Posted July 23, 2004
Have you recently experienced a driver carelessly cutting in front of you? Or walked past a group of youths who hurled abuse at you without provocation? What about people pushing in line? Today we see a serious and growing erosion of traditional biblical values, such as respect for the rights and dignity of others...
For example, newspaper columnist Melanie Phillips has lamented the waning of the quality of respect in the British Isles. She wrote: " You can see examples everywhere in the myriad incivilities of everyday life : the shouting and the swearing in the streets, the lighted cigarettes dangled carelessly in children's faces by rush-hour crowds; the casual slovenliness on the Tube [underground railway], as passengers anti-socially chomp their way through hamburgers and leave rubbish littering the carriages. You see it in schools where teachers find it increasingly impossible to impose their authority upon badly behaved pupils" ( Daily Mail , 2l May, emphasis added throughout).
British Home Secretary David Blunkett "blamed parents who fail to accept responsibility for instilling values of respect in their families and a breakdown of neighbourliness in villages, towns and cities" ( Daily Mail , 21 May).
Relationships in the West are becoming increasingly fragile. Our countries are full of broken marriages, lonely people, single mothers, confused and uncared for children—accompanied by a marked decline in courtesy, civility and just plain good manners. Even driving courtesy has suffered in recent years and road rage is becoming all too common.
One of the fundamental reasons for this general decline in traditional values is the pervasive ignorance of biblical standards. We need to emphasize a restoration of respect for the God who created human beings and for the laws He established for our good.
Needed is a change of heart, turning in an altogether different direction—one of love and respect for others by obedience to God's basic spiritual law, the Ten Commandments. As God said of ancient Israel, "Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever!" (Deuteronomy 5:29).
