructions as he later gave through Moses at Mt. Sinai. Much of the Old Testament is that of rules and commandments that God gave to man. How they were to treat their fellow man, how they were respect and obey Him and gave them promises of rewards for the obedient and punishment for the disobedient. These virtues were not a part of mans nature, but learned from God. They were given by God, not only because He wanted man to obey Him, but even more so for his
own welfare.
Think about this. God demands obedience. How on earth do people think that they can, and do, obey Him when they dont even know what He says? It can't be done. Now do you want to know, how I know, that most people don't know what He says? Let me give you an interesting survey result that I read about 6 months ago. I cant even remember who did the survey. This came out in our daily newspaper and it was meant as a great compliment to the citizens of Alabama. But, it said that Alabama had proven highest of all states in their survey of peoples knowledge of the Holy Bible. The details were not given, except one question that they excelled on. They were asked to name
ONE of the four gospels, and
37% successfully did it! A higher percentage than any other state! O Lord, have mercy on us as a nation. If 63% cannot even
name ONE of the four gospels, what about the other 62 books in the Bible? And more importantly, what about the contents of all those books? I have an idea that the residents of Tibet, would make a higher score than that.
As we forsake the reading of the Word of God, we renounce our belief in and respect for Him. And when it becomes widespread, we lose our respect for our fellow man, for our families, parents and children. We become dishonest, why not? We have no scruples, nothing is greater than self. Check out our small children today. How many do you find that are respectful? Kind? Sharing? Even with it's parents or siblings?
My wife and I had occasion recently to meet and have dinner with a young Lithuanian lady and her 9 year old son. Plus she later came by our home for a visit. I was astounded to see such a wonderfully pleasant and respectful young man as that boy was. When his mother asked him to do something, there was no scowling, no look of disgust, no hesitancy, just cheerful obedience. When he was complimented, he simply smlied and said thank you. When we had dinner out at a buffet, he served his own plate without suggestions, piling up a goodly bowl of salad with pickles and other veggies that would have had 99% of American children screaming for the police. He then served his plate with a medium helping of sauerkraut and sausage, lima beans and mashed potato. I could not believe my eyes and watched as he ate it all. And his politeness was amazing. His mother was also very polite and respectful. It gave me hope for the earth. They expect to be moving here in about a year, and I would be elated to know that, exceptI fear that we will have much more influence on them than they will on us. And that is tragic.
So, where is this leading this nation? I strongly suspect it spells doom. We have no reason to believe that we can survive the dishonesty and greed that we find in industry, politics, individuals, and everywhere any more than other empires have. Our lack of morals has produced an unequalled sexual promiscuity which in turn is turning out millions of one-parent babies who have to get governmental assistance or otherwise allow someone else to raise the child and the majority of these children are destined for the same, if not worse, lifestyle. It has also led to an extremely costly assistance program for HIV/AIDS patients as well as other ever increasing sexually transmitted diseases. No government can continue to assume ever increasing costs of these and other such programs. And the most frightening of all is that we are gaining momentum in all of these areas.
And where are we at present? A good question and I wish I had the answer. But very little of these problems were showing their heads just fifty years ago. I believe that the extreme advancements made in technology and other areas during and after World War 2 started the downslide. Television has played an extreme part in the lowering of morals. Well paying jobs have given almost everyone the opportunity to participate in all manner of recreational activities and that has drawn many from attending church services. The list is almost inexhaustible. But the worst part is that mentioned in the preceding paragraph we are gaining momentum. It is my honest opinion, and I pray that I am wrong, that this nation will either fall, or there will be anarchy abounding within less than fifty more years. We have allowed our great strength and affluence to hypnotize us. Many have become arrogant, conceited and hateful and in their travels abroad, have given the world reason to view the nation as such.
Without attempting to infer that I know any solutions to the matter, I don't, but I believe that we have been careless with our interference in world squabbles and have used high handed tactics where kindness would have been better. There are presently almost one third of the worlds population which would like to see all Americans dead, while most of the rest of the world only tolerates us. A very precarious position and we are worsening the situation every day that we live. Our political system which worked so well over the years when we had respect for others, has deteriorated to the point that there is deadly hatred between the two major parties. This, in turn, has brought on placing of party politics ahead of national security, all domestic programs and there is little honest negotiations between them. This is perhaps the largest contributor to our downfall. No rational decisions can be made while our country is being overrun with illegal immigrants which are infiltrated by terrorists. Our populace is also as divided and filled with hate as is our politics. Do you see a light at the end of the tunnel?
