Posted by
Playful Walrus on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 12:51:32 PM
Dear Abby
is printing reader letters on what is “really” wrong with our world.
Here are the problems listed so far:Lack of personal responsibility
Greed
Intolerance of other people's views, religions, looks, sexual orientation, languages, mode of dress, career choice, whether to parent -- or not
Apathy
Breakdown of the well-parented nuclear family
Technology has outstripped our growth as human beings
Personal isolation
No respect, no discipline, no courtesy and no consideration for others
A lack of personal responsibility is encouraged by politicians who tell us that we need more government “help” in our daily lives, and the “experts” who blame all of our sins of commission and omission on others, and “tribal leaders” who blame problems on the “others” (the other races, the other sex, etc.).
Greed is reinforced by our media. We have told ourselves that we deserve more and more, and we support media that reaffirms this. Seeking comfort and advancement is not greed, but we do have a greed problem.
We misuse the word “intolerance” a lot these days. Tolerating something means you allow something
even though you find it disagreeable. It doesn’t mean
supporting it. Intolerance would be physically attacking someone or using the force of government to control them to do what we want them to do. As long as people have the freedom of expression, the right to life, and private property rights, we are tolerating them. We need not support other views, other religions, unattractiveness, homosexual behavior, other languages, and so forth to be tolerant. The letter writer says tolerance would be “minding out own business”. And that’s exactly what we’re doing when, for example, two men demand we issue them a marriage license and we say “no”. It is our business whether or not we issue marriage licenses.
What’s really wrong with our world is rebellion against God. Our world is comprised of sinners – some have recognized their sin and repented of it, but others haven’t, and those who have repented must cope with people and systems that reward and reinforce sinful behavior, or at least do little to discourage it.
At least Dear Abby recognizes that the world is broken. The fix is in, though.
Jesus Christ has overcome sin and things won’t always be this way. But for now, each of us struggles with sin, so we must reinforce standards and good behavior through strong families, friends, spouses, academia, media, religious organizations, member organizations, law enforcement, and employment. Instead, too often we tell parents to let their children do what they want, we don’t tell our friends the truth when they are in the wrong, we tell our churches not to “judge” us, our unions engage in class warfare instead of enforcing standards, academia and media are run by barbarians, law enforcement is restrained too much, and employers must accommodate what is destructive.
We should repent of our sins, focus on God and follow Him, and love each other, which includes holding each other accountable.I have never, ever regretted doing things God's way, but I have regretted many things that I did my way. I have never hurt anyone else doing things God's way, but I have hurt plenty of people and myself doing things my way.