HAS THE WORLD GONE MAD?

"What's the matter with the world ... Has the world gone mad" So goes the 1st line of a song once sung by the late Lou Rawls. I just want to take a few minutes to comment on our little corner of the globe, not the entire world.
It is amazing to me how things have changed so much in the last 50 years. And, contrary to the generally accepted analysis, there are not many new things (if any) that are in the world today that were not available back then. Conventional thinking says that we/they face a different set of problems today than existed two or three generations ago. I say that we had the same problems and obstacles back then but it may seem like there are more now because of the internet, cell phones and their applications, and 24-hour "so called" news. This age of instant notification and observation has caused us to think that everybody's viewpoint and every commentators analysis are factual and worth airing. This "instant" information broadcasting is truly the one, new, item that is present in today's world but was not there in the past. And perhaps this is one of the major reasons why we've messed up this world that God has allowed us to briefly inhabit.

So, when I say that there is not much new or different stuff in modern society, I'm talking about the issues themselves; issues like, sexual perversion, drug abuse, language abuse (public profanity), financial greed, acute racism, teenage pregnancy, abortion (just because), homosexuality, profits before people, etc ... these things were a part of our world when I was growing up too. But, while they did not seem to be as prevalent, the truth of the matter is, that they were not accepted by society. We did not put our stamp of approval on most of them. We made the perpetrators and purveyors feel out-of-the-norm. Even open racism, while not taboo in many parts of the country, was still met with traces of resistance and frowned upon at certain levels of indignity and inhuman treatment.

Now we have a society that seems hell-bent on promoting the "I'm okay, you're okay" culture. I'll bet that half of the people reading this have never heard the terms, manish boys or fast girls. Even in the local churches, the underlying message is "accept the life-styles of everyone". And that brings me to my main point. We have gradually moved to the stage where the so-called Christians and people of God have adopted the world's culture and behavior at an alarming degree. In many (actually most) of the churches in the United States today, one can get in all kinds of trouble, even get put out of the congregation for taking a Godly stand against sin. Believe it or not and, contrary to the illusion we've been sold, you can actually talk about and promote God more easily in general society than you can in the so-called Christian society. Yes, that's right, it's wrong to talk about righteousness, in church. Initially I find this hard to believe. But when you take your time and go back to the scriptures, you will see that that's the way it was in the day of Jesus and the early church. Jesus was crucified, primarily, for just that reason ... taking a stand, a firm stand for right and righteousness. The the Apostles and other disciples of Christ were ill treated and some even were killed for the exact same thing.

So you see, we haven't changed. It was like this 2000 years ago and it's has come full circle today. May God have mercy on our souls!